Afternoon to all, Great trapping weather down south! Balmy 72* so far today. My son came in from deer hunting last Saturday afternoon, cleaned up his truck, hung his climber up and gave me a bottle of "scent elimination spray". He said "here ya go pop, use this on your boots and trapping clothes. Maybe even around your trap beds." He said he didn't know why I didn't use more of it? Good question. If the deer hunters buy it by the gallons, then why don't I hear more about it from trappers? I hear a lot about clean gloves, keep traps clean, K-9's smelling where you been, etc. I even keep a box of latex gloves in my truck and change on every trap. I know we are all conscious about scent. My thought is that if it really worked then trappers would be drinking this stuff! "just kidding of course", but we would be using it. I never hear it discussed. If this has been brought up, please forgive me. My son just got me to thinking about it, and I'd just like to know what some of the rest of you think? thanks again for your input, "Bayou"

Does it actually work on deer? About the only thing I’ve ever tried that worked for me was Deer Dander. And I am not spraying that anywhere around my traps...too many problems with deer as it is, lol!

Watched a video of a dog trained to locate people where they tested scent eliminater spray. It didn't seem to slow the dog down much.

Have a plan before you make a set get In and get out as quick as you can. The less disturbance you make and the less time spent at the set will leave less humane scent.

That makes sense. Since my post I thought back on all the ol' timers that that I hunted with back in the day, and they never used an ounce of scent killer spray! times have changed!

sent you a pm

Yeah, never got the scent killer. Spray all over clothes, but your face is still open. Guess the face doesnt smell? Or air doesnt leach out your clothes around neck area?

That next time you work up a really good sweat and have stewed in it a while, try wiping your armpits with a paper towel loaded with scent killing spray. It will amaze you how well it works. I know my nose and a canines nose are not the same but the stuff definitely knocks down a lot of human odor.

What that stuff hides from your nose and what it hides from a critters nose is miles apart. Use that same paper towel for a pan cover and see if you still like it !

Confidence is a funny thing ! If you are truly confident in the baking soda water, then by all means use it !

????????? I'v heard that a Blood hound can trail a person. Going down a road in a car.

For deer -hunt the wind

I like for the criters to track me right to the set and check out what I was doing there, it's about the only way they get caught.

If one showers everyday before hunting with a scent eliminator product, sprays down ALL of the clothes to be worn (I spray the day before), and uses deer dander and/or Ever Calm on boots or in tree stand it can certainly fool deer. I killed one of my largest bow killed bucks using this process and the doe preceding him and the buck were on a knoll about level with the tree stand directly down wind. I've had it work ot other circumstances but with no shot opportunities offered due to brush or darkness.
Would it help on the trapline???????

I have used “dead down wind” with pretty good sucess.

Agreed! Also, a lot of people dont think about how their breath smells, depending on what they ate that day. You may not be able to smell it but a deer surely can.

I used scent killer a few years ago and didnt notice any advantage compared to not using it. I put all hunting clothes in a trash bag with cedar branches a month or so before season and use no scent killer. I had 6 does downwind of me when i shot the buck in my profile pic last season and none snorted until after i shot him. Seems like a gimmick to me, IMO.

Baking soda and water mix works just as good for deer hunting and doesn't cost a ton of money. But a coyote can out smell a deer hands down, so waist of time and effort to use trapping. Do as The Beav said, in and out.

Well, I appreciate all the responses. I guess what I really wanted to see is I'm not the only one that had thought about this.

Just keep the body and mind clean and move with hast and you'll do fine

Agreed! Also, a lot of people dont think about how their breath smells, depending on what they ate that day. You may not be able to smell it but a deer surely can.

the vast majority of our odor comes from our mouths while deer hunting. not much you can do about that

IMO it's not nearly effective enough. I do believe it is effective....just not enough to be worth the money and effort.


For a couple seasons I washed my gear, kept it in totes, showered, sprayed the stuff, wore rubber boots, didn't wear anything in my truck that I was hunting in....ya it's a blast changing outside when it's 30 degrees and raining.

I kill more deer now and get blown at way less. Wear my hunting clothes in the truck, wear leather boots I keep next to the back door where the dogs go in and out ..wash my gear when I can't take the funk..maybe once or twice a season depending on the "layer".



I've learned more about the wind and thermals.



Get you a couple dry milk weed seed pods. Let the little white fluffy things go. You'll be amazed to SEE where your scent is ACTUALLY going. I carry them all the time. Periodically I release a bunch a couple seconds apart...they'll make a "trail" showing you the scent stream. I've watched them go out, drop towards the ground and 180 up and right back passed me. You'd swore the wind was in your face...but it ain't making it to the deer trail.


You simply can't fool the critters noses.



Again, I do believe it HELPS. Just not enough. My thinking is maybe they think you're further away or weren't there long. Sitting in a deer stand your scent pools and there's just no masking it.

Odor reducers work but they do not take human odor away. They make the human odor appear weaker or make the animal think the human odor is older. so a calm animal will not pay attention as close to the human odor when the reducer or cover scent is stronger. If human odor is strong then the reducer or cover will not work. It also can buy 10 to 30 seconds of time on a alert deer or coyote coming into the call. unless the animal is real keyed up. Evercalm or other products like that, 20 years ago I made a training scent to break dogs off deer that used the hair , duff and other parts of the deer that would calm the deer down but production cost was high and demand low so you know where that went LOL I still have the process in the notebook, other things like doe urine can and will have a calming effect as long as again, the human odor is not over powering. The old time practice where trappers would spray their boots with fox urine did not cover human odor but it did have a calming effect and attraction so it did in fact shortened the cool off time at the set. I have been making cover scents and odor reducers for close to 30 years for the deer scent and calling fields.

As I thought about the practice of fox urine that I used back in the 70's and early 80's till we lost the foot trap, I started to use the fox urine on my boots a few years ago to see if it had an effect with me setting snares, The one problem is the animals, fox coon and coyotes would stop and smell where I was standing. I found that it helped on the walk up but the intense odor where I was standing would make them stop. I bet there are still ole timers out there spraying their boots with urine still setting foot traps and not talking about it. As far as odor reducers at the set. snare men use them all the time, many will store the cable in pine needles or branches. Some soak their cable in oak leaf bath or store in dry dirt or peat. I have sprayed my reducer on my snares but I can not tell you it had any positive, but can say it did not have any negative either.