Controlling your stink?

[xcutter]

This has probably been discussed plenty of times but I'm going to ask what everyone likes to do. I typically truck camp and hike in and out every day hunting. I setup a shower tent in camp and boil some water and fill it into a shower bag. Usually shower every other day. Sometimes every day if I'm stinking. I've been using scent killer type shampoo and antiperspirant. What do you like to do? Put on some smell good deodorant? Use some smell good shampoo? Elk are going to smell you down wind anyways. Let hear some opinions.

 

[BigAntlerGetter]

Don’t care I use the wind, I don’t pack in showers to camp, and idc what kind of scent control you use after a few days hunting nothing is gonna cover that. I hunt the wind and if clients are being pushy about scent products, I’ll squirt down for them and where a scentless anti persperent


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GregB]

I don't shower or use scent control when hunting, I just use my wind checker.

 

[ChrisAU]

Merino goes a long way. As long as my clothes don't stink and I take wet wipe bath once or twice I'm good. We were surprised by how un-stinky we were, to ourselves anyway, after our first backpack hunting trip last year.

 

[PAhunter58]

I think worrying about smell is a waste. Don't care how often you shower or how often you wipe down. Their noses are huge. Twice the size of a whitetail. In the whitetail woods, there accustomed to some human scent, depending on where you hunt. Out west, the only friend you have is the wind. Especially after a mile or two trudge up the mountain.
I think merino is great, but only as a great layering mechanism. Your just never gonna fool an Elk's nose.

 

[TomAZ]

Hunt the wind. I take a bucket or solar shower every few days. The elk will smell you either way. I clean up to feel less grimy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[UtahJimmy]

Wind check for the elk, as already stated, no point in trying to fool their noses.

As for my own sniffer; I can't stand the way I smell after 4-5 days, even with Merino. I feel like I'm taking years off the life of my sleeping bag! Quick rinse in a cold stream with a fresh set of briefs makes it disappear. If I'm at base camp I do the solar shower. Wet wipes only do so much...

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Still Hunter]

Generally we try to do a nightly wash down/sponge bath with boiled nearby creek water and scent shield. Change of underwear and wash them ,hang to dry for the next night. Hang worn clothes on a line or tree limbs to "air out" . Elk will smell you anyway but I feel cleaner, I sleep better and always try to hunt the wind anyway.

 

[njdoxie]

Ha, I do zero, no wet wipes, nothing....I don’t smell myself and I don’t notice the grime....until I shower 10 days later, then I never felt so clean. I do try to avoid sweating by stripping layers as needed, but I don’t worry about it.

Actually, I should add, for my own nose, I put on a ton of anti-perspirant before hand and bring a small travel size with me.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Coveyleader]

I wash my clothes, and use Downey softener. When I put on my new unused shirt in the back country its smells like I just jumped out of the shower. Definately an upper!

 

[Poser]

Wash my face in a creek.

 

[Swede]

I keep my scent to a minimum. I sponge bathe every day using unscented soap and shampoo. I use unscented deodorant and spray my pack and clothes with a scent killer. Sometimes I will rub on a little pine, juniper or sage. You don't have to get real close to a garbage dump to smell it, but you have to get real close to one open sardine can.

 

[Wrench]

Your hand should be cramped up from the wind checker.

Everything else isfor your own benefit.

 

[HondoArcher]

I use sent-a-way by hunter specialties (towles). It knocks down the sent pretty well. Yes the elk can smell you but it makes the hunt more enjoyable, especially for your buds.

 

[juan trueno]

I would feel very silly applying lotions and potions to my self or my gear. Really really silly. Always have a windchecker at hand and work that wind like A damn setter

 

[Nuggets]

Like everyone else said, the elk are gonna smell you if you aren't using the wind. If i'm truck camping and hiking in/out everyday then some baby wipes and deodorant are a must after a couple days.

 

[Swede]

I assume that you folks that keep pumping on a squeeze bottle and do not try to minimize your scent, do not set up and wait to ambush your query. You are not sitting in a ground blind, or in a tree stand in a basin. When the wind starts shifting you are done for an hour or so until it is more settled.
I assume that you tie yourself in knots trying to keep the wind in your face on some days and that you still get busted. You can get busted even minimizing your scent, but you will win many times also. Since washing and minimizing scent costs so little, I would feel "silly" going around with excessive stink or trying to cover mine with some other odor.

 

[Wrench]

I assume that you folks that keep pumping on a squeeze bottle and do not try to minimize your scent, do not set up and wait to ambush your query. You are not sitting in a ground blind, or in a tree stand in a basin. When the wind starts shifting you are done for an hour or so until it is more settled.
I assume that you tie yourself in knots trying to keep the wind in your face on some days and that you still get busted. You can get busted even minimizing your scent, but you will win many times also. Since washing and minimizing scent costs so little, I would feel "silly" going around with excessive stink or trying to cover mine with some other odor.

Where I hunt the wind will shift about 800 times a day. I can count on thermals and "TYPICALLY" the west to east prevailing breeze....but it'll switch a lot.

I only lay in ambush from a calling stand and try to setup where the wind favors me at that time.

If the wind switches up, I'll haul ass. My odds are WAAAAAAY better of coming back to the unmolested herd tomorrow than blowing them out and trying to get on spooky elk.

Some days the wind will not allow you to put it together. Expect a couple of those and sit back at a safe distance and use your eyes and ears to figure them out.

 

[danarnold]

truck camp this was the bomb, swiped idea from elsewhere

 

[TheCougar]

Merino, although that only lasts the first 5 days or so before I can really smell myself. Wet wipes at night. Ex officio underwear. Around day 6 or so, I’ll wash my clothes in a storage container and try to give myself a quick shower using whatever is available. I hunt dry units and water is scarce, otherwise I would probably bathe in a creek. As much for a mental boost as a physical cleansing. I’ll hit myself up with some scentless spray if I have some, but really that’s for my nose, not the animals. All of the above is or my own comfort. For hunting, all that matters is the wind.