On my TV show you see us regularly spray down with Scent Killer (full disclosure, one of our great sponsors). I mist my boots, clothes, pack, etc. every day while I’m hunting and filming. It’s become second nature.
One night last fall a guy watched an episode and wrote me: “Mike, stop using that spray. It makes you look foolish. That stuff does not work.”
Ah, the non-believers. Anyway, that guy is wrong. Here’s the latest confirmation that scent-eliminating products do work.
In a lab at Mississippi State University (MSU), Shamitha Dissanayake, a graduate student, and Todd Mlsna, Ph.D., head of the lab, are working on ways to best collect and analyze volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from body odor. Their goal is to use VOC detection to diagnose and monitor human diseases like diabetes. But their research led to a unique collaboration with Bronson Strickland, Ph.D., a colleague in the MSU wildlife department, who at the same time happened to be studying and testing odor-reducing products for deer hunters.
Background on human scent and the whitetail’s sense of smell from the MSU study.
“The scent of a single person is a complex mixture of hundreds of compounds given off by bacteria, which live in our bodies and on our skin,” said Dissanayake. Scent compounds also come from the human body itself when it breaks down molecules to make energy. The odors are emitted through the skin and breath.
These substances—the VOCs–evaporate into the air, and can spook deer when you’re hunting.
Strickland added, “A deer’s sense of smell, like a dog’s, can be anywhere from five hundred to a thousand times more acute than a human’s.”
Figuring out which specific ingredients of body odor spook deer is the real challenge, the researchers said. Each of us emits a unique scent, and that scent varies depending on what and when we eat, drink, exercise (and sweat). To obtain a cross-section of scents, the researchers collected body odor samples from 65 people who for hours wore either an untreated T-shirt or a T-shirt treated with a hunting spray designed to eliminate or mask body odor. The researchers tested 4 hunting sprays out of dozens on the market, though they did not identify specific brands.
“It was a big challenge to handle such a complex data set with so many variables,” said Dissanayake, who worked with a mathematician to crunch the data. Based on analysis of the hundreds of VOCs emitted by the 65 people, researchers found that the sprays worked by greatly reducing the levels of 29 key compounds, either by killing bacteria, binding to the chemicals, or converting them into less volatile compounds.
Bottom line: More confirmation that odor-eliminating sprays work, and you should use one while deer hunting.
You do spray down, don’t you?
The research shows that sprays help REDUCE odor, not totally eliminate. Read the article again and key in on what words are used. I’m still not convinced on using the sprays. Here is why: Lets say a deer smells 100% of you and runs off. Next time you spray down and a deer only smells 50% of you but still runs off. Lets say a deer only smells 20% of you but still runs off. It does not matter if the deer only smells 1% of you, it realizes there is danger and runs off. So to reduce your odor does nothing unless there is 100% elimination of the odor. Someone can put 1/2 of a pizza in an oven but when you walk in the kitchen the only thing you smell is pizza even though it has been reduced by 50%, you realize it is pizza. Put one piece of pizza in the oven and you will still smell pizza. The deer know what human odor is regardless of how miniscule. The deer’s nose is so good it cannot be defeated unless the deer smells 0% of you and to my knowledge that is if you are down wind of the deer.
I definitely believe that the scent sprays reduce human odor detection by deer, but with the firm belief that it does not Totally eliminate our odors. I don’t hunt with the wind in the deer’s favor, even with spray help. Call me old fashioned in a way but when you hunt public grounds that are hit pretty hard, there are no small mistakes on big bucks. I use sprays to up my advantage, but do not use them to cover up sloppy hunting location. Nuff said I guess. Off my soapbox and back to the mushrooming
anyone who says scent away or scent killer doesnt work maybe they need to stop smoking cigs or wereing there right guard deoderant bot are tested in labs and dont no if anyone uses scent away i use it over anyother brand just my opion rutger university and out performed all leading competitors brands..
Heck yeah I spray down, and do about any other form of scent management I can. The fact that a deer can smell 500-1000 times better than a human blows my mind, literally! I mean if we think our sweat smells, imagine it smelling 1000 times stronger as these animals do. I think it’s great they point out that your breath emits VOCs as well because I remember a study done a long time ago and it proved that when we get excited with deer around us that we emit more odors, especially through our mouths. Mike would you buy a facemask with a scent control mechanism built in?
I spray down before I head out to the woods every time I hunt. I also like to use the scent wafers that can pin on your hat or shirt, and wash my hunting clothes in the scent free stuff as well. I feel that if nothing else it adds to my confidence as a hunter that I’m doing everything I can to get those deer in close. And a lot of times, confidence is what you need to sit through those long days on stand or in your blind. Love that the research that they did at Mississippi State backs the scent elimination up.