Scent

[Ben Sellers]

How long do you think smell lingers. I just listened to an Elk Talk podcast where Randy said he set up on a water hole with the wind blowing to where he thought the elk would come from. Then when the sun came down the thermals shifted, the wind was now perfect and the elk came out. That got me thinking, how long does smell linger. If you’ve been saturating an area but the wind changes, how long does it take for those scent particles hang around? It must be different than smell that comes from putting your hands on something or the smell of your tracks.

 

[RockinU]

It's an interesting question. I can tell you that when tracking wounded game with dogs, they will follow a track that lays with a crosswind, downwind of the track, and the distance they are from the actual track gets farther when either the time since the track was left or the wind speed increases. So it would appear that a scent trail can be blown. I can also tell you that dogs react differently to smelling a trail left by a deer, and smelling the actual deer.

 

[Chris76]

This is actually a great topic that I always wondered too. I know in archery season the first couple times I hunt the tree I like to climb I see a lot of deer but as the season goes on I see less and less not sure if it is due to the rut coming in or my scent being in the area. I will stay watching this to see what remarks you get. I use the scent sprays and wear rubber boots bc was told all that works good. Is there anything else that can keep your scent down?