The Eberhart Experiment

[rogerthat]

Anyone who knows me, knows I listen to too many podcasts. I was recently listening to a podcast with John Eberhart and I was blown away with his statement that he pays zero attention to wind direction on his hunts. I have read John’s older books and you can’t deny his track record of success. I incorporate some of his approach to hunting whitetails in mine. However you can put me firmly in the scent control skeptics camp. To me scent control means hunting the wind. I’m a hairy stinky bastard too.

Out here in the west, I believe this is normal. Long hikes and sweating don’t lend itself to staying scent free. But I am intrigued and curiosity has the best of me. I’m going to give John’s system a try. Full scentlok suit ordered and on its way. I will detail my understanding of the system in another post and how I plan to implement it as I archery whitetail hunt two states. Last year I mostly got winded when deer got directly down wind. I expect similar results this year but that will be the experiment. Daily results will be posted to this thread as time allows.(I don’t have much so be patient). Next post will lay out the system as I intend to implement it. Feel free to chime in if you see flaws in the system or logic. You guys can be my peer reviewers in a sense.

 

[rogerthat]

The system: full scentlok suit with gloves and pull down face mask - suit will be dryer regenerated every 40 hours - hunting face mask and gloves every 20.

Everything will be stored in sealed tote in back of pickup and changed into and out at hunting area. The concept is that everything will be covered in carbon except my eyes and cheeks. All accessories and climbing gear will be washed in scent free detergent and stored in sealed totes and only handled with gloves. Undergarment layers will be worn once and than washed in scent free detergent.

To me the weak spot in the system is the accessories. My bino harness is old and stinky. Not sure I can hunt without it though. It will be washed in scent free detergent just like everything else. I will throw a different set of binos for truck glass. John uses a scentlok backpack. I’m just going to wash a fanny pack I already use in scent free detergent. The only thing I plan to do different than John is I will use an ozone generator as well on my accessories inside a sealed tote from time to time which as I understand will leave an ozone smell instead. I don’t think he would approve but it makes sense to me.

Also I plan to do my hunts as normal. My confidence is low in this idea. So I will still hunt the wind but I always end up with deer downwind invariably anyway.

Some hunts I may abandon the scent control system if they are too far of a hike. For example one spot is a 3 mile bike ride and a two mile walk. I dont think staying scent free is possible for that spot but it’s a killer spot so I’m hunting it

 

[Point Creep]

An old roommate bought a scentloc suit. I tried it on in the house and ripped ass. They don’t work.

 

[MTTW]

I just keep the windows on the truck rolled up until just before I shoot. So far, so good.

 

[bigsky2]

Looking forward to hearing how it goes.

 

[rogerthat]

An old roommate bought a scentloc suit. I tried it on in the house and ripped ass. They don’t work.

Passing the fart test is a high bar. Has anything ever made it? If the material didn’t blow out we may want to call that a pass

 

[cgasner1]

Makes you wonder how bad the fart would have been in regular clothes.

 

[rogerthat]

A little more info, so my understanding is that eberhart gets his scentlok for free but he isn’t sponsored. I don’t understand what he would have to gain pushing this. I’m trying this strictly on his reputation and my curiosity. I think 99% of the hunting industry products especially regarding scents is hocus pocus. And obviously you don’t need to do this to be successful. Playing the wind works 100% of the time when you play it right

 

[MTTW]

Have you ever seen an animal stop and smell your tracks and bolt back to where they came from?
I think they can smell your breath, but I have no clue how far. Coyotes probably a lot further than a deer.

 

[rogerthat]

Have you ever seen an animal stop and smell your tracks and bolt back to where they came from?
I think they can smell your breath, but I have no clue how far. Coyotes probably a lot further than a deer.

Yes I have when not wearing rubber boots. I have also had them track me to my tree after spraying down with scent elimination spray that turns out has a scent haha