scents while elk hunting?

[Elkonthebrain]

Do you use scents while elk hunting? If so which ones and how do you use them?(ex. Rub cow scent all over you clothes in hopes of attracting a big stinky bull)

[Lefty]

sage oil and sage resin,..

[Elkonthebrain]

I've also read where guys will roll in fresh elk pee and beds. Anyone try this technique?
Not sure I could do that one....

[Gselkhunter]

I've also read where guys will roll in fresh elk pee and beds. Anyone try this technique?
Not sure I could do that one....

This isn't a good plan. One of the tools for elk hunting is your nose so if you roll in it .........

[Trumkin the Dwarf]

Smoke, yes... not about to roll in elk urine!

[Rangerz]

Roll around in the nastiest wallow you can find!

Seriously, I just try and find a sage branch, crush the leaves and use those. Might step in a cow patty if I find one.

[WapitiTalk1]

I like to pelt my hunting partners in the back of the head with fresh elk duds to see if they'll stick; does that count? No, I don't use scent but perhaps it has a place (little bit of smelly stuff strategically placed on brush) at tree stand setups (benches/trail intersections/wallows), to slow a bull down for a sniff and a shot. Thoughts?

[Elkduds]

I store hunting clothes in a plastic tub w lots of sage, all year. The more pollen on the branches, the better. New sage in the tub every year.

[Lefty]

I store hunting clothes in a plastic tub w lots of sage, all year. The more pollen on the branches, the better. New sage in the tub every year.

I avoid the pollen
Resin is the heaviest late May early June

dry the sage before you bag it, or everything will get moldy,... I learned that on socks and underwear

[GoldToyBox]

IMHO
Don't bother with rolling in the urine, unless you have someone with you that can video it and post it here for us to watch!
Archery & Muzzleloading I use commercial cover scents, wash clothes in scent free soaps, walk on every pile of elk manure, rub on every bush/tree (quietly), drift urine from a spray bottle when in a blind and wind conditions allow. You need to be clean: gas/diesel fumes from filling up the rig on your hands/clothes, sweat soaked clothes from the previous hunt, etc.
It all adds up, while scent control is important so is your camo scheme and noise control is just as important. Cover/paint your face specially in a blind or on a stand. (If your walking your movement gave you away before your shining face) Constantly keep the wind in mind but even with unfavorable wind conditions I've had elk within a couple feet with good camo & scent control.
As for the pollen, doesn't do you any good if you or your buddy sneezes.
As for the sage, good idea if there is saga where you're hunting ... don't introduce a scent strange to the area.
Rifle hunting I don't go to nearly as much effort but it would be a good idea.

Good luck and wishing limited entry tags in the future.

[bowhunter99]

My feet sweat bad, so I put corn starch and a few drops of "white fir" essential oil mixed in a small pringles can. Dump that in my boots in the mornings to keep the stink down, just like a foot powder. Smell like a Christmas tree!

[under H2O hunter]

This thread cracks me up... Guys doing this or doing that... To me its all garbage. The moment you start walking your body starts to perspire and your body puts off an oder. This oder is very detectable by animals that are down wind of you. I don't wash my clothes in special soaps or use commercial scents. I don't paint my face or wear a mask. I simply hunt hard all day every day and keep the wind in my face. I have killed lots and lots and lots of elk without special scents. Do I wear camo? Yes I do but not because of the pattern but because the fabric does what I need it to do. Camo patterns don't mean squat IMO either. Everyone has their beliefs and what works for you may not work for someone else. The most important thing to remember when hunting is. If they can't smell you because the wind is blowing to you, and they can't see you because your not moving, then you're more then likely doing it right.

[Ridge Ghost]

I agree with H20 Hunter. An elk's nose is too good. If you get upwind of him you will be busted, cover scent or not. He is going to smell sage, fake smoke, pine or whatever, along with human sweat. Just save your money and do everything you can to keep the wind in your favor.

[twinkieman]

No cover scent at all, I figure that if an elk can smell my cover scent, he can smell me, and I'm already screwed

[njdoxie]

I do nothing, I'm out for 8 or 9 days at a time, I can't be wasting time or energy on that. And even when I hunted from the house, I wasn't inclined to spend the time or money to bother with it, as the guys I learned elk hunting from killed elk regularly without any of that stuff.

[AlexG]

I use scents all the time, i also wash all my hunting clothes in scent away and carry a scent a away bottle in my pack while hunting, then in the off season i store them in a bin.

[razorback]

Lots of interesting points of view. Being a treestand hunter of WTs in Southeast Missouri I normally have been a scent freak. Wash my clothes in scent free detergent, shower in scent free soap, rub down in cedar and even chewed on cedar (tastes aweful). You can't control the wind while sitting in a treestand and deer don't always follow the same routine even though you think you have them patterned. I'm sure everybody knows this.

I learned a lot last year on my first elk hunt. Yes, climbing mountains you sweat a LOT. Scent free showers are not readily available! What is available is managing the wind! I wasn't successful on the elk but I did sneak up on several mule deer. Many of those were big bucks, bucks I would have glady hung on my wall. I'm sure I could have put arrows into them had I had a tag. That's something I have rarely done to big WT bucks here in MO. Not sure why they were easier to get close to but I'm sure it had a lot to do with the wind. As for elk, I'll continue to just pay attention to the wind next year, constantly use my little puffer bottle and occasionally rub myself down with pine. That seemed to work for me. That's what I gained from one short season of chasing elk with a bow. I hope to learn more next year during season and listening to everybody here.

[ABQ_Chica]

If you refill your puffer bottles, do not use baby powder. Might seem like a no-brainer, but... during my tree stand hunt last fall, I kept getting inexplicable whiffs of baby powder. Thought I was hallucinating. The scent gradually got stronger as two bowhunters snuck over the ridge, using puffer bottles. They were watching the wind, all right, while spreading baby powder scent ALL over the place--cleared those drainages out for a few days!

[Indian Summer]

I agree with the fact that you either have the wind or you don't. You cannot mask the human scent enough to fool an elk. Not a chance.

As for the wind detector... Smoke in a Bottle for me. I find that no baby powder or talc powder is as fine as theirs. It is literally like "smoke" in a bottle.

[mongopino915]

Was down wind from a guy with a Hunter Specialty waffle/pancake soaked with elk urine clipped to his hat and got us fooled. We thought we were onto elk only to called him in with arrow nocked.

The human scent is all we use in elk wood.

[Wapiti]

We have developed a wind checker and we called it Thermals. You can give it a shake and gently squeeze out the powder vapors or just give it a big squeeze and use the powder. We have found just using the vapors that it lasts all season easily and in fact my first bottle has barely gone down at all !!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJsEW_9OVN0

Thermals can be purchased at wapitiriveroutdoors.com

Thanks guys

Trav

[ElkNut1]

Hey Travis, everyone should have one of your Thermals, that's down right sensitive stuff, very nice! I like it better than the baking soda I generally use! Thanks!

ElkNut1