Residual Scent Trail

[CurlyTail]

Our recent scent control thread got me wondering about the residual scent trail we all leave walking through an area. Apparently, a Blood Hound can detect this spoor up to days later.

My question is - How much time needs to pass before the scent trail is so faint that it will no longer spook Elk?

In other words - If you move close to a herd, call, then retreat - If the Bull comes in your direction, will he scent your recent trail and spook? If you cross a saddle, how long before a Elk can cross without spooking at your scent trail?

My own guess is that about 15 minutes you are pretty safe. But this is mostly a guess. I think it would be a mistake to call him over ground you just vacated.

A second question would be how far away can the Elk scent you downwind? I know from personal experience, that Elk scented me, over 300 yards away. It was a totally windless foggy cool morning. The Elk were about 300 yards away, slightly downhill. I could not detect any downward thermal and I thought I was safe, and waiting for them to move off the private land. After about 10 minutes, first one cow, then another caught my scent and the entire herd exited the valley in short order. Clearly, my scent slowly moved downhill and eventually swirled into their noses. For this reason, I prefer to walk up valley bottoms in the AM, and down ridges in the late morning/afternoon to keep my scent from entering into the valley and spooking unseen Elk.

[Lefty]

"Clearly, my scent slowly moved downhill and eventually swirled into their noses."
When I use to trap canines we relied on the wind to do weird things. Generally the best nights were much like the day you described, fog, no wind, Scent tends to stay low and become strong.
One night of howling winds I wasn't expecting much of a catch,.. over 25 % of my trap locations held fox that day .


Tough question, with lots of answers
All sorts of things impact the amount of scent left at a location, how that scent is held in place and how it dissipates.
I watcher 54 elk walk right over my track literally just 2 minutes old. In that situation conditions were hot and dry with a slight breeze
My guess My scent was to low to detect.
I've seen white tails, fox and coyotes hit a track 10 to 30 minutes old as if they hit an electric fence
I dont have enough solid experiences with elk. but deer fox and coyotes will walk upon a track, then tend to look both ways and continue on,.. just like someone crossing the street.Some animals will take interest
Somehow animals seem a good day to know when you are gone.Some animals will take interest

[Swede]

I too have had elk cross my trail within a couple of minutes of me walking down it. I had a spike follow right behind me on another trail. Wind, weather, terrain, and amount of scent can make a difference. You can fill a basin with your scent by just staying in there when you have an inversion. I have sat over 3,000 hours in a tree stand and usually can observe some distance along the trail I walked in on. I have never noticed a problem after I left the place I walked over. When I get into my stand I consider the problem with scent to be over, unless I am dealing with downdrafts.
What I don't know is; can the elk can't smell me, or do they know it is not directly coming from a human?
One time a friend walked down a trail and had a freshly painted steel tree stand with him. A half hour later, a bear came to where this friend walked down the hill and abruptly turned and ran back past me. The tree stand smelled strongly of fresh paint, and my friend probably had some odor too.

[Lefty]

,.... a bear came to where this friend walked down the hill and abruptly turned and ran back past me. The tree stand smelled strongly of fresh paint, and my friend probably had some odor too.

I have two close friends that are rabid bear hunters. The one has over a dozen Minnesota Pope and Young and B and C bear. His thoughts on bears are the older bears generally know you are in the area. He rotates worn sweatshirts at baits for the bear to get accustomed to his smell. He has some really neat video footage, he is reading a book while in a ground blind, A big bear turns its head into his blind then kept walking to the bait. After 45 minutes at the bait he took the bear.
The other friend hunts Utah Idaho, Wyoming and Montana, Mostly spot and stalk He wears Scent loc and only hunts with the perfect wind,..

[Tigger]

I can tell you from my whitetail experience they can smell my trail a few hours after I walk in. Usually it doesn't bother them if after an hour, but rather their nose goes straight to the ground, they sniff around a little and then continue on without becoming alarmed. Within an hour they get a little more nervous and may turn around. Or they may not care or they may not even smell it. I have been using drag rags with doe in estrus scent saturated on it for quite a while. Almost all deer will stop and really sniff that out. I have read that deer can tell which way to go to follow the trail. that has NOT been my experience. Most of the bucks and at least half of the does go the wrong way! Maybe we just have dumb deer, I am not sure. The nice thing about a drag rag is that they almost all stop and stand still for quite a while which would give you ample time to shoot them.

[ishy]

I've had both results stuff spooking long after, then elk spooking immediately after. Not sure of a definite answer. I know I have stayed put when calling when it could have been beneficial to move back fearing that crossing my trail would cost me opportunities.

[Da White Shoe]

My theory is... if you're hunting the same area, day after day, elk activity will be reduced in that area due to the ground scent you're leaving. I believe that they can detect your scent when crossing your scent trails that are hours old. It won't necessarily spook them if they're old, but they will be reluctant to return to those places in the near future. It takes somewhere between 3-6 days to notice the dwindling of elk, depending on conditions.

[Swede]

There has been some interesting observations on this and the other scent thread, but I must respectfully disagree with white shoe. White shoe may be on to something, but he has to be hunting a different environment than I do. Elk are not like deer in that they cover a lot of area normally. You have a few, that I refer to as residents. They will stick around an area for an extended period. I have never observed these residents leaving due to some human scent. I have watched them on the ranch. There they become familiar with human interaction. They move just enough to get out of the way of the ranch pickup. Where I have my tree stand on public land, I have had elk stay in a little basin for weeks and only move away enough to avoid me. It was close to the end of the season one year when I went back to a basin to shoot a cow that had been there all season. I saw or heard her every time I went there. Sure enough about 5:00 PM she came into water. On the public land the elk will leave for the ranch when sufficient pressure is put on the National Forest land.
The other migratory elk that move, only come around an area every week or so. They are on a short circuit that takes them about 7-14 days to cover. Still there is no problem with residual scent.
I have not really observed what ishy describes, but I have read other hunters that had the same experience. I am wondering if location and weather are not more of a factor than other things. Are you hunting an area that has very few hunters, so that your scent is very unusual to the elk? I don't remember if you were one of the people that said you pay little or no attention to your scent level. Are you keeping your scent to a minimum or not?

[cohunter]

I've had an experience with this... not sure how to interpret this, so you guys tell me what to think:

The story:
Cool, Rainy September Morning. While walking slowly into an area I'd heard an elk bugling in several minutes before, I heard sticks cracking behind me. I tried to gain a vantage point by returning on the path I'd just covered. After covering around 40 yards, I saw antler tips and I was right out in the open. I was somehow able to sneak back about 20 yards next to some trees within 10 yards of the game trail, meaning I'd covered part of the trail 3 times in a matter of minutes. The bull entered the trail that I'd just used at about 60 yards, stopped briefly at 40 yards almost broadside ( I KNEW I'd get a better shot), and then continued on the trail quartering toward me at a steep angle. Uncomfortable with the shot, I waited for him to continue along the path below me. At 15 yards he was obscured by branches and of course chose that moment to leave the trail and travel above and behind me directly downwind. I tried to follow up over the rise and got him to stop with a grunt, but he only gave me an over-the-shoulder glance. This was a nice mature bull, but even at 20-30 yard directly downwind, he never busted out of there, instead walking at that ground-eating pace we've seen elk disappear so quickly with. I'm not real serious about scent control. I try to shower before going out, try to wipe down daily and use deodorizing spray, but still try to play the wind. In this case, were the moist conditions working in my favor? Was this bull just nose-deaf? Had a death wish? I've always felt like smells were stronger in the wet woods, is this not true? Educate me, people!

[Swede]

I suspect the bull just never really caught your scent very well. The scent coming off of you does not go in a straight line. The air currents may take it up, or to the side. The bull was not nose blind and would have bolted out of there if he had smelled you. It sounds like he was suspicious of your presence, and that may have come from a slight lingering scent. Don't know. He could have heard or seen you, or could have just been a nervous bull. Just my thought.

[BuckyHunter13]

The biggest question I have is how comparable an elk's sense of smell and tolerance is compared to a whitetail.

A whitetail can smell a human entry trail for several days after the fact. Whether it alters their pattern depends on several factors - maturity of the animal, location of the scent (is it an area humans regularly travel or is it a secluded spot where human = predator), the timing (less important during the rut), etc.

I bowhunt an area that's part of a subdivision, and there's a mowed walking trail through the property. Deer and people with dogs both regularly walk that trail during the day and evening. I hunt a stand 30 yards off that trail. Once I start hunting that stand and the deer start crossing my entry trail, the number of encounters goes down, their travel route gives the stand a wider birth, they start moving later in the evening, and mature buck sightings become a lot less frequent. And this is an area where they are accustomed to human interaction. Hunting a spot on large tracts of public land in northern wisconsin is basically 1 and done for the season. I typically give a spot at least a month before returning, at least when it isn't during the rut and when I'm looking for a mature buck.

I would guess that elk behave similarly. They can smell that you were there. Once they are alerted to your presence, they may not clear the area but they might skirt you, scent check before entering, or return to their bed earlier/arrive closer to dark.

Whitetail pattern humans just as much (and the mature bucks even moreso) as we try to pattern them. I have to think that elk are doing the same. Seems like this would be why the most successful calling sequences are the ones that don't sound like the average hunter... the aggressive, the less common, and the pitchy.

[Swede]

I will state up front I have spent very little time hunting Whitetails, and where I have, they intermingled with Mule deer. If I had seen a good Mulie first, I would have shot it, so was I even hunting Whitetails.
Whitetail deer reside on a much smaller area, and know when some predator intrudes into it. A Yellowstone elk's territory covers miles. They may leave for their bedding area one day and be several miles away on the next. That may be why some have thought they were in a rush to get away. The truth is you will have to run to get ahead of a casually feeding herd. They move fast and cover a lot of ground. If elk were effected by some residual smell they would be in a panic a lot. There are too many predators out there for them to avoid, or get excited about some old scent.
I think an elk's nose is as good as a deer's. I just have not observed them getting into a panic over some residual odor. If they smell you directly it is game over.
I am all for minimizing my odor, but I make no claim that an elk can be directly downwind and not be spooked. When people say they have had that experience, I translate it to mean they thought their scent went directly to the elk, but it didn't. I believe we narrow our scent window, and reduce it so we may get away with being generally upwind without being detected. At the same time a person with a stronger smell would be busted. I have observed elk getting nervous and fidgeting around some place downwind of me. I knew they were concerned at first, but were unsure. It did not take long for them to recognize what the problem was, then bolt. I could watch the elk place its nose in the air and sniff. It stopped then went back to sniffing. Within a minute it was all over.

[Da White Shoe]

There has been some interesting observations on this and the other scent thread, but I must respectfully disagree with white shoe. White shoe may be on to something, but he has to be hunting a different environment than I do. Elk are not like deer in that they cover a lot of area normally. You have a few, that I refer to as residents. They will stick around an area for an extended period. I have never observed these residents leaving due to some human scent. I have watched them on the ranch. There they become familiar with human interaction. They move just enough to get out of the way of the ranch pickup. Where I have my tree stand on public land, I have had elk stay in a little basin for weeks and only move away enough to avoid me. It was close to the end of the season one year when I went back to a basin to shoot a cow that had been there all season. I saw or heard her every time I went there. Sure enough about 5:00 PM she came into water. On the public land the elk will leave for the ranch when sufficient pressure is put on the National Forest land.
The other migratory elk that move, only come around an area every week or so. They are on a short circuit that takes them about 7-14 days to cover. Still there is no problem with residual scent.
I have not really observed what ishy describes, but I have read other hunters that had the same experience. I am wondering if location and weather are not more of a factor than other things. Are you hunting an area that has very few hunters, so that your scent is very unusual to the elk? I don't remember if you were one of the people that said you pay little or no attention to your scent level. Are you keeping your scent to a minimum or not?

I'll set the scene a little...
We've hunted the same area in Colorado for 15 seasons. We've learned over those years that when the muzzleloaders start walking in from every road, there is one secluded area the elk always go. There is a giant, deep, cliff rimmed canyon they flock to. The area we spike camp into is next to this canyon and has private land on one side that no one ever seems to hunt. It's 6 tough miles in there from the nearest road and even farther coming in from the other direction. We rarely see another hunter and we spend the 9 days of MLer season packed in there on horses every year.
There's always SOME elk in there, but without fail, the place fills up with elk a couple days into the ML season.
You don't hunt whitetails, but I've done a lot of it. Enough to have witnessed many deer cross my scent trail. Depending on how old the scent is and the maturity of the deer, they may spook directly... or they may put their nose to the ground showing no fear. I've had several younger deer follow it right to my tree.
This proves to me that elk can smell those trails too. Their nose is equal to a WT. Does it make them run over the next mountain, wild eyed and tongue hanging out? No. But, if there's a mature elk in the bunch, they may very well avoid the area after running into ground scent a few times.
Now, this is only a theory. I've always believed that elk have a feeding circuit that rotates over several days... but, in this instance, I believe hunting pressure trumps that. These elk want to stay in there.
I've seen it play out too many times in this spot. Start of ML, elk pack into the canyon, coming up on top to feed. We have 4 to 6 good days after that.

[BuckyHunter13]

I think an elk's nose is as good as a deer's. I just have not observed them getting into a panic over some residual odor. If they smell you directly it is game over. I am all for minimizing my odor, but I make no claim that an elk can be directly downwind and not be spooked. When people say they have had that experience, I translate it to mean they thought their scent went directly to the elk, but it didn't. I believe we narrow our scent window, and reduce it so we may get away with being generally upwind without being detected.

You made a lot of good points - especially the difference in territory size and ground covered. I also think the above is true. A lot of people think a deer is directly downwind of them and they got away with it due to scent control and other tactics, and maybe it minimizes impact to a degree, but it's more likely that your scent stream did some sort of dip, dive, swirl, or other crazy maneuver that prevented the deer from catching it. I'm sure some guys on here use milkweed to 'see' the wind. Rarely do the seeds end up the exact direction you'd have guessed based on where it's hitting your face.

That nose in the air usually means bad things comin though.

[Luckyman]

I knew I remembered reading it somewhere, about the extremes of humidity and sense of smell being diminished.

https://books.google.com/books?id=JwsQC ... og&f=false

here's a nice one about smell.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/dog ... smell.html

[CurlyTail]

Seems like a lot we dont know for sure

When I first started Elk Hunting, I was so paranoid about my scent trail, that I circled around an entire mountain top to avoid leaving scent across the pass I was hunting. This took about one hour of extra time and effort. Now we did shoot a nice cow that morning so the strategy worked, but I now think it was a bit excessive.

I do use the milkweed fibers for wind indicators and it has been quite amazing to see the updrafts, downdrafts, and swirling that does occur in the mountains. For this reason, I prefer the milkweed fibers (minus the seed) for wind indicators.

In Western Nebraska, we have an Evil thing called Sand burrs. Some people call them "goat heads". They are sharp spikes that stick straight-up and are capable of puncturing bicycle and lawn tractor tires without difficulty. Stepping on one in bare feet is a memorable experience. I have a dog, who has learned to scent Sand burrs. She will immediately freeze and refuse to move upon scenting one. I look upwind - sure enough - another Sand burr. Elk must have a way of quantifying the amount of scent, and estimating age and or proximity based on intensity of scent. The amount of scent that spooks them probably depends upon their state of anxiety and alertness at that moment, and perhaps their maturity and age/experience level. I suspect if you are travelling through open terrain, you are going to leave less of a scent trail, than if the terrain has a lot of leafy undercover and dense brush or trees. I think it is good for us that Elk do not travel with their noses to the ground.

[ElkNut1]

I set trail cameras pretty regular come July through Sept. I have quite a few photos of elk 20 minutes after setting the cameras. No issues! I've found if ground is wet it holds our scent longer, up to an hour.

ElkNut1

[Swede]

Paul's explanation is very reasonable. I too have observed elk coming it to my stand area shortly after I got there. Often they cross my tracks. I also notice that after the season opens and many hunters invade the public land, the elk leave for the private ranch. I have blamed those crazy buglers a plenty. lol What I am wondering is if the elk don't care if I left some residual scent, as long as the scent is slight and not direct from me, or do they just not smell a human? They usually don't react to my scent. I used to worry about the matter, but don't much now. I worry more about the wind direction when I walk to my stand, and where my scent is being carried.

[saddlesore]

Anyone who has ever run dogs, whether it be rabbits,or cats,knows that scent lingers longer in humid country. When it drys up the dogs have a lot more trouble keeping the trail

Nothing to do with scents, but,Curly Tail. In New Mexico,there are sand burrs and goat Heads. Goat heads grow on a viney type plant that sends out runners and the goat head that grows on them is about 1/4 inch in diameter that had several spines on it. They are fairy toxic as most wounds fester from them. Sand burrs grow on a grass type plant and infest a lot of grass hay fields. They get baled up along with the good hay and are hell on cows and horses mouths. Many times getting stuck in the throat . We always checked the fields before we cut and baled when we were doing custom bailing. If it was real bad ,we wouldn't cut it. If not too bad,we would have the owner of the property have hoses and a good supply of water there to completely wash out the machinery crop of had. A fellow would sure catch heck, if he brought sand burrs seeds into another fellows hay fields. Those darn goat head seeds will last a hundred years and will germinate when the moisture is right. Either one,dogs will sure come up on three legs asking help to get them out.

[Tigger]

I am a firm believer that our scent trail does weird things. I have had literally hundreds of deer get downwind of me on my deer stand. for example, they come from far left and eventually end up far to the right of me so they HAD to cross my scent trail. but they didn't smell me....? I believe it is because my scent either dumped straight down or went over their heads. Sometimes they sniff for awhile and I think the gig is up....then they go back about their business. It always varies.

When I have a deer or elk downwind, one thing that I think (stress my opinion only) helps is breathing out your nose. Mouth breathing puts a lot of scent in the air. I have noticed it so many times that I really do think it helps. Another way to look at it is if you are going to smell another human, odds are it will be their breath (unless they ate some bad Mexican the night before... ).

[Lefty]

,..... Another way to look at it is if you are going to smell another human, odds are it will be their breath (unless they ate some bad Mexican the night before... ).

Maybe its just some of these Idaho hunters,.. but its way more than their breath that stinks in the field

[wawhitey]

I set trail cameras pretty regular come July through Sept. I have quite a few photos of elk 20 minutes after setting the cameras. No issues! I've found if ground is wet it holds our scent longer, up to an hour.

ElkNut1

Same thing, ill set or check a cam only to have elk, bear etc strolling through apparently unconcerned shortly after. One that surprised me was when i set a cam while shed hunting with a friend and his dog. We were all over, making noise, human and dog scent. Hooting and hollering at eachother as we found half a dozen paddles within a couple hundred yards of the cam. 6 hours later a bear showed up. I know 6 hours is a while, but all the noise we were making, plus the presence of the dog, it surprised me. Think we may have woken him up from his winter nap. This pic is 6 hours after i set the cam up, probably only an hour or maybe 2 after we vacated the area.

[Da White Shoe]

I think if you do some reading on the subject, you'll find that ground scent will linger much longer than an hour, even in less than good conditions. Dogs can track many hours after a scent was first laid down.
The real question is, what will the animals reaction be when they detect your scent trail?
I'll stand by my statement that when elk repeatedly encounter human scent trails... it's going to have an effect.

[Indian Summer]

Dogs can track many hours after a scent was first laid down.

If you ever watched a rabbit doing 60 mph barely touching the ground every 10 feet and then a pair of beagles trailing behind not missing a single molecule of scent you'd realize how powerful a nose can be and how much scent is dispersed by us and other animals. I think about that when I'm elk hunting and make an effort not to touch things as I hike along.

[Swede]

I.S. and White Shoe make a good point here. Shoe's question about animals reaction is key. There is no doubt that residual scent lingers on a long time. My observation is that the elk don't do much if the scent is just there. They know the difference between residual and direct scent. Still, (and I am a little less sure of this), when there are enough hunters in an area, and residual scent becomes too frequent, the elk leave the area. Anyway that seems to be the case where I hunt. Other factors to their leaving are surely major contributors too.