Just like its keen sense of vision, a deer?s sense of smell should be a big concern to hunters.
“They blow us away with scent,” said Dr. Karl V. Miller, a University of Georgia deer biologist who also is a renowned expert on deer physiology and senses.
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There is no way to completely hide the fact that ? even when squeaky clean ? we smell like humans. And for deer hunting, that’s bad.
Scents to make us smell good alert deer. Detergents without scents ? devoid of whiteners and brighteners ? are available, and best used when washing hunting clothes.
Stay clean, and take a shower the night before hunting. “But don’t wash with your wife’s soap,” said Miller. Similarly, avoid colognes, scented deodorants and after-shave solutions.
Some studies indicate that human scent and scented products used by humans alert rural deer more than suburban deer. Suburban deer are more accustomed to everyday human products.
Things that we take hunting, such as drinks, soups and sandwiches, can affect deer but not that much. “It is not as much of an issue,” said Miller. That makes sense. Deer smell other animals in the woods, and those animals die or are killed by predators. Thus, the smell of a turkey sandwich is not that alarming, although it might “raise some suspicion,” said Miller, who added that coffee and smoking do not seem to alert deer very much.
“You can’t eliminate scent,” noted Miller, who suggests hunters try to hunt downwind of where they expect deer. “If you are downwind, there is no way a deer can smell you.”
A deer?s hearing is similar to ours, according to Miller: “It is not much better than ours, either in intensity or range.”
Perhaps they hear a little more in the high-frequency range, and Miller says their big ears are a huge advantage. They can home in on the direction of a sound and note whether or not that sound is “natural.”
“Deer live in the woods 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Miller said. “They know what they are supposed to hear and not hear.”
A big problem for hunters are unnatural sounds such as hitting a bow on a tree stand or a rifle barrel against a tree limb. Miller has come up with a successful way ? for him ? to move through woods. “People walk with a two-step cadence; deer walk with a four-step cadence. I carry a stick and use it to make a cadence of four as I walk. I’ve had deer come running toward me.”
That might sound a little extreme, but hunters often go to extremes when it comes to hiding from deer senses. Some hunters even take an empty plastic bottle along for urination. Deer can smell that, too.
