Primitive scent control

[archeryrob]

Check this out. It looks as if Indians did not paint themselves with Red Ocher for decoration, but rather for hunting.


https://atlasofscience.org/red-ochre-and-early-humans/

Ochre, iron oxide, under sunlight on the moist skin, generates aggressive chemicals. They transform body smell into odourless carbon dioxide and sterilize the skin from bacteria.

[Mesophilic]

Cool find!  I wonder if it would still work to some degree if a person rubbed on some red ocher mud under their camo clothing of choice?  Wouldn't get direct sunlight, but still might be better than most commercial scent control. 

Next time I get drawn for large game I want to experiment more with natural scent control as well as face/body paint.  The .mil face paint  sticks make me nauseous, give me a headache, and the commercial stuff smells just enough better to not quite turn my stomach.

[WhistlingBadger]

That's interesting!  Thanks for sharing.

[archeryrob]

Later research shows Iron Oxide is very staining. They stain concrete with it.

So, you might not just wipe it off when done. 

[WhistlingBadger]

So, it's not only primitive scent control; it's a primitive spray-on tan!

[Bryce]

I’ve covered myself in a lot of good hardwood smoke. Totally works.
Deer and bear smell the skin flakes that are constantly falling off of you, that’s how you leave a scent trail. Well if you cover all that in creoles from the smoke it won’t smell human. Plus it’s been proven to kill BO.
The odor comes from bacteria on your skin eating the oils and salts that come out of you sweat glands and the byproduct(farts basically) of the bacteria is that BO smell. Which the smoke covers and cane even stunt the bacteria.
And as long as you do t smell like your, everything is a tad more kosher lol

[reno]

I have nearly always rendered the fat from deer I harvest.  I use this to rub into my leather boots.   I have also taken strips of gauze and soaked this in this.  Then I have taken them and hung them in directions around where my stand or where I was hunting at.
I have had deer follow my steps right up almost to me before.  I do not hunt as often as I use to or nearly as hard as I use to because of joint replacement, heart surgery, being busy with work has a lot to do with it and just getting older.  But I still go into my rut every fall and have to get to the woods.  I've hung my clothes near a wood fire for a day before also and I do think that works.  But my best results came from using the deer fat.

[BowEd]

I put my hunting clothes into a plastic barrel with fresh golden rod.Hunting clothes always stay outside especially while hunting.Maybe this is a given but since it is not mentioned I will mention it.
Many natural things go into manipulating & controlling scent besides personal scent.Fine tuning opportunistic situations helps immensely for success.Paying attention to pressure systems/a low or a high/wind direction and placements of ambush stands or blinds to get an advantage.I'm very rarely made in a tree,but it can happen.Especially on very windy days in a bottom where the wind can swirl around.Deer are usually pretty nervous anyway on very windy days.Too much comotion and noise that they can't diagnose too well.Makes them nervous and edgy,but can cover up any noise a person might make in the stand or blind too.Leaving the area unnoticed or detected helps for the next time out there although I don't hunt any place more than 2 times in a row still yet.
Going into a unhunted before area is most times very noticeable.
The low or high pressure system factor is a fact.High pressure holds the scent down.Low pressure lets the scent rise.It goes in stride to ambush hunting as well as when observing tracking ability of hounds on game.
Wind direction is self explainable making sure the wind direction does not throw your scent across your shooting lanes.
That's why I have many stands set up or a few that are set up to take advantage of different weather conditions and wind directions.
If you hunt twice a day every day which most times is what it takes to get a decent shot unless your lucky which I don't count on it's advantagous to pay attention to conditions before going out hunting.I use no attracting scents either although I'm sure they do work.I want that deer to come by completely oblivious to my presence before getting an arrow stuck through it and paying attention to all of these things does the trick for me.