Skunk cover scent

[rick]

I've had a slow deer hunting here in NW Florida and am having to reach deeper into my bag of tricks. I've never used a skunk cover scent but thought I might add it to my hunting tactics. I've been hunting for over 50 years and have a pretty good hunting savvy.

I bought a bottle of skunk scent (Buck Stop) last year before archery season. It smelled just like I thought it should....like the many times I've smelled it over the years and the many road kills I've passed over. I kept it in the refrigerator in my garage. I noticed after about 3 months it took on a really different smell. Smelled like a mix of skunk and rotten eggs. I bought another one...same brand, and it smelled even worse when I opened it. It actually foamed out of the bottle when I took the cap off. I've had other natural scents (hot doe, coon pee, and more) go bad in the past.

Does skunk scent have a short shelf life? Where can I get some fresh skunk scent that will last at least one hunting season?

I would never use a scent that smells unnatural. I bought two from other companies and had the same problem...bad on arrival.

I may just go back to red fox pee.


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[buckdeer1]

Back years ago there was one called skunk screen and we used it until we got to thinking why does a skunk spray?Danger,best cover is to watch the wind and thermals,stay clean as you can

 

[Chainsaw]

I shared this on the old forum so bare with me if you heard it before. Dad had a coon hound that would kill every skunk it could find. That dog would grab those skunks by the throat and shake them and shake them. Then he'd rub his face in the dirt presumably to get the skunk spray out of his eyes. Sometimes he'd get four or five a night.

AND in between killing skunks he would hit a coon track, sometimes hot and sometimes very cold and he would follow it until he treed it. Still he stunk;you could smell him as you approached his tree.
Evidently animals have the ability to smell an old coon track even when they themselves stink like a skunk. I believe cover scents do no good at all and it may even bring a deer to attention from a longer distance than normal if he has ever encountered a person before that smells both like a person and a skunk.

No scientific evidence is presented here but that's my story.

 

[dogdoc]

I'm not a huge believer in cover scents. I believe the deer has the ability to differentiate several different scents at one time. At the most it might dilute out the human scent to give you a few extra seconds to make a shot but I sure wouldn't depend on it over playing the wind. Multiple stands for different wind direction is the key!

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Look into some trapping companies like the snare shop or something. They have every scent you can imagine

 

[readonly]

No skunk essence does not have a short shelf life, I have lures made from skunk 10 years ago and still just as potent today. That said, I would never consider for purposes of deer hunting, or any other application that involved putting it on myself.

 

[Hoseman]

I used cover scents many years ago including skunk scent. But I came to the opinion that trying to cover human scent was impossible and playing the wind was the only real way to beat a deer's nose. Of course I do everything I can to keep my scent to a minimum by using scent free soap and deodorant and wash my clothes in scent free detergent, etc. IMO cover scent is like spraying perfume on a raw onion. The perfume doesn't make the onion smell any less to a deer, it only makes the onion smell like a perfume covered onion. Like dogdoc wrote above, multiple stands for different winds is the only real option.

 

[Jeff H]

The bottom line is if they can smell the skunk scent, they can also smell you.
As mentioned before deer can separate all odors from one another. There is no covering them.
When we smell a hamburger we have one smell that we relate to. When deer (or dogs) smell a hamburger they smell the bun, the sesame seeds, the pickles, the lettuce, the tomato, the meat...all separately. You can't fool them unless you attempt to eliminate your odor or simply play the wind.

 

[W33kender]

BSK (from the old QDMA forum) insisted cover scents do not work. It's just one more thing for a deer to smell. He's a biologist and way smarter than me.

 

[Jeff H]

BSK (from the old QDMA forum) insisted cover scents do not work. It's just one more thing for a deer to smell. He's a biologist and way smarter than me.

Correct. Deer have an organ in the roof of their mouth called the Jacobsen's organ that allows odors to be separately categorized. Also, as I understand it they use this organ to "taste" smells.
I've always thought if turkey could smell like deer they would be unhuntable!

 

[Btaylor]

Turkeys that smell are called elk and the success rate is definitely lower than turkeys lol

 

[Jeff H]

Turkeys that smell are called elk and the success rate is definitely lower than turkeys lol

I've heard elk referred to as a 1200 lb turkey. Fun to hunt. Tough to kill.