Homemade scent killer problem

camoman,

While I haven't tried this scent controller formula, let's look at the ingredients and see what may, or may not, be needed.

The hydrogen peroxide is a very powerful oxidant. This is useful to chemically oxidize organic compounds that may be strange odors. Good stuff and I can see why it is used here, but this stuff will have a very short shelf-life and react with the other compounds in your mixture. It is also rough on your clothes and may actually "bleach" them.

Baking soda, This is a good odor trap. And I would actually think baking soda would be as beneficial without the use of hydrogen peroxide. What I don't understand here is why baking soda, which will only be useful when dry is mixed with hydrogen peroxide (a liquid). Seems like this is incompatible with the normal use of baking soda for odor control. A liquid mixture of baking soda will likely NOT provide any quality odor control. Then again, you have already noticed that the baking soda has reconstituted upon drying.

Scentfree soap. Interesting choice of something to use. Soap is normally made to chemically bond to a loose particle so it can be rinsed away. Hmmmm, unless you apply this overall solution in mass quantities it will likely not "carry away" the scent carrying dirt that you are looking to remove.


In short, I understand the use of baking soda, but hydrogen peroxide is such a powerful oxidant that you should expect to see it degrade/bleach your cammies that you spray it on. It will harm most clothing materials if used often enough. The soap, I absolutely see no need for this item unles you rinse it off.


I'd recommend dusting yourself in dry baking soda and calling it good. At least that's my 2 cents worth of chemistry on it.


What I do is this. 1. Wash clothes in a scentfree detergent. 2. Use a strong odored piece of native vegetation to cover my scent. In the badlands, sage is great. Around bismarck, absinthe would seem to work well as it is everywhere. And if hunting alfalfa fields, I will pull and crumple a bunch of it to rub on my clothes.


And 3. Don';t go through all this hassle and wear a musk scented deoderant. That would just be silly......

Allen, so you wash your clothes in scentfree detergent, and use a strong odorized piece of vegetation, but dont use any of that expensive spray on scentkiller you have to buy? What do you do for when you are walking to your stand and you sweat the little that you do, you just dont worry about it or what? Also do you think it would work to store all my hunting clothes in a rubbermaid container with some vegetation from the area im hunting, and dirt because it seems to have a distinct scent in my area, and change the vegetation frequently so it doesn't get rotten? Sorry for all the questions, it's just im kinda new to this scent control stuff for bowhunting.

Why do you want the scent killer to return to solid form aren't you supposed to use it in a spray bottle.

camoman,

Storing clothes in a container with some native vegetation is a great idea. I usually use an unscented garbage bag, but a rubbermaid container would work wells also.

In trying to get to the stand I take my time so I don't work up a sweat, or carry my stand clothes in a back pack and change once there. It's also one of the reasons why I have rarely enjoyed the early bow season. Stalking mulies is surefire way to break a sweat.

Elmer_Fudd, the baking soda will only really absorb odor if it's dry. Also, applying it in a liquid form will help get good even coverage across your clothes. The drying and recrystalization process will make the baking soda stay on the cloth better but will easily wash away.

I've also seen ads for activated charcoal powder that you sprinkle on your clothing. Seems to me that stuff should be fairly decent as an odor trap. But remember this. Unless you are sweating a lot, about 90% of odor coming from you will be in the from your exhaled breath. So watch what you eat before climbing in your stand. If it smells good to you, it also smells bad to the deer.

Basically, I am of the opinion that I can't hold my breath for a few hours so it doesn't really matter what I do to control odor on my clothes. Making sure to breathe through the nose when a deer is coming from downwind is a good idea for the wind will always be either my worst enemy or best ally.

As usual I agree with Allens advice. The wind is always a factor in any hunting situation, either good or bad.

I've got a scent lock suit that I wear while bowhunting, but they don't work as good as the advertising would lead you to believe. The whole scent reducing (not eliminating) industry is about money IMO. Look at the shelves in any sporting goods store and they are full of sprays that supposedly eliminate your odor. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The best bet is to set your stand up after considering the prevailing winds in your area. I have a couple areas where I've got two stands, one for a NW wind, another on the other side of the trail for a south wind.

Allen or anybody, do you think that dusting my cammies with baking soda will cause any sort of reflection problems because it's white or will it help to lighten up my camo a little, and would it be a good idea to dust them with baking soda before putting the clothes in the rubbermaid with the vegetation?

The best thing I found out is hanging camo outside and take the water hose after it and let them dry. I will hose them down 3 or 4 times a week and let them hand out side. If I wash them it is in just water and let dry natural.

I'd put a box of baking soda in the rubbermaid container with your clothes. I wouldn't put it directly on the camo though. Just my opinion.

So pretty much liking putting it in your refrigerator to absorb scent. But will that absorb the scent from the vegetation or affect it in anyway?

The homemade scent killer worked great for me. I wash my clothes in no scent detergent then air dryed them and then sprayed them down good, it's cheap enough to be stingy with it. For a little added touch when I was up in the stand, I tried some of that deer dander out of cabelas. If a person doesn't mind smelling like deer it works. A word of caution don't wear that stuff around to much people will stare. My parents couldn't stand the smell but boy did it work.

The homemade scent killer worked great for me. I wash my clothes in no scent detergent then air dryed them and then sprayed them down good, it's cheap enough to be stingy with it. For a little added touch when I was up in the stand, I tried some of that deer dander out of cabelas. If a person doesn't mind smelling like deer it works. A word of caution don't wear that stuff around to much, people will stare. My parents couldn't stand the smell but boy did it work.

camoman, What BH had mentioned is for having scent free clothes. That's the difference between being scent free and cover scented. Wouldn't use baking soda in the container if you were using sage as a cover scent. It would be pointless. Baking soda is to absorb scent and it basically should work with anything organic.

The deer dander thing is something I just saw on a hunting show this morning. I for one am always a little leary of smelling like a deer. I've seen too many videos of people getting the tar knocked out of them because they put deer scent on themselves and a buck took them serious enough to open a big can of whoopin's.

Not sure about whether or not the white of baking soda would be a red flag for deer. White is something they see pretty well.

Camoman,
Exactly.

Not sure if it would effect your clothes any other way, but if getting rid of odor is the goal, and you don't smell like grass and trees, so what?

archer109 seems sold on the homemade stuff so it may be worth a try. I'd still watch the wind, I'm not sure anything will fool a whitetails nose.

archer, I take it you didn't have the same problem I did with the baking soda? Any idea why it might have gone wrong for me?

Absinthe, can that also be known as wormwood?

camoman,

Yes, its full name is absinthe wormwood and it's classified as a noxious weed in ND.

But if you want some, feel free to stop by my yard and take home all you can pluck. It's some darn tough stuff to kill. But yes, it's also a very strong smelling plant and could serve as a cover scent.

Make sure you check out the "Don't Miss" thread before you use deer scents on yourself. Darn funny video.

It's funny you should bring up absynth wormwood. Back in "the day" a lot of European artists and authors and stuff used to drink Absynthe (the liquor) and talk about seeing the green fairy, most noteably, Vincent Vangough. Real absynthe is not available in the US, as it is a controlled substance. However, you can apperantly still procure the halucinageonic liquor in Canada and Europe. Yes, wormwood is a halucinageon. Also, I have no idea how to spell, "halucinegeon" correctly.

Allen thanks for the offer but I already have more than I can handle. And I also already found out about the whole absynthe liqour thing by searching absinthe on the internet and coming up with recipes to make the stuff, not exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for the confirmation.

It's hallucinogen. And gotta admit I had never heard that about absinthe wormwood. Guess if I wanted to start dealing in wormwood, I could make a fortune. :D

Every farmer in the state could probably make a fortune, that stuff is terrible, we've been spraying all summer to kill that stuff and canadian thistle, that stuff is worse it makes terrible cover to walk through.