I hunted the Wild Horse Prairie Ranch opening weekend of bow season, which gave me an opportunity to test the effectiveness of cover scents and scent free gear. The Wild Horse Prairie Ranch is located between Burnet and Lampasas; in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. This ranch is a fantastic place to conduct a test like this due to the terrain and amount of animals that inhabit the ranch. This ranch is an 11,000 acre low fence parcel loaded with game such as whitetail deer, hogs, turkey, Fallow Deer, Red Stag, Black Buck, Aoudad, and Corsican Goats.
If you want to be truly scent free this is what you begin with.
I arrived at the ranch the evening before the hunt. After a typical meet and greet get together and a great meal I was ready to start my test. I washed my hunting clothes with Scent Killer unscented clothes wash and threw them in the dryer. Since we had an early wake up call, I decided to shower the night before the hunt with Wildlife Research Center's Scent Killer soap.
After a good nights sleep, I was up and ready to hunt. I put on my hunting clothes and my Elimitrax over-boots and sprayed down with Scent Killer cover spray; and headed to my stand. After a short walk to my stand, I climbed up a 10 foot ladder and put out 4 Earth Scented Trophy Leaf's within arms reach in down wind direction from were I was sitting. There was a slight wind out of the south, clear skies and 70 degrees.
ELIMITRAX Over-Boot System utilizes the newest scent control technology available today - never enter your hunting area without them.
At first light, I saw something 25 yards straight in front of my stand. It was a grey fox, heading directly toward me. The fox traveled as close as 10 feet from me and was directly down wind. The first test was a complete success. The fox never sensed me or my scent coming into the stand.
5 minutes later, a twig snapped behind me. As I looked through the woods, I could see 3 does angling toward me. These animals were also directly down wind of me and so I watched them closely. The does walked within 15 yards of me and never knew I was there. I was starting to feel really confident at this point.
Over the next hour and half I saw 3 different groups of hogs, another fox and coyote and all were traveling back and forth along game trails that were located down wind of me.
I did not shoot anything on this morning hunt, but it was a great hunt none the less. With the amount of animals that I saw in a totally undisturbed state and knowing that all this game was within close range was a great feeling.
Trophy Leaf by WRC
I arrived at a stand for the evening hunt at 4:30pm. I specifically picked this stand to really put the Elimitrax and Wildlife Research products through the test because under normal circumstances I would have never hunted this location. I had hunted this particular stand enough under various wind conditions to know that with a south wind, it was not a good location. It was an area of the ranch that is thick with oaks and the only direction I could see was straight up an old pipeline which is cut to the north. With a south wind, I would normally see no game at all.
Prior to getting in the stand I again put on my Elimitrax over-boots and Elimiscent gloves, sprayed down with Scent Killer cover spray and put out my 4 Trophy Leaf's just down wind. I was amazed when I started to see animals. Before the night was over, I had seen 6 bucks, 4 does and a group of hogs. I decided to take a hog and after a successful shot, loaded the pig and headed back to camp. I will testify that, without a doubt, with the wind out of the south and the game trails to my north, had I not worn and used the scent control products I did I would have never seen an animal, let alone been in position to take one.
Scent Elimination products put this boar on the ground
Conclusion: Scent elimination products can enhance your hunting experience and make a significant difference in the amount of game you see. And if you don't see game, you sure can't take an animal.
Colby's pick: Scent elimination products can improve your hunting experiences in a big way. The products I tested from Wildlife Research and Elimitrax, really do work.
