We've all been through the hope crushing experience of a deer busting
our set up and bounding off into the distance, snorting all the way. Beating
a deer's nose has been the single most difficult obstacle I?ve had to overcome
while pursuing whitetails over the past 21 years. I continue to look for
new and better ways to control my scent and this past winter Rich Walton
gave me a lead when he introduced me to the president of Xtreme Scents,
Jeff Stawiarski. Jeff and company produce a complete line of food-scent
lures and odor eliminating products. The Scent Eliminator line includes
pre-moistened wipes, hair and body wash, laundry detergent and spray.
All of Xtreme's Scent Eliminator products are formulated from a proprietary
blend of unique ingredients. This mixture has been proven to be more effective
than baking soda based products by an independent test lab. Considering
the competition, that is quite an accomplishment! Scent Eliminator products
do not mask odors, they actually chemically attack and destroy them. Another
benefit of this line is its ability to last all day. Other brands must
be applied every few hours due to the way in which they work. Who wants
to carry a bottle of spray with you into the woods anyway?
TESTING
As with all scent control products, it is difficult to accurately judge
effectiveness. Nevertheless, I attempted to evaluate the usefulness based
on the most realistic equipment possible -- a deer's nose!
First, lets cover the basics of the packaging. The spray comes in a
12 oz bottle with a spray- pump top and the wipes come in a small container
that has a small flexible hole at the top (under a lid) that allows one
wipe to be removed at a time. The pump has worked flawlessly and produces
a broad fine mist with each pump action. The wipes usually work fine but
can occasionally tear free inside the main lid, making it tricky to find
the end of the roll.
My supply of Scent Eliminator products arrived last winter giving me
plenty of time to evaluate the effectiveness. Before every outing I would
give myself a good dose of the spray and wipe down my equipment with the
wipes. I have used it for scouting in every season and am now using it
on my hunts. So far this year my children have been with me on most of
my hunts and have been thoroughly introduced to Scent Eliminator Spray!
On numerous occasions we have had deer directly down wind that never knew
we were anywhere in the world. I even had a Maine bear fooled that was
directly down wind until he saw me peak around my tree and tore off through
the thick brush and blow-downs.
There was one particular test that I was very anxious to perform on
the spray. The idea was born out of a real life experience while hunting
the river bottoms of Western, North Dakota a few years back. After hanging
a stand one afternoon I used a scent spray manufactured by another company
to douse the surrounding few feet of vegetation next to the tree, and every
inch of the path leading to the field edge.
This was a prime set-up and I didn't want anything to go wrong. After
coming back later in the day I repeated the process of spraying down the
immediate area and climbed into my stand. Within 20 minutes a doe slipped
through the woods, nibbling her way straight to my stand. When she hit
the perimeter of the sprayed area she put her head down for another nibble
and erupted into a streak of brown fur. Interestingly, the wind was completely
in my favor and nothing had touched the leaves she was about to eat except
for the spray! This scenario played out one more time on that hunt and
two more times on other hunts. Of course we didn't see the buck that we
were chasing that evening either. Since Xtreme' Scents formula is advertised
to be unique and does not employ baking soda, I wanted to recreate the
above scenario and see what happened. To date I've been able to get 11
deer to walk directly through an area soaked with Scent Eliminator Spray
with absolutely no adverse reactions.
Also, I decided to try out the wipes on my bow and release and answer
one of my long time questions: Can my bow grip and release-aid strap be
cleansed of odors that would spook a deer? I thoroughly wiped these two
items down and placed them directly on a trail that I knew a few doe were
traveling regularly. Sure enough they showed up and walked right over the
bow and release -- they didn't even look at them!
I have been busted while using Scent Eliminator products on a few occasions.
Most of those occasions have involved very hot days and a significant effort
either getting to my stand or hanging it. In those situations there may
quite possibly be no possible way to go undetected!
In general I have noticed a marked improvement in my scent control success
since beginning to use Xtreme's Scent Eliminator. Nothing -- and I mean
nothing -- works 100% of the time but my overall experience tells me that
Xtreme has a definite winner. Anytime you find a product that increases
your ability to beat a buck's nose, you win! Besides my carbon clothing,
Scent Eliminator is now my main resource for scent control.
For information on this or any other Xtreme Scents product contact:
|
Xtreme
Scents Game Lures