Looking back on my teenage years, I remember how my passion for deer hunting quickly grew into a dream of one day being part of the hunting industry. At the time, manufacturers drove much of the excitement by producing popular hunting shows.
Most of these were watched on VHS tapes that hit store shelves each fall, while a few even aired on Saturday mornings or Sunday evenings. During the hunts, it seemed like every hunter relied on the newest scent elimination products, often talking about them with the same enthusiasm as a NASCAR driver in victory lane.
When I finally landed my first job in the industry, it was as a field staff member for a well-known hunting brand. Each fall, I traveled to trade shows and gave seminars for fellow deer hunters. More often than not, the focus was on scent elimination products, the hot trend of the time, much like what we’d call “trending” today.
Fast forward fifteen years, and the conversation among hunters has shifted dramatically. Instead of debating which spray brand works best, discussions now center on wind direction, thermals, and stand access.
Gone are the days of waiting for a VHS release each fall; today, information and entertainment are available instantly at our fingertips. I, like many others, spend time watching everyday hunters online, many of whom share their hunts within days of when they happen.
The trend has moved away from product promotion and toward a do-it-yourself, mobile style of hunting that prioritizes playing the wind. When scent elimination products are used, they’re rarely the focus of conversation.
This raises the question: is scent control still part of the game, or was the craze of the past little more than a clever marketing push? Has the pendulum permanently swung in a new direction?
Trends Change, But the Deer’s Nose Doesn’t
Make no mistake, a whitetail’s nose remains its strongest defense. With hundreds of millions of scent receptors, deer can detect human odor long before they are ever seen. That fact has never changed.
What has changed is the hunters’ perspective. Many now accept that human scent can never be eliminated entirely, which makes spending large amounts of money on comprehensive systems less appealing.
Instead, today’s hunters focus on reducing their scent footprint just enough to buy a few extra seconds of opportunity, or they rely more heavily on stand placement and wind direction. At the same time, some hunters remain committed to a comprehensive scent-control regimen, wearing specialized clothing and utilizing elimination products to the fullest extent.
To get a clearer picture of current attitudes, I conducted a social media poll asking hunters about their approach. Seventy-five percent of respondents reported using scent control products in combination with hunting the wind.
Most of these hunters acknowledged that no product can completely overcome a deer’s sense of smell, but they felt that scent-control measures provided an added advantage. Only one person in the survey stated they did not use scent elimination products at all, instead relying solely on the wind to dictate success.
From these responses, it is clear that the modern wave of hunters, especially those who are mobile and minimalist, still employ scent elimination, but with far less emphasis than in the past. For them, hunting the wind remains the most crucial factor in achieving success.
Why Many Hunters Are Walking Away from Scent Control Products
- The Cost Factor – Sprays, detergents, clothing systems, and ozone machines add up fast. Many hunters say they’re tired of draining their wallets for products that don’t deliver consistent results.
- Unrealistic Claims – Some of the industry’s marketing promised “complete scent elimination.” Most hunters now recognize that’s impossible. Even with a strict regimen, a deer’s nose usually wins.
- Back to Basics – Experienced hunters often say they’ve killed more mature bucks by focusing on wind and access than they ever did with a tote full of products. In their eyes, woodsmanship trumps gimmicks every time.
As one of the hunters who answered my poll put it: “If a buck comes downwind of you, I don’t care how many days you haven’t showered or if you just got out of a scent-proof shower and took your clothes out of a fancy ozone closet, they will smell you.”
What Still Works (If You Believe In It)
Not everyone has completely given up on scent control. Some hunters believe specific tactics can make a noticeable difference. Personally, I have been one of the biggest supporters of scent control products, having used many of them. Yes, I agree that sometimes when a buck is downwind of you, no matter what precautions you take, he can smell you. However, that is not always the case.
- Scent-Free Showers & Laundry – At the very least, this reduces strong foreign odors like fuel, cologne, or detergent.
- Ozone Systems – While expensive, many hunters have anecdotal stories of deer approaching from downwind without spooking when ozone was used in a blind or treatment tote.
- Natural Cover Scents – Using earth or pine-based scents doesn’t make you invisible, but it can buy a little forgiveness if the wind swirls.
The bottom line is that these products might help on the margins, but they can’t erase poor hunting fundamentals.
The Shift: Wind First, Gadgets Second
The loudest voices in deer hunting today hammer the same point: hunt the wind, not the gimmicks.
- Stand Selection – Choosing setups where the prevailing wind carries your scent away from deer movement.
- Thermals – Learning how rising and falling air currents move odor in hill country and bottoms.
- Access Routes – Entering and exiting without letting your scent pool where deer bed or feed.
Hunters are realizing that these old-school skills beat any spray bottle or carbon suit. As one public-land hunter said, “You can buy all the gear in the world, but if you don’t understand how thermals work, you’ll educate more deer than you’ll kill.”
Is the Craze Over?
Yes and no. The use of scent-eliminating products remains common, but sales are in decline. There are plenty of hunters who continue to use them, so I can’t say they are entirely gone.
However, the obsession that once defined deer hunting culture has cooled off. Instead of being a mandatory checklist item, scent control has become optional, something hunters might include in their strategy but rarely build a season around.
The new consensus is clear: you can’t beat a deer’s nose, but you can outsmart it with clever stand placement and woodsmanship. Scent-control sprays and ozone machines may help, but they’re no substitute for hunting discipline. Maybe the craze isn’t over; it’s just been demoted.
