hearing and sniffing...

[dan]

Beauford's recent post about smelling got me thinking and I did not want to steal his thread so I started a new one...


I don't smell to good... and I don't hear so great.
I think its the years in factorys in noisy and harsh enviroments working with loud noise and chemicals. Carol thinks the hearing is what she calls "selective hearing" she says I hear what I want too, and refferances when we are hunting and I sense game coming before it ever shows up. She says she has great hearing, and a great sense of smell but she don't smell or hear game the way I do...
When walking thru the thick cattails I can smell if a buck in rut has recently walked that same trail... I can smell the muck in the marsh when its disturbed up wind... I can smell a wounded deer up wind before its dead, especially if its hit in the guts...
Some of you probably think Im nuts, but I am willing to bet some of you know exactly what Im talking about.
Its not that I am a great sniffer or hear better with my giant ears, its that I am in tune when in the woods... I think we all have it, but we are not realizing it because we are only part time hunters, not really a full time part of nature... Some peoples minds wander when they are on stand or in the woods. They think about work, there wife, they fantasize about killing a big buck. They don't concentrate on the smells and sounds around them...

So is Dan nuts? Or do any of you notice this too....?

[kenn1320]

nuts j/k. I have heard more then one person say they could smell a buck had been thru an area, but I have never experienced that. I once had a buck and doe within 20yds of me on the ground and I can tell you I could smell "doe in heat" scent in the air. I think sounds/smells that are day to day lower our perception of them. Its like the people who live by a pig farm. They get used to the smell, but the new person to the area cant stand it. The smells in the woods seem hieghtened in my opinion, cause they are not day to day. Same can be said with sounds. We are wanting to hear small subtle sounds in the woods, but day to day activity were not concerned with hearing those type sounds and therefore dont notice them. I dont think Carol is right though with your selective hearing Dan. My wife says she told me about this or that last week, yet I dont recall her saying anything about the topic. I think our wives "think" they told us, or pic the perfect time to tell us something they dont really want us to hear.

[Swampthing]

That's interesting Dan. I have virually no sense of smell , thats why I got the sinus surgery. But on the otherhand I make up for that with my eyes. I think it's like when a guy goes blind , and his body makes up for the loss with increased hearing ability. I can spot things always b4 anyone else, movement, something outta place, a different shade of color. I'm not sure why though.
I do think it does have a lot to do with the mindset your in , or something.

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[Uncle Lou]

Clearly your nuts.

But I think you are also right. I don't know to what degree, but I hear and smell well and thought I smelled a buck the other day. Then I ended up jumping a single deer a short while later while looping back to the truck

[G3s]

I don't think your nuts at all for thinking this, I firmly believe that I can/have smelled deer bedded and have found dead deer due to smell.

[Dewey]

I can definately smell a rutting buck especially if I come near and downwind of a fresh bed this time of the year. I have also smelled them on a trail in the cattails.

Hunting marshes has taught me to use my eyes much more because my hearing is at a disadvantage this time of the year.This is because of all of the geese, ducks, egrets and other birds making so much noise but the advantage is that you can get away with more noise yourself.

[dan]

Hunting marshes has taught me to use my eyes much more because my hearing is at a disadvantage this time of the year.This is because of all of the geese, ducks, egrets and other birds making so much noise but the advantage is that you can get away with more noise yourself.

Them dang birds can be both an advantage and a disadavatage. I like it when they give you cover noise to sneak in, but I like the quiet so I can hear, and I think the bucks do to, I certainly see more when its calm.

[Stanley]

I have smelled an old stank buck more than once. I mean for crying out loud they are a walking latrine. I have a terrible nose and my ears ring all the time. I can hear and smell things in the woods though.

[swamp-assassin]

i use my nose quite a bit actually. its surpising to me because i dont smell that well and i suffer from allergies. but during the rut, i can smell that buck urine through the whole woods. i have even smelled what i think was estrous does before. i also use my nose to track deer that ive shot. seems as though the blood and death have a certain smell to it and i know when im getting close because i can smell it.
i had a friend who is now deceased who said you can smell a bear from a ways away he said they smell nasty. wondering if there is any merit to that. >?

[Dor]

Considering what bears will eat...they are a very clean animal.

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[jigglestick]

I agree it's about what you are in tune to. my hearing is sub par for sure though. I used to think it wasn't so, but in to many instances people have pointed out "did you hear that" and I clearly did not and they turned out to be right. I can't say I have smelled the musk, but there are certain odors I do pick up on. I can smell rotting wood, maybe mold or some sort of fungus? I've tried to smell my hand print on a tree before and nothing doing. I broke my nose but good in when I was in highschool and it's never been the same since, but it left me with the ability to sense barometric changes like when it's going to snow out in the next two days.
oh, the eyes are slipping too. might need specticles before to long but I'm still in denial.

I do wish I could hear better. has anyone used with success, the hearing aids like walkers game ear?

[BackWoodsHunter]

Definitely merit to that I have definitely smelled a deer on more than on occasion. They have a distinct odor IMO. Rutting bucks have a nasty old stink too. So nasty but so sweet because it means its that magical time of year.

As far as bears go I can definitely smell them. They really seem to frequent our land in the summer months and putting in plots and stuff you can smell when they are around. When I was little grandpa would point out the smell in the air and say "you smell that? the bear was through here". Being a "smart" 8yr old told him he was crazy but the more he pointed it out the more I was able to catch on. Now I can always smell em definitely a distinct odor. They just wreak!

[headgear]

I have a lousy sense of smell, alwasy have and i probably alwasy will. I can sure smell a stank buck when i get close to him but I don't think I could smell the trail he walked in the marsh that is for sure.

I do try and make up for that in a big way with my ears, I alwasy wear hearing protection around any loud equipment and do my best to scan for deer with my eyes. I do feel a lot of time my ears lead me to the deer. I alwasy catch myself staring in one direction because of the slightest sound and then I see the deer. This of course isn't alwasy the case because those deer can sure sneak up on you but I feel it very important for me.

[Brad]

I cant smell them but I do have like a sixth sense sometimes, I cant tell you how many times I "have a feeling" and then I see or hear a deer.

[BackWoodsHunter]

I cant smell them but I do have like a sixth sense sometimes, I cant tell you how many times I "have a feeling" and then I see or hear a deer.

It's kind of like that feeling someone is watching you and you look up from what you're doing and someone is creeping on you...i get it