Human Scent Near Houses

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Rampaige
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Human Scent Near Houses

Unread postby Rampaige » Fri Oct 26, 2018 2:40 am

Do you think deer are more tolerant to human scent when hunting near houses? Most of my hunting is done within a few hundred yards from houses. I'm certain, regardless of where I set up, my ground scent will alert them and put them on edge, but do you think a hunter could get away with a less-than-ideal wind if they hunt near houses due to human scent being in the wind regularly?

I have a spot where there is buck bedding on the leeward side of a point and the prevailing wind is out of the NW. Just to the NW only 200 yards (tops) is a neighborhood. I access this stand from the E and I have taken 5 bucks, including 3 of my biggest, within this 3-5 acre area just SE of these houses. I always do my best to take thermals and wind into consideration, but maybe I wouldn't need to climb down as quickly as I would in another spot if the wind were to get dicey.


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Drenalin
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Re: Human Scent Near Houses

Unread postby Drenalin » Fri Oct 26, 2018 3:12 am

The couple of spots I've been able to hunt up against the burbs, it's been a mixed bag. I hunted one spot, about 14 acres, surrounded by houses on three sides with an empty field bordered by a road on the other side. Never saw any other people in there. First time I hunted it, a group of does came through and the lead doe was just as jumpy and nervous as any deer I've ever seen. She picked me off on two hunts before I got an arrow in her. The other deer in there have been calmer than she was, but they still don't tolerate scent or anything visual that's out of place. On another similar property, the deer seemed to ignore my ground scent and I rarely got picked off. But I also only ever saw does and young bucks in there, so maybe the older wiser bucks were onto me and avoided the area I was able to hunt.

I remember hearing Dan talk on a podcast about a buck he hunted that bedded watching a trail that people used to access a hunting area. The buck didn't mind the ground scent on the trail, but when he picked up some ground scent off the trail he freaked out. I'm paraphrasing the whole thing of course...I didn't take dictation. Point being, deer will get used to and tolerate a certain type and level of human activity, but when you deviate from that they know something's up. So, I'd say wind is always important when you're hunting an older buck, even in areas where they are used to having people all around them.
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Re: Human Scent Near Houses

Unread postby dan » Fri Oct 26, 2018 3:14 am

They don't put up with airborn scent, but if you hunt where people regularly walk you can get away with ground scent.
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Jonny
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Re: Human Scent Near Houses

Unread postby Jonny » Fri Oct 26, 2018 3:19 am

Yes and no. They tolerate it where its supposed to be. The moment they find something ain't right, its game over. My uncle used to put a big corn pile in his back yard and we would have deer feed 15' from us when we were on the patio in broad daylight. But they would flip out and take off if they hit scent near the patch of woods they came out of. Was over by his house every day for a week one summer. Deer came out at the same time every day from the same spot. Second to last day I walked along the edge of the woods where nobody ever walked to see if I could see the trail or any sign in the woods. When the deer came and hit that trail, they turned around and bolted off. Next day came back like clockwork, stopped at that trail for a bit, then continued on.

Showed me just how smart they are. They get it, and know when something ain't right. This was also in an area with no hunting for miles.
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Re: Human Scent Near Houses

Unread postby FrigidArrows77 » Fri Oct 26, 2018 3:21 am

Big difference between consistent scent from a home 150 yards away, and irregular scent 20 yards away. If what your doing has already produced a few nice bucks, your doing something right. Don't get careless on proven success.
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Re: Human Scent Near Houses

Unread postby mauser06 » Fri Oct 26, 2018 3:48 am

I hunted suburbia for a while.


I'd have to agree with Dan...they seem very tolerant on trails and stuff where people walk...I have years to trail cam pics on trails that people used..hunters, trappers, dog walkers etc. I really had no idea there was so much human use till I put up the cameras...but the deer used them way more than I thought too.

But, up in a tree hunting 30yds from a back yard....they'd wind me and blow out of there as hard as any.


I often wondered if big woods deer that rarely ever see a hunter associate human scent with danger like most the deer we all hunt do.... theoretically, it'd be a foreign scent..but not one they should necessarily associate with danger....all year they might see some hikers/back country campers..but they may go their entire life without having a negative encounter with a person.

Not like the farmland or suburbia deer that Dodge arrows and bullets from their first fall.
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Re: Human Scent Near Houses

Unread postby Rampaige » Fri Oct 26, 2018 4:43 am

FrigidArrows77 wrote:Big difference between consistent scent from a home 150 yards away, and irregular scent 20 yards away. If what your doing has already produced a few nice bucks, your doing something right. Don't get careless on proven success.


This idea had me thinking, too. I've been trying to correlate the deers' sense of smell with our senses. For example we can tell how far away something is using our eye sight, or using our hearing, but I imagine a deer has depth perception through their sense of smell, as well. I'm sure they can differentiate my odors with the neighbor's odors that they smell every day, and I would imagine they can smell how far away I am by the intensity of my odor, too.
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Re: Human Scent Near Houses

Unread postby hambone » Fri Oct 26, 2018 6:04 am

The other evening the wind was out of the SW. There were 5 does in my front field 100 yards downwind of me, while I was doing yardwork. They acted like I wasn't there. Two days later, I was hunting another SW wind 150 yds East of the house. Those same 5 does came out 100 yds downwind of me but, this time freaked out. I have a good stand 60 yds behind my house. I have yet to hear a deer blow at me from downwind, while I'm in my backyard. If I hunt anything other than an E wind on that stand 60 yds behind my house, ever deer in the holler will blow. The deer always know whats going on in their living rooms. :?
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Re: Human Scent Near Houses

Unread postby comeback_kid » Fri Oct 26, 2018 6:23 am

I have done a good bit of suburban hunting and would explain the scent thing this way in a suburban context:

Deer are less alarmed or worried about scent in areas they expect humans. But if you get in the woods or in areas humans are not supposed to be, then they react negatively. Even if there is only a small 30 yard difference between the two areas.
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Re: Human Scent Near Houses

Unread postby FrigidArrows77 » Sat Oct 27, 2018 1:37 am

Rampaige wrote:
FrigidArrows77 wrote:Big difference between consistent scent from a home 150 yards away, and irregular scent 20 yards away. If what your doing has already produced a few nice bucks, your doing something right. Don't get careless on proven success.


This idea had me thinking, too. I've been trying to correlate the deers' sense of smell with our senses. For example we can tell how far away something is using our eye sight, or using our hearing, but I imagine a deer has depth perception through their sense of smell, as well. I'm sure they can differentiate my odors with the neighbor's odors that they smell every day, and I would imagine they can smell how far away I am by the intensity of my odor, too.


Absolutely! Even If it was you that owned the home 200 yards upwind, and you that hunted, they could still tell the difference in odors. Think of your typical day routine and the scents you probably give off, and when you hunt, you do your best to mitigate those scents. Well that alone produces a whole different smell.....one that they are not used to.

And yes I would agree, intensity probably helps them in determining distance.

Also what a few others have been saying is an important point to take in. Deer know where human scent should and should not be in urban areas.
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Re: Human Scent Near Houses

Unread postby Ognennyy » Sat Oct 27, 2018 3:01 am

FrigidArrows77 wrote:
Rampaige wrote:
FrigidArrows77 wrote:Big difference between consistent scent from a home 150 yards away, and irregular scent 20 yards away. If what your doing has already produced a few nice bucks, your doing something right. Don't get careless on proven success.


This idea had me thinking, too. I've been trying to correlate the deers' sense of smell with our senses. For example we can tell how far away something is using our eye sight, or using our hearing, but I imagine a deer has depth perception through their sense of smell, as well. I'm sure they can differentiate my odors with the neighbor's odors that they smell every day, and I would imagine they can smell how far away I am by the intensity of my odor, too.


Absolutely! Even If it was you that owned the home 200 yards upwind, and you that hunted, they could still tell the difference in odors. Think of your typical day routine and the scents you probably give off, and when you hunt, you do your best to mitigate those scents. Well that alone produces a whole different smell.....one that they are not used to.

And yes I would agree, intensity probably helps them in determining distance.

Also what a few others have been saying is an important point to take in. Deer know where human scent should and should not be in urban areas.



When we walk into the men's bathroom at work and there is an unpleasant aroma in the air surely we know if someone had their morning glory an hour ago, or if the guy washing his hands just tore it up and flushed thirty seconds ago. We can figure that out and we have what... 700,000,000 million fewer olfactory receptors than a deer. Yeah they can tell how close and how recent a scent is, probably with accuracy of within a few feet of the source, and a few hours of time the scent was left.


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