Deer have a nose for a hunter’s scent

Like humans, deer use the five senses to interpret the world around them, especially to warn of danger.

But unlike humans, who rely heavily on sight, whitetails have a highly efficient sense of hearing and smell, the latter thought to be 100 times more sensitive than humans.

Many hunters focus on this sense of smell to either deceive or attract a deer – a formidable challenge. In his classic, “The Deer of North America,” Leonard Lee Rue III points out that deer can detect danger a half-mile away, and perhaps farther.

Deer are capable of such extraordinary smell because, according to Rue, their nostrils are lined by epithelium, a cellular tissue containing mucus membranes and sensory nerve endings that are far more sensitive to odors than human noses.

What does this mean to the average hunter?

For one, low humidity (10 to 20 percent) works against deer because their nasal passages get dry, hampering their ability to capture scents. Rue concludes that ideal scenting conditions favoring deer would be days with breezes of 15 to 20 mph, midrange humidity, and moderate temperatures ranging from freezing on up – conditions often found during hunting season, especially the early part.

To combat the whitetail’s distinct advantage, hunters spend millions of dollars each year on aerosols, gels and liquids meant to either deceive or appeal to deer.

These products can be divided into two basic types.

■ Masking scents – Cover up or eliminate human odor, which many successful hunters feel is more important than trying to attract a deer. They use carbon-scented wash detergents, odor-eliminating body sprays and even animal urine like those of fox or skunk on their boots.

All of this, according to expert deer hunter Dave Henderson, is a waste of time if hunters aren’t careful what they eat days before they go out into the woods.

In his book “White Tales,” he writes, “Diet has a lot to do with the way you smell, and there is no way to mask some odors.” He adds that alcoholic beverages and scents from foods like garlic, onions and hot peppers can seep through human pores for as long as 24 hours after consumption. One of the most persistent smells is cigarette smoke. So it is not only important to mask natural human smells, but to avoid adding even more potent ones to your body or clothing.

■ Attractants – Food lures, sex lures, or a combination of both. Food lures, like Essence of Apple, are not as popular as the sexual attractants that come in many forms, including Doe In Heat, Doe Estrus, and Tarsal Gland lures, to name a few.

But do they work? The key substances in attractants are pheromones, chemical signals that evoke behavioral responses. Because does go into estrus (heat) for only 24 hours two or three times a year, it is very difficult for scent companies to acquire “doe in heat” urine, and research has shown that any pheromones present in that urine dissipate quickly when put in the field.