Whitetail deer hunting: Who needs scent control?

In this short video I kill a doe during the early antlerless season in Michigan, without using any scent control. I just finished mowing my lawn in sandals and shorts. I put on my hunter orange hat and vest and made the long trek 75 yards behind my house with my single shot 44 magnum rifle. The wind was blowing from the west and so it went straight into my neighbor's yard. No need for a shower or change of clothes. BUT, and it is a big BUT, I would only hunt this way if I know I am not going to hunt this stand again for some length of time (if at all). Anybody and everybody who is going to repeatedly hunt a small property for whitetail deer, whether buck hunting or doe hunting, should be using extreme scent control as described in my book and in my scent control video: • Dr. Jim's Scent Contro...
No matter how good your whitetail deer habitat is, it only takes one or two hunts with poor scent control to change how deer use your property. You won't make them nocturnal or drive them all the way off your property, but they will quickly adjust to circle around and avoid spots that are heavily contaminated with human scent. People often accuse me of being a fanatic about scent control. And I am. But the argument that you can kill a deer without scent control is silly and we all know that it is true that you can kill a deer without scent control, as I do in this video. But I am not just interested in killing a deer. I am interested in hunting regularly during the entire 3 months of hunting season. And using extreme scent control, I know that over the course of time, I am going to continue to see deer. In fact, several years of data shows that I see twice as many bucks in December per hour of sitting as I do in October and November. Since there are fewer bucks in the region that can only happen if bucks are being pushed off neighboring properties and coming onto my property because they do not sense they are being hunted. Improve your habitat, follow Quality Deer Management guidelines as taught by the QDMA, and enjoy your hunt more by using extreme scent control.

[@dualthreatoutdoors]

You also need it when the wind swirls......

[@prancingdog]

*QUESTION: Do you think deer "learn" to fear gunfire, or "learn" to ignore it?* I have seen deer walk out onto gun ranges, and I have seen deer stand around feeding during nearby lightning/thunder strikes. But I have also seen deer scare at the distant sound of gunfire/thunder as well. The concern is repeated use of property for shooting, and whether that ruins it.

[@DOGFOODACTUAL8541]

I have a question about the recent Michigan early deer season please. I went to buy my tags and was told that it was just for youth and disabled veterans. That is also what I found when I Googled the information. Is there something I missed that I could have hunted that weekend? I was on private property as well. Good information in this video BTW. I also hunt my small 2 acre property in Genesee County that this video taught me one more thing other than the scent point. I could have harvested the big doe that came in with the two weened fawns last night (before dark). I will next time they come back. Thanks for any and all information. I enjoy your channel.

[@wonderfulworldofwhitetails9763]

What do you consider a small property?Looks like your working with about 7-8 acres there.Would you consider 30 to be small?

[@ExtremeDeerHabitat]

It depends on how a property is hunted. If you have a 200 acre property and walk all the way to the back of it you will pretty much wreck the property and greatly reduce deer sightings with one or two hunts. Again though, that depends on the layout. but for sure,the smaller the acreage the easier it is to wreck. There is 8 acres of habitat on the property in this video.

[@pkdout2059]

Awesome Video!!

[@Iwantahunt]

love the spraying wasps in the stand and still seeing deer :)