Predator hunting is becoming more than a pastime for most hunters these days. In fact, some people are making it nearly their primary target throughout the hunting season. That takes some serious dedication, and with that dedication those hunters are serious about scent control. A predator’s greatest asset is their nose, and in order to be successful, you must beat their nose. So, let's focus on scent control techniques.

No matter if you are running a trap line, or using Lucky Duck e-callers, in order to be successful, you must be completely mindful of your human scent. This is a topic deer-hunters have been addressing for years, but the concept carries right over into predator hunting. There are tons of clothing manufactures out there that claim to be able to filter your human scent, such as the carbon and charcoal lined textiles. I’m not here to knock against any specific brand, and theoretically the concept does work. However, there is not a household dryer system available that can get hot enough to re-activate the filter system. Real focus started turning a few years ago on “what” causes odor and how to address it. This is where textiles began making a turn, using materials where odor causing bacteria could not grow/spread, such as Silver Thread. Bacteria is what causes odor and staying clean and preventing the spread of bacteria is how odor is controlled. Bacteria cannot grow on silver, and silver thread technology started to become the new normal in hunting clothing technology. These textiles can be found in a lot of different brands and their next-to-skin base layers to combat odor causing bacteria at its source. There are also a lot of washing products on the market that helps keep these textiles clean and odor free as well. There are also on-skin products that help keep bacteria down. Rather that be full body soaps, shampoos and even foams and lotions applied to the skin before hitting the field. These keep bacteria from building up, while you heat up and sweat, while you are in the field. All continued effort to be scent free during those predator hunts.

However, no matter what techniques you do, and no matter how cautious you are about your scent control, mother-nature is hard to beat! Even with all the latest technologies on the market to help you combat human odor, beating their nose is tough to do. You still must learn how to hunt the wind and know how to approach your hunting setup. All it takes is the slightest sniff of human content and your hunt can be over faster than it ever began. However, with some dedicated scent control techniques, keeping your skin and clothes clean of bacteria, you can increase your odds of being more successful than ever before.