This is what I know. There is nothing man made that can reduce scent enough for a deer not to smell you, if your scent plume reaches their nose. I try to use the wind direction and thermals to my advantage. I use no cover scents, no special clothing, and no special soaps. I see a lot of deer and kill mature bucks. I have deer come in directly down wind of me and not smell me. Why? Because my scent plume did not make it to his nose because of thermals or some other reason. All deer do not blow when they smell you, so trust me, deer are smelling you no matter how many fancy scents, soaps, or clothes you use. Dogs can smell dope wrapped in plastic submerged in a gas tank. Deer have 300 million scent receptors in their nose, dogs have 200 million, which means deer have better sense of smell. Dogs can smell cancer cells in the human body. If drugs dealers thought that fancy soap or clothes would reduce smell enough for drug dogs not to find their drugs, they would buy all of it and use it. Some people are going to go to extremes with scent control, and that's their prerogative. People watch too much TV. Somebody will say, I before I started using scent control I didn't see as many deer, well another thought is you became a better deer hunter as you age and that's why you see more deer. To each his own. I'll leave you with this. If you are going to use scent control, do it all the way, not half way. I respect the dedication of those extremists, even though I dont agree with them. Harold, read the book "The deer of north america" by Leonard Lee Rue the third. Great book and talks about the interdigital gland often.

I think its the activated strength of the scent combos. Wax myrtle doesn’t have the intensity until you crush the leaves, same with pine and cedar. I don’t think it fools them, I think it makes them not care.

I figured we'd get around to the deer have more receptors than dogs so that means they have a better sense of smell snake oil. No one has ever answered my question are all receptors created equal.

No fish oil, just plain old science. 300 is more than 200, or did they not teach math in your school. Lol.

Yea, I remember those discussions on the qdma. There used to be some very good discussions and I enjoyed them. I see your point, and I wish I could answer it, but I'm not a scientist, so I can't. Bottom line deer and dogs have too good of noses to be fooled by gimmicks. Use the wind and thermals to your advantage, I think we can agree on that.

We can.

Let me touch on " just hunt the wind" . Works great in flatland mid -west TV shows where the wind is almost always blowing hard and from a constant direction. Makes for easy hunting. "just hunt the wind" will not put a buck in the truck in hill and mountainous country. When the hill and mountain hunter understands thermals ( more vertical) air movement and wind currents( more horizontal) wind movements he'll become much more successful . Most understand what thermals are , the sun comes up and warms air in the valley or hollow below and the air lifts. But then there is wind currents around the hills. Wind in hills and mountains acts like water currents in a stream , when it meets an obstacle it changes course .
I recall back in the QDMA forum days there was a young Lawyer ( big buck killer) from middle TN who had written an article in the QDMA magazine about wind/thermals/currents and hill/mountain hunting. I started a thread about his article and made comment that was the first article I'd ever seen in any magazine on the subject and every hill country hunter should read it. He came on the thread and he and I had a great discussion about the subject. Those midwest pro hunters, and there were some sharp ones , on the forum sat on the sidelines and were like WTF they talking about.

I completely agree with what you're saying......The only I'd say differently though is that the situation you're hunting up there is not necessarily unique as compared to let's say Macon , Bullock Co....Except for a few exceptions like maybe some areas around the Florida line.....there is no flatland... We're all hunting different degrees of Hill country. I deal with the same principles in Macon and Bullock that you do in Jackson...the difference being that the effects are far more dramatic for you and to a lesser degree for me. Still though, there are individual nspots in Bullock County hat have deep ravine and steep ridges where it may be just as dramatic for the one location

I can look at an area and by experience walk right to where a trail is in particular terrain, anywhere on the planet.

Topo map will show ya exactly where to look so you don't have to go wandering all over creation. Structure , it's all about structure.

Its as sure of a bet as what you will find off MLK drive in any city

We can.

Let me touch on " just hunt the wind" . Works great in flatland mid -west TV shows where the wind is almost always blowing hard and from a constant direction. Makes for easy hunting. "just hunt the wind" will not put a buck in the truck in hill and mountainous country. When the hill and mountain hunter understands thermals ( more vertical) air movement and wind currents( more horizontal) wind movements he'll become much more successful . Most understand what thermals are , the sun comes up and warms air in the valley or hollow below and the air lifts. But then there is wind currents around the hills. Wind in hills and mountains acts like water currents in a stream , when it meets an obstacle it changes course .
I recall back in the QDMA forum days there was a young Lawyer ( big buck killer) from middle TN who had written an article in the QDMA magazine about wind/thermals/currents and hill/mountain hunting. I started a thread about his article and made comment that was the first article I'd ever seen in any magazine on the subject and every hill country hunter should read it. He came on the thread and he and I had a great discussion about the subject. Those midwest pro hunters, and there were some sharp ones , on the forum sat on the sidelines and were like WTF they talking about.