by Derrick |
Last Updated: November 10, 2021 Deer are famous for their overdeveloped sense of smell. This fact is challenging for humans to understand. When hunting is one of our most cherished hobbies, we will understand the importance of the deer’s sense of smell to succeed in this activity. The key to having a good hunting day is to avoid being smelled by the deer at all costs. For this reason, it is crucial to answer the question of how far a deer can smell?
Deer will generally be able to detect scents up to a quarter-mile away. But if weather conditions are optimal, this distance could extend up to a half-mile. These optimal weather conditions include moderate humidity with a light breeze, which will enhance this extraordinary sense even more.
In addition to deer’s fantastic sense of smell, they also have a tremendous ability to see and hear. For this reason, deer hunting is a highly challenging activity for deer enthusiasts, leaving it reserved only for highly experienced hunters. This article will delve deeper into the deer’s sense of smell and other relevant aspects that we hope you will find helpful.
The Deer’s Sense Of Smell As A Tool For Survival
The deer family relies heavily on their sense of smell to survive in an environment full of predators and hunters. Deer’s sense of smell is potent because they have many more olfactory receptors than other animals. Suppose we want to understand why deer have such a highly developed sense of smell. In that case, we must know that four elements contribute to the great superiority of this sense.
The Long Muzzle Of Deer
This elongated snout offers more space for nerve cells to receive and encode odors. Humans have approximately 5 million olfactory receptors. In contrast, deer such as elk, wapiti, and moose have almost 300 million such receptors. In comparison, beagles, famous for their olfactory capabilities, only have about 220 million receptors.
Another plus for the deer family is that some of these receptors are specialized to detect certain odors. A recent study revealed that wapiti possesses specific olfactory cells that efficiently identify the smell of wolf feces. Although there is still no research to confirm this, many experts claim that white-tailed deer can recognize human scent.
The Specialized Brain Of The Deer
The deer has a specific area in its brain for encoding odors. This area is much larger than that of humans. The passage of air through the olfactory receptors in the muzzle sends signals to the olfactory cortex located in the brain’s temporal lobe.
This part of the brain is more extensive in animals that depend on their sense of smell for survival; they have 300 million receptors to capture and interpret the smells of the environment. For this reason, products used to block odors may be useless, as deer can separate scents.
Many hunters often use deer urine to try to cover their body odor. However, the deer will still have the ability to smell the hunter’s scent and the deer’s urine scent separately. Although many of these scent blockers appear to be ineffective, but what is proven is you can reduce that body odor by using antibacterial soaps, detergents, and sprays.
Deer Nostrils
Deer have much wider lateral nostrils, which allow them to identify odors directionally. The elk is one of the most representative examples of this. Deer can quickly determine the direction and location of the odor source. This ability is called “stereophonic olfaction” and allows them to detect the location of danger quickly.
The Deer’s Attention To Surrounding Scents
The last key element in the use of smell as a survival method is the deer’s attention to the smells of the environment. Unlike deer, people pay very little attention to the smells we perceive. People do not think about smells until the smell stands out exaggeratedly towards something good or bad.
In the life of the deer, smells work differently. The deer’s nose pays attention to all smells 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Although the deer’s other senses are also highly developed, they take a back seat to the sense of smell.
How Far Away Can A Deer Smell?
We discussed that a deer could detect odors up to a quarter-mile or even a half-mile away. At the University of Mississippi, several researchers found that deer’s sense of smell, like that of dogs, is 500 to 100 times more potent than that of people. These scientists revealed that white-tailed deer have thousands of receptors in their nostrils that help them distinguish up to six different odors simultaneously.
All these factors beg the question: Is it possible for a hunter to beat a deer’s sense of smell? The answer is that it is not possible. The only alternative to participating with possibilities in this type of hunt is to analyze the wind and weather conditions. You have to use them to your advantage and manage an efficient scent control on each hunt. It is essential to understand that body odor can be reduced but never eliminated from a deer’s sense of smell.
How Can I Reduce My Body Odor?
Knowing a little bit more regarding the deer’s powerful sense of smell, we can review some of our actions to reduce our body odor during a hunting day.
Body Grooming
It is an excellent action to take a shower before the hunt using an odorless soap. This action is already a standard practice among white-tailed deer hunters. Unscented deodorants are another efficient option to keep sweat to a minimum. Some hunters use these deodorants on their feet and groin to reduce humidity. Another aspect of hygiene you might try is brushing your teeth with baking soda-based toothpaste.
Hunting Clothes
As with personal grooming, it is essential to wash hunting clothing with fragrance-free detergents and UV brighteners. There are garments specially designed to diminish or absorb odors from bacteria.
Some hunters tend to wear clothing with more natural fibers such as wool, which helps reduce odor transmission.
Hunting Shoes
Some hunters prefer to wear rubber boots instead of lace-up leather boots, which helps reduce foot odor in the deer environment. Experts recommend using hunting boots only for hunting and not using them to wear for other activities.
It would be better if you never used them to pump gasoline, on asphalt or concrete surfaces, nor in the house or garage. The only thing they should touch is nature’s soil. Another important task that you must follow to the letter appears at the moment of storing them. It would help if you got into the habit of keeping them in an airtight container utterly separate from other objects.
Sprays To Eliminate Body Odor
The market is full of sprays to eliminate odors, and in this item, hunters invest tons of money. Many of these products claim 99% to 100% effectiveness, but is this possible?
According to studies conducted by various scientists, the reality is that this is not an actual sales pitch. However, by using these sprays, we are placing a new element of the hunting strategy to aid in the reduction of body odor.
Covering Scents
Today we can find vanilla fragrance sprays on the market for the hunter trying to mask his natural scent with a different scent to help throw the deer off the smell. There are also deer urine-based scents that are worth trying. The efficacy of all these scent sprays is still under discussion, but as in the previous point, if it doesn’t help us reduce the odor, it doesn’t hurt us either.
Ozone
Scientists support ozone as a proven component that helps other molecules ionize and makes them less aromatic.
Some hunters who have used ozone in their hunting days give successful testimonials. This component helps them to diminish human body odor in the deer’s sense of smell.
A Final Thought On Deer And Their Sense Of Smell
It is a fact that deer use their sense of smell as a survival method to help them detect predators when they are nearby. When a deer identifies a different scent from its surroundings, it will be on high alert and warn the rest of the herd. And it can excel at this defense system thanks to its advanced sense of smell. However, nowadays, many methods help the hunter diminish his scent and thus attract the deer.