I'm no scientist or expert, but this is info I've gleaned over the past 10 years through reading and experience as a K9 Handler with tracking dogs that are also trained in other odor discrimination specialties, so take it for what it's worth.
Picture this. You are standing in the middle of your yard with no wind. Your body temperature is +/- 98.7 degrees and it's 60 degrees outside. Heat is emanating from your body, so it rises. Your body is shedding thousands of microscopic skin cells per minute. Those skin cells also rise until the temperature stabilizes, then begin to fall. That is the human odor dogs (and deer and pigs) can detect. Add a little wind and the odor drifts before it settles. The odor dissipates with time, and is spread further with wind, reducing how strong the odor is.
Now think about this. You know what it smells like when you walk outside right after your lawn has been mowed? If I walk across your yard your dog smells that same odor. It's called ground disturbance. When you walk across the ground you are crushing and damaging vegetation and moving dirt that allows odors beneath the surface to escape.
Now, imagine walking across a concrete parking lot. The only odor a dog can detect is the human odor, there is no ground disturbance.
From my reading and experience what I have found is that when a person walks across a field, the odor a dog can detect is 95% ground disturbance, 5% human odor. Human odor is much more difficult for a dog to consistently track. This can easily be shown with K9 tracking as many dogs that are outstanding trackers on vegetation are completely lost on concrete and cannot track.
How does this relate to hunting? Glad you asked. :-)
If you put on an astronauts suit with self contained breathing apparatus and walked to your blind, my dog could easily track you for several hours due to ground disturbance odor. When you walk to your blind there will ALWAYS be odor that can disturb the wildlife. Whether or not it does will greatly depend on their experience with odor. Does wearing rubber boots help reduce human odor? I think so, but it does not effect ground disturbance odor.
I think the key is knowing a little about odor and how it is spread. You can reduce your odor with clothing, scent free soap, etc, but short of a rubber suit with self contained breathing apparatus, you cannot eliminate it. Reduce what you can, and always hunt the wind.
Picture this. You are standing in the middle of your yard with no wind. Your body temperature is +/- 98.7 degrees and it's 60 degrees outside. Heat is emanating from your body, so it rises. Your body is shedding thousands of microscopic skin cells per minute. Those skin cells also rise until the temperature stabilizes, then begin to fall. That is the human odor dogs (and deer and pigs) can detect. Add a little wind and the odor drifts before it settles. The odor dissipates with time, and is spread further with wind, reducing how strong the odor is.
Now think about this. You know what it smells like when you walk outside right after your lawn has been mowed? If I walk across your yard your dog smells that same odor. It's called ground disturbance. When you walk across the ground you are crushing and damaging vegetation and moving dirt that allows odors beneath the surface to escape.
Now, imagine walking across a concrete parking lot. The only odor a dog can detect is the human odor, there is no ground disturbance.
From my reading and experience what I have found is that when a person walks across a field, the odor a dog can detect is 95% ground disturbance, 5% human odor. Human odor is much more difficult for a dog to consistently track. This can easily be shown with K9 tracking as many dogs that are outstanding trackers on vegetation are completely lost on concrete and cannot track.
How does this relate to hunting? Glad you asked. :-)
If you put on an astronauts suit with self contained breathing apparatus and walked to your blind, my dog could easily track you for several hours due to ground disturbance odor. When you walk to your blind there will ALWAYS be odor that can disturb the wildlife. Whether or not it does will greatly depend on their experience with odor. Does wearing rubber boots help reduce human odor? I think so, but it does not effect ground disturbance odor.
I think the key is knowing a little about odor and how it is spread. You can reduce your odor with clothing, scent free soap, etc, but short of a rubber suit with self contained breathing apparatus, you cannot eliminate it. Reduce what you can, and always hunt the wind.
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