All humans don't smell the same, even to me. Some wear heavy perfume or cologne, or scented deodorant, or bathe in scented soaps. Some sweat more than others, while others may have applied things like Icy Hot or Ben Gay for aching muscles. Could the real problem be things like what we eat? Animals I would assume are going to smell like things they eat in the forest, not like tacos, cheeseburgers or beef gravy. Things like garlic and asparagus, if you eat enough of it will eventually work it's way through your pores and you'll smell like it. Could certain things like preservatives emit an odor that we don't notice but they might? What about synthetic fibers of our clothing or the detergent we used to clean them or even those dryer sheets to soften them?

All of the above could be a scent so foreign to animals it could trigger a seek cover and hide response. Maybe before venturing into an area with a history of bigfoot sightings, it may be a good idea to try to combat those foreign odors.

Wear only natural fiber clothing, nothing dyed, no sneakers or rubber soled boots all leather. Maybe watch what you eat a week or so before your planned outing, only eat natural foods without seasoning or condiments. No deodorant, after shave, perfume, cologne. No drinking of anything but water and preferably not chlorinated or water with fluoride. Maybe leave your intended clothes to wear hanging on a line for several days under the sun and in fresh air to help rid them of any odors that may be present. Since many have city water and the chlorine might add a scent to you when you shower or bathe.

The other thing that's pretty obvious is IF bigfoot exists, there's only two things in the woods that walk upright, him and us. Stay low and crawl when possible (Just not during Deer or Wild Boar hunting seasons).

If with another party don't talk, either learn how to sign or write on some exposed dirt with a stick to communicate. No ink pens, pencils or bleached paper.

Any other suggestions which might create red flags and possible solutions?

Hi

I think you have a good point on this I have often wondered about things like smells on game cams, Clothes washed with scented soap, How about gun power and oil, We do bring a tons of smells with us all the time, How do we really know how much an animal can detect,

Peace
Tim

I know some people that would make a buffalo run

moregon, a lot of that makes some sense... I went fishing up in Canada once, with my dad and boyfriend. Our guide flew us in on a float plane told us to light a fire if we got into trouble and not wash for the week, so the mosquitos would leave us alone. I did wash my hands, but since there was no shower or anything, took his advice pretty much. And it worked. If you spend enough time out in the bush, you start to blend in...

Sweet! Ima vegetarian and have been for about 20 years....and I don't smell like Burger King!

Not to get too personal, but I have been using a crystal stick for about 10 years now (I'm afraid of the aluminum in regular deodorants/anti-antiperspirant. I don't wanna be no Alzheimer's baby with deposits in my head ) It's just mineral salts that kill (die! die! die!) the bacteria that cause um, "odor". It actually works really really well once you get the dang things dead. (Initially that only takes about 10 days, most people who try give up before then..hang in there guys! You are just being re-infected with random bacs you have around your house! Keep killin' them and they die too!)

I am also 5' 2" with long hair (all critters seems to love that hair!) so I have that "small/possibly juvenile primate" non-threatening thing going for me. I guess I'm going to skip the crawling on the strength of that.

I hadn't really thought about the clothes, but there are grapefruit based cleansers (Mrs. Meyers comes to mind, but there are other brands) for clothes that could take all the "chemical" smells out. I personally don't think they work well enough for everyday cleaning, but for a "special occasion"....You'd smell like yummy yummy natural citrus rather than nasty ole Tide...

And i guess it will be easy enough to switch to "hard" cider when I camp, rather than my beloved Fosters. I guess it's a sacrifice I would be willing to make... It would just be like apples that fell to the ground and fermented...doesn't that sound yummy?!

But the main thing I thought about when I read the post was "What about Fire?" Wildfires occur in these wilderness areas, but they smell a whole lot different than campfires. In fact, I know they do. If you are not smelling the low level permeation from a distant wildfire (animal senses here, credit them that much) then wouldn't a sudden whiff of FIRE out of nowhere scream "FUNNY HUMAN ALERT!" just as much as a whiff of WD-40 would? Especially in winter?

So it looks like a cold cold camp indeed.......

Edit for a small spelling error that I am almost embarrassed I edited for. I guess I respect you guys....
I don't got no degree, but I'm a superplusgood thinker!

Moregon has it right. Light, sound, scent and color are the 4 disciplines that you need to pay attention to , to get by in the woods.
Some animals can see into the UV spectrum and using laundry soap is a no go situation as they all have UV enhancers in them, even most camo pattern hunting clothing does.
you need to wash your outdoor clothing without these soaps, like Tide and Era, use baking soda.
there has been some experimenting done with camo. as it turns out mixing patterns, say woodland on top and desert or realtree for pants works much better to break up the human silouette then having all one pattern from head to toe. wearing all black is a real no no. think 'mansquatch' human shape, all black
as for the human scent, thats the hardest to overcome, even things like bad breath can be a tell. there are hunter deodorants and toothpaste that work well and freebreeze does well for other odors. fires are a no way no how.. they broadcast a message that puts everything in the woods on alert.
thinking about light, sound, scent and color when ever you go into the woods, you will get better each time as soon you will just disappear. when you do not spook small birds or chipmunks you are there..

Whether I am hunting these monsters with a camera or with a gun, I use the same techniques for hiding in the field. I do believe camo is the way to go during daytime excursions, however, you must use "sniper" techniques. That means that once you have found a spot to "hunker down" in, you must remain perfectly still. Like other animals, I believe the monsters can "hone in" on any movement they decern in the woods. That technique will only work, though, if the monsters didn't see you enter the woods and "hunker down" in the first place and I believe you must wear some form of "ghillie" suit to break up your shape and pattern.



I would have to disagree. For night time hunting, I always wear totally black. As good as their nocturnal eyesight is supposed to be, I don't believe they can see black on black. I "hunker down" in brush, usually up against a tree, so I doubt I am producing a silhouette that they can decern in the dark.

I think that camo should be washed without any detergent and I wash my black without any detergent, also. Before I go out into the woods, all of my clothing is saturated with a cover up "earth" scent that smells like dirt and rotten logs.

i agree with the ghillie suit idea. no matter what a human wears in the woods, except BF, we are only upright walking animal, and the ghillie suit does its job.
the hunker down concept is of course a great idea, as long as you are static, and is very productive.
as far as scent masking, what smells like 'earth' to us, may not to animals, because its made of chemicals and our olfactory system is different then animals, designed for scent connunications, i.e. decoding scents. what does work, is taking a large trash bag, filling it with leaves and earth and putting your camo in the bag. real earth scent. and hanging your clothing outside away from cars, dogs or what have you, works too.
as far as black color camo, sure black clothing at nite seems to make sense, to the human eye. but where in nature do you see black ? where in the forest does black as we see it exist ? we see more white, yellow and gray then we do black. there are shades of gray to blackish, solid black in another matter. most all modern camo patterns including the military ( desert camo not withstanding ) have gotten away from black, most dont have it at all.
try experimenting, take photos at nite with black camo next to or hung in a tree with natural blackish objects, black is much denser the natural earth tones, if you can find them.
take black and white photos in the day time and compare them to natural black vs camo black.
i went thru sniper school at Fort Benning, Columbus, Ga. in 1988 they drilled cover and concealment into us until it was all we thought about. one day for practice, we drove Hummvee's into the georgia woods and then using nothing but natural materials, we had to hide the units. the windshields and the tires were the hardest to hide to no detection.
on a human, eyes and boots are the hardest to hide, what usually gave away a soldier on a creep was his boots, black objects in pairs, if we could find them we looked for eyes.
having said all that, i dunno if BF is that sensitive anyhow, if any of the reports are true, he is no more warry then a whitetail, bear or yote. im sure solid black works better on him then a neon jump suit, lol .. lack of movement is really the key no matter what color we wear even hunter orange

This is good information for us deer hunters too!

Bigfoot, like us, probably has a relatively terrible sense of smell. It probably doesn't notice our smell enough to recognize it. I usually concentrate on the visual camouflage and consider noise to be by far the biggest give away of human presence. Even with deer, which have very good noses, sound is more important. That has always been my experience anyway since I tend to move around over ridge lines. That probably isn't true if you sit in one spot.

Well, the commercial masking scents are produced for deer hunters. I believe a deer would have a better sense of smell than a monster. It works pretty well for the deer hunters.

I usually throw some pine needles and twigs into my clothing bag for added scent, since I am usually in pine thickets.

I very much agree with BobZenor concerning sound. The last time I heard the "bionic bird" warning whistle, I would never have heard it if I hadn't been wearing a sound amplifier. The "whistle" was so soft, only another monster would have been able to hear it.

black is too absolute, dark grey or blue or green is more nuetral

Nice thread here.
On the sense of smell, my gut tells me they likely have a similar ability to other wild primates, as opposed to the damaged one we humans tend to have now. This sense is still not what long snout animals such as most wildlife has, but, it will be much better then our own. Plan accordingly, I say!
Give them the benefit of the doubt to have extraordinary sense of smell, and at least you won't likely go wrong.
As to hearing, same thing applies..not up to the standards of animals with large surface ears(far better at gathering sound, and also directional) but no doubt at the same level of other great apes, which is normally a bit better then ours due to survival pressure. Their "genetic" hearing ability is likely about what a human with excellent, even exceptional, hearing has(one who actually happens to push up against the best possible human abilities). From a structural standpoint, they appear to be primate, so it stands to reason that the ears and nose will be built along standard primate lines. In both cases, that puts them a bit above us again due to survival constraints of living in the wild(they still need both senses, as well as sight, working at top form just to keep alive..WE no longer need our senses to work at all, to be honest!).
As to cammo, I agree that on stake out's day OR night, it's absolutely best to use it.

I've always thought a person in a Ghillie suit very patiently lying in wait would be the one to bag (by camera, video or gun) a BF. I would likely have a team enter one part of a target area moving about in a normal manner while a stealthy person, in a Ghillie suit, slips silently into another side of that target area. Attract attention in one direction and try to use that opportunity to infiltrate another.

I'd wash me, and the suit, in hot water, no detergent, then use deer scent.

Click to view attachment

There are also camo products now with incredible scent blocking systems within the clothing made by.....Scentblocker. You can dude yourself up from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet in it. Of course, some purists and old timers may think you are a Little Lord Fauntleroy walking around out in the woods. FWIW, I do believe they do a really good job at masking human scent. I don't know the olfactory perception of BF, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to try and reduce any scent if out in the field.

Pywackets routine served me well for years while deer hunting. A large plastic bag filled with leaves and pine needles were the recepticle in which I kept my clothes I intended to wear for a couple of days prior to my venture. Of course, I also had to get a handfull of green pine needles and rub them over my face, neck, and hands. I guess it worked because I killed a lot of deer.

yes

Hi

I am not a hunter but i can see were you would have to stay well hidden and not smell like a human for maximum effect, I like the nature and being green approach some of you guys have said, Using things from the forest seems like a pretty good idea to me, Man made stuff might work but it is still man made,

Peace
Tim

I always wash my camo with scent killer detergent and then put it in a rubbermaid container full of dirt and dead leaves. If I am wearing my camo before I hit the field I always spray scent killer on everything I can. I know this works because I have deer within 10 feet of me all the time and they don't know I am there so I highly doubt a primate with less olfactory senses then a deer would probably smell me. I haven't bought any but scent blocker camo is tops on my christmas list. My friend has some and all I can say about this stuff is WOW. So basically just act like your out hunting deer and I think you got it covered.

My recipe for home brew scent killer.

Start with a gallon of distilled or Reverse osmosis water(that means..just pure water, no impurities.)
Warm it to just above room temp and dissolve baking soda in it until it will no longer dissolve.
Then, add a teaspoon or so of hydrogen peroxide.
Now, add a very small amount of scent free or "scent killer" laundry detergent OR shampoo(really does not matter which). The detergent is a good idea, as you should use it to wash your cloths anyway.
Simply start with a few drops and see if when shaken, a very small amount of suds(just bubbles really, if it actually suds, cut it with more distilled water!).
Bingo..you just made essentially the same recipe used in the commercial products, at a fraction of the cost.
This mixture can now be sprayed VERY liberally on the outerwear you plan on using on a stake out, and it will greatly reduce or even eliminate for a few hours, the majority of odor. Of course..it's best applied to clothing already laundered in a commercial scent - free detergent(as referenced above). It's also safe to apply to skin, although do NOT get it in your eyes!
The baking soda is the primary scent eliminator, the Hydrogen peroxide is a powerful antibacterial agent, sufficient to knock back surface bacteria for several hours to days, and the few drops of detergent act as a surfactant to allow for better absorption and adhesion to clothing.
The secret to using spray on scent elimination products is to use them very liberally! Due to the cost of commercial products, people often try to get away with less(therfore not using it up as quickly) then is really needed to do the job right.
When I am preping to hunt, I literaly douse my clothing in the above recipe, to the point that it's wet.
Let it air dry in a clean environment free of strong odor(outside or in a basement "clean room"), and then store it in a bag with NOTHING else.
When you prep IN the field, spray it again, as much as you can get away with comfortably.
The thing is..if you make the stuff yourself, and it cost just pennies, you can use it in the proper amount to actually cover your clothing.

There is no need to camo yourselves up or take the stink out with these guys.If these guys are going to show themsleves they are just going to do it and thats just it.These creatures will know when they are being hunted so trying to full them is useless.How many times has this been done and has there been a bigfoot on a disect table yet ,NO!. I wonder why?could it be that they just out smart us,maybe.How about those pictures ,where are those pictures .Why has there a clear picture not been taken of these creatures ? With all the technology that is out today you figure a good clear picture would have been taken by now.No there has to be more to these creature then what is being told.The truth is out there and it just needs to be discovered ,but our minds need to be open to other possibilities .Alot of things have been tried but all have failed but no one wonders why ? Why do to trail cams fail to capture these creatures,Why do thermo's fail to do the same.Why be people who set out to hunt these creatures to bring back a body fail to do so?

But I can say that there is more these creatures then what is being said.But we cannot understand because we are so closed minded.The Indians understood them and they respected them.

These creatures are animals and can be hunted just like any other animal. They are pretty smart creatures, but they aren't geniuses. They can be fooled. Using hunting techniques has gotten me pretty close to them!



Actually, we have used this technique. A group of decoys goes out with the hunter. They mill around close to the area that the hunter is going to "hunker down" in. The hunter gets into position, then the decoys leave. The idea is that we don't figure monsters can count, and hopefully won't notice one less person leaving the area.

Hi

That is a great idea " Pywacket "

Peace
Tim

Have you tried using a "shiny thing" that the group may have "just happened" to leave behind that may entice a curious hominid closer? It's just "gosh they sure do forget and leave shiny stuff behind" to make the creature more curious. Or something like setting up a "decoy" cam a little ways off from where the hunter is hunkered down. A cam pointing out in front of the hunter wouldn't get any shots, but someone behind the cam may see something interesting if "someone" decided to play "mess with the cam games".

This is different than an obvious "feed", which I believe says something entirely different, though I'm not sure what.... The cam also says something similar to the "feed"....

I suggest one little tiny Pink Pez dispenser. Or something similarly small and highly colored with an "actionable" function if you are just messing around with it. Accidental candy.....

Edit for splzing and content

I don't really think that leaving shiny objects and other stuff out for monsters to come and touch really works. It is my belief that under most circumstances any odd object left in the woods is considered dangerous or some kind of trap. I think that may be our game camera problem. The monsters are wary of them.

Pywacket



All though a great idea it still has not brought nothing to the table.



Just out of curousity,where is the proof that this has work that using hunting Techniques has gotten you pretty close to them.

Not trying to start nothing,but if you were hiding that well and getting close to them with either a camera or a rifle in hand.We would not be sitting here trying to figure out what would be the perfect way of bringing one of these creatures in for study.

I said "pretty close", I didn't say "close enough".

except they're just creatures, interesting how you suddenly call them them monsters. explain?

I use the term "creatures", sometimes, because I believe they are animals. I use the term "monsters" because that is what they look like.

Either way you say it Pywacket it is still enough to get your cross hairs on the subject and put an end to this whole mess of what these things might be Do you not agree! I am not one for killing one and personaly i believe that one cannot be killed.But if you can get "pretty close" and hold your composer i am pretty sure that you can get a good kill shot on one or even a photo.

As far as them being monsters well that is something that we each have to judge for ourselfs.I have heard the terms as beings,apes and everything else but for me i personaly call them creatures or beings.If you are getting" pretty close" to them well then we should be getting some great photo's by now.

Hunting boogers is not an exact science, yet. It is still trial and error. Way too much still to learn.

I believe I have some positive results, based upon my trials and error, that will enable me to someday get that opportunity to put a monster in my "crosshairs", whether it be camera or gun. I am prepared to take the shot and produce the results, whether it be photo or body.

I do not have a romance with these creatures and I am only guilty of actually going out into the woods trying to find them.

Can anyone speak with authority on whether primate noses are typically better or worse than say, a deer, or an elk or a bear?

I agree with this camp. I think the more you try and "hide or hunt" the more they stay away. Their curiosity has netted more sightings than us looking for them.

Shiny things with apples. Good cooking smells with lots of happy monkey chatter.

That's the way to "hunt" a Bigfoot. I mean really, if he's curious and wants to check out what you've got going on, then great. (I guess... ) You'll be ready for that possibility. But do you really want to be the one that startles this guy when he's out and about just minding his own? All creatures react when suprised. Maybe he'd just amble away. Maybe walk briskly, or even run. But maybe he'd be rightly ticked off and feeling a little aggro. The whole risk/reward ratio on this approach has the potential to be just too um, icky in my opinion.

The reason I asked this is, if a primate typically has a nose worse than say, a deer, and deer's noses are fooled by the hundreds of thousands if not, millions per year, why can't one of us fool a sasquatch by standing downwind of it? Can anyone tell me?

Aren't the odds that some of those sasquatches are born with crappy smellers? or are old and can't smell? Why can't we catch one of them?

"...Olfactory receptor (OR) genes constitute the basis for the sense of smell and are encoded by the largest mammalian gene superfamily of >1,000 genes. In humans, >60% of these are pseudogenes. In contrast, the mouse OR repertoire, although of roughly equal size, contains only ≈20% pseudogenes...."
Human specific loss of olfactory...

That basically indicates that humans have lost the function of over 60% of their olfactory genes. The obvious explanation would be that we don't need them because we rely more on other senses. We may well have kept the genes for smelling other hominids as that would seem to be a serious threat or at least something important. It also doesn't mean we lost 60% of our ability to smell. They could have more receptors of a particular kind and be very sensitive to certain smells. The loss of olfactory genes seems to have affected humans much more than other apes but we didn't lose 60% of the genes overnight. It would seem to indicate that any close relatives would likely also not rely on smell as much. Apes are visually oriented and use sounds to communicate. Besides gorillas smelling bad when they get upset and possibly our apocrine gland, I don't know of any other smells used by apes to recognize each other. Chimp females use visual signals in place of the Flehmen response of many other mammals to determine when they are receptive. I only used that to contrast with the cat in heat that attracts all the tomcats. That is the main reason the pheromone chips seems rather pointless to me but I don't think it is pointless to try to cover your smell. It is just likely, in my opinion, that bigfoot is not an animal with the nose of a bloodhound or even a deer.

Very interesting stuff there, Bob Zenor. A really great explanation on how our genetic capacity is related to our senses. I wonder when one speaks of loosing 60% of the genes that contribute to the olfactory senses capacity, if by that it's meant that the actual genes are gone or are those 60% the result of those traits controlled by these genetic switches I've been reading about, and so the 60% might relect the percentage of capacity that is "switched on" for accuity, the other 40% being "switched off" or in some other "not-on" configuration. That implies that the potential is somehow still within the Junk DNA,and potentially capable of being switched back on as the result of some transcription error while reproducing and re-expressing a greater percentage of those genetic traits that translate as increased sensitiviy or accuity. Maybe the loose some capacity on some other sensory system, or their brains are organized differently as a result. The article from SciAm a while back provokes in me in particular a curiosity about suites of traits that are expressed in some kind of balanced relationship in regards to the entire system's capacity, having evolved in such inter-related fashion, or so the article seemed to imply to me.

I liked very much that observation about our visual natures, presumably as a result of our evolutionary path and the advantages that visual accuity, instead of another sense like olfactory, evolving within our lineage implying some interesting things about our ancestors social and physical environment.
Understanding this aspect of primate intellegence and how its integrated into a likely model is important if increased understanding of BF is to lead anywhere towards a designing an effective strategy to finally, routinely, and predictably generate hard the kind of hard evidence for its existence, and I don't think that's as easy as with just another crafty animal, primate mentality being what it is...barring the odd chance of the unfortunate and fatefull encounter with the grill of a truck. Dumb handsome luck trumps everything or some kind of mantra like that.

Apeman- can you give me a rundown on how Primate noses stack up against North American animals?

I enjoy reading this thread. As an adult I developed severe allergies and gladly became a nose spray addict in order to be able to breath. I can't stand scented anything, no dyes, no perfumes, no old people, no nien nyet nada. I can't stand the smell of pets, any pets, or any animals, it's vial. The small of popcorn makes me want to vomit, I've had to leave work before because of it.

I work on a large corp environment where it is techies and hotties. I can track a particular scent in the morning up a stairwell and tell which floor it departed and which direction it went. Although I don't know who a few scents belong to, I know each one individually.

I believe that the complete abstinence of any smells to avoid things that make me "stuffed up" has caused an unforeseen increase in my sense of smell. I swear I could get a job at the airport sniffing baggage.

In my life as far as dating, this aversion to smells has had an impact on who I can date, my social activities and even daily routines due to people who insist on eating at their desk.

If the girl at starbucks hands me a cup I can tell if she used lotion or not. I've asked people before what brand of perfume they are wearing, and they said OH that was yesterday.

This all tends to make me avoid people in general.


.

Interesting posting, NightStalker. I sympathize that, in this day of so damned many odors, you're as sensitive as you are.

Your posting reminds me of the famous Edgar Rice Burroughs story, Tarzan. The protagonist had been raised, from infancy, in the jungles by great apes. Burroughs endows his character with amazingly developed senses, and Tarzan is far more aware of his surroundings that any person from a civilized environment.

Now, as to the question posed in this thread, I doubt Bigfoot thinks humans "stink." Yowies, on the other hand, should they encounter Rod................

My bold - Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!! Oh man.....AAAAAAAhhhhhhhhahahahaha.

Them bigfoot would run after Rod, thinking he was a young "hottie". PPPPPpppppppphhhh....AAAAAAhhhhahahahahhahahahaha!

Sorry Rod - Too funny to pass up!!

It might be interesting to take a little journey into understanding the physiology of the olfactory sensory system. I'm only vaguely familiar but if I recall correctly, the sensitiviy of ones sense of smell correlates very well with the size of the sensory device, not the outward size of the nose but olfactory bulb deep within. It's called a bulb but it's made up of a sheet of sensory neurons, like the retina in the eye, but instead of being flat it's crumpled up in a way that allows it to fit in the very complex space where it's located. In a human, when that bulb is flattened out it covers an area approximately the size of a large postage stamp. In a dog that sheet's about the size of a handkechief, and in a brown bear, so I've been told, it's about the size of a handtowel.
I don't know the size in chimps or gorillas or other primates, but considering that they are adapted for daytime operations and for finding ripe fruit, it's not too surprising to hear that primates in general are not considered as being very highly gifted when it comes to their sense of smell.
When it comes to specific smells, that has to do with certain receptors that are inate and relate to specific scents that are meaningful for communication. These are phermones, and because we're basically still monkeys we mostly think of sex and so associate the word pheromone with the smell of sex, but in other animals it can mean different things too, including dominance,fitness, last meal...and in humans its suspecte that it works at almost the lower level of perceptibility, or even on the subconscious level.
It's sometimes thought that when a species looses an ability it's gone for good, but recent understanding regarding junk DNA and other aspects of inherited and non-inherited traits suggests that lost traits are not really lost but are merely "shut down". If BF is largely a nocturnal creature, perhaps the gene's that control the size of its olfactory bulb has been turned back on, as if the ability to see in dim light might be part of a genetic template. All this is speculative but there is some evidence that suites of traits over millions of years become affiliated, but it's pretty hard to show with hard evidence and statistically it's only marginally persuasive.
The fact that scent cover-ups work for deer is reported by a lot of folks who are selling the stuff, but it doesn't mean the rest of your stuff (the soybean oil that is used as a mold release or plasticizer in manufacturing, for instance), or the tanning chemicals used for the leather, or the urea gas used to form the lugged soles of one's hiking boots. Deer might not mind, or care, or be instinctively programed to react, but using deer, or any other primarily insticnc-driven animal as a proxy for how BF might react is, I think, a mistake.

While I do use a home-made scent free olive-oil based soap and shampoo before hunting and forego perfume and scented deodorant, and hang my exterior clothes in cedar sprays for a few days, I think the best thing to do is walk into the wind, on a slightly windy or a rainy day. Autumn is perfect for that! You also have to take care to wear pants and tops that don't make a lot of noise when you move. You move slowly, a few steps at a time, or hole up somewhere and stay put (a tree stand is nifty but so is a hole or just sitting at the base of a big tree). Sitting on a stump can be successful as you tend to blend in with it's general outline. Get into your area before the animals start their early morning browsing (say at about 3 AM hereabouts), trying to move very quietly and not using light (yes, you have to be familiar with your area). A blind can work if you've set it up weeks before, so the animals are used to it. Walking against the wind next to a stream can work because animals are drawn to the water and the sound masks your steps. Lots of different strategies!

Scent is certainly important to them. Being omnivorous and therefore opportunistic in feeding I would think their sense of smell if not high powered would at the least be highly tuned. An evolutionary trait allowing them to make the most of what they can with their noses. Head out to the woods on a day when the breeze is flowing into the forest. Start frying up some bacon or burgers and who knows who might turn up to see what's cookin', I know I would if I was downwind lol. I also believe that campfires are an attractant. At night they can be seen for miles and miles depending on the lay of the land. But there is an old NA saying that states that beware of the fire, for the same flame that keeps the wolf at bay, drew him there in the firstplace.

from: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/lib...-5_jungltip.htm <--- Good info for jungle ambushes and possibly Bigfoot stalkin' ;-)

Good tips all. If your going to be going on an expedition, bring plenty of clothes. The reason I say this is because if you hang around camp, and you've got a fire going, and people are cooking, those smells are going to get on your clothes.
If your going to leave camp at night, change before you go out. Keep one set of clothes for basecamp.
If you sweat, and your going to be setup outside of basecamp, wash up before you go.
Another thing about sweating. Be mindful of what you eat and drink. If you have a big bowl of chili for lunch and then have to hike out to a spot where your going to be setup, sweating all the while, your smell is going to give you away. Might keep Sassy away, but what if it attracts one? Do you really want to be sitting in the middle of the woods smelling like a bowl of chili?
There's a company called Hunters Specialties that makes these plastic wafers impregnated with scent. I have some that smell like freshly turned earth. Now, I bought these things years ago, and they still work as well now as they ever did.
They are small black plastic disks that come in a little tan container. They make a few other scents besides the dirt scented ones. Each disk has a little hanger type thing attached to it for hanging. When I hunt I clip one on myself, and hang a couple from branches around me. Give them a shot.

After going throught some post here, i believe i have noticed maybe a small mistake we are all making,we are all "hunting" a animal yes, but lets not forget if bf is primate, he/she is a thinking and is a reasoning creature. we go into there home. we are out of place! not them. they will notice things out of place as deer and other animals do. the same goes with man. you notice even if gone for long periods of time, say your kids have had a party. something is diffrent, theire attitude, the chair is in the wrong place. missing cd's whatever. the same goes with bf. they see things we over look on a daily basis like birds, squirells chipmunks ect. they all comunicate that man is in the forest. bf knows this. as i said before this is bf home, This is a problem we need to over come. the question remains how? by becoming a part of it, become a odor, become a blind (if you use one) spend as much time in the woods, stay in a particullar area as much as posiblle. become like second nature to bf. if you are not there then he/she will think something is wrong. be like a snail that crosses a road no one ever will notice. be like a leaf that has fallen from a branch very quite and slow, gently falling to the ground and when it does reach the ground it makes no noise. it is part of the forest, as we must be. and think as bf, what would you do to stay away from man. dont think like a deer hunter, but like a animal of the forest trying to stay away from man. and stop thinking of bf as a animal thinkof them as a nother human being. But smarter than you. Have you ever hunted a man? Those of us who are vet's will know, what i mean. assume bf is hunting you! turn the table. But hay thats my opinion. but hay it works for us here.

Dont think like a deer hunter? How do you hunt, in the middle of a field? I wear full camo and do my best to blend in. I've had other hunters walk by me 20 feet away and not see me. I've probably walked by other hunters and not seen them. It may be true that your presence can effect the local wildlife, but in my experience, in a short time, all will be back to normal. Birds will chirp, squirrels and chipmunks will run around, etc.
I think the point of this thread was to talk about how smell can adversely effect the search. If in the case of the hunter that walked right by me, if I had taken a shower that morning and used stinky soap, and washed my hair with shampoo that smelled like lilacs, and brushed my teeth with peppermint flavored toothpaste, he may very well have smelled me.

ya dont think like a deer hunter, with all your experiences hunting, you would know hunting deer, elk, bear, bird,rabbit and even racoon. Each of these animals are hunted in diffrent ways like when you fish, some use worms some crawlers and some minnows. so why would you think like a deer hunter if looking for BF?

To answer the ORIGINAL questions YES i believe BF think humans stink, we all do in some way, it's natural. we all have our own personal oils from our body they release signatures to attract the oppisite sex ect. these oils smell and are picked up by some women who like you, and others that turn away. can BF smell this? with out a dought Yes. sents he is not the same as you and i they can pick this up like a hound and stear away from us. if they so desire. Covering up this smell. is still another questions, how to do it? again dont think like adeer hunter!
O and yes you can hunt in the middle of the field if you know how.

The term "stink" is a loaded one. It implies an odor ellicits a negative reaction, but the way it's used might or might not have that effect. Anyone here like a particulalry smelly or stinky cheese or other fermented product? The scent of a stranger's body when they're angry in contrast to that of a desired partner who is biologically receptive?
I've re-read that article of the loss of human OR (thanks again BZ)...I think we still have a lot to learn when it comes to how the genes are controlling sensory capabilities, but the fact that so much of ours seems to be "shut down" implies that under the right condition, they might be turned back on rather than need a completely new mutation to re-activate that which took so long to acquire by natural selection in the first place. I think we're going to find a lot of that kind of genetic potential in our full genetic programing when we reach the level that looms just ahead in the future.
I think that because humans inate olfactory acuity is relatively weak and because we spend much of our conscious effort ignoring smells as part of the socially dynamic arrangement that keeps us socially cohesive, we are particularly inept when it comes to supposing how other animals percieve our scent and the wide range of other scents from our human manufactured and modified goods which we are probably not noticing at all.

Well, all I hunt is deer. I've hunted other things, but here in Massachusetts the only thing that I feel needs population control is deer, that's why I hunt. But I won't lie, I dont mind a hundred pounds of meat in the freezer either. From what I recall about bird and rabbit hunting is that you use a dog no? That's how I've done it anyway. Course it's different for turkey. No need to hunt bear here, and we don't have elk. Don't know why anyone would hunt raccoon.
Why think like a deer hunter? Because to me a big part of it is trying to be as unobtrusive as possible. Sound and smell discipline are a big part of that.