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Tried to find a thread from the past on it to bring to the top to see if opinions changed or are the same only stronger, but it was all bickering 5 year olds.
So, for those of you who HAVE used them, what is the verdict. Obviously, those who havent have opinions that really only matter to a certain point.
Ive got a buddy who borrowed one, says it yielded awesome results in the stand against mature bucks working through downwind without busting. I use one on my clothes and a plug in scent crusher unit in my truck when not driving. Crazy how it erases any in-truck smells, but obviously a deers sense of smell is a touch better than mine....
What says you....
Works. But you have to be anal about all aspects of your scent control. It is just one part of the equation. I only use mine on marginal shifting winds.
Use Dead Down Wind and "just hunt!"
I was probably one of the five year olds. Maybe four :-).
Here's my take: Are you gonna take an Ozonics, hang it in a tree and kill every deer on the trail ? No, you're not. IMO, it does much less in a tree than it does in a blind. IF, (big if), you have a light steady wind and use it as they direct you, I think it will work a good portion of the time in a tree. Swirling, shifty winds, forget it. If you use it correctly in a blind, I think it works 90% or more. I've had hogs and coyotes directly downwind from me on multiple occasions, and close too, like a few I could have touched them with an arrow close. Anything that fools a hog will make an idiot out of a deer. There's no comparison between what a hog will allow and what a deer will. A hog has no curiosity in my neck of the woods. The slightest hint of human and they are gone ! I seldom hunt in the air, but when I do it's a tripod, from 12' to 17'. I've never felt like I had much advantage with an Ozonics unit there. My ground blinds are something else altogether. I still hunt the wind, still shower and wash clothes in some kinda scent killer stuff, but the Ozonics is what works the best IMO. I've been using it two seasons and I won't hunt without it now.
FWIW, I didn't buy it, because I thought it was hype. My wife bought it for me for our 25th anniversary and I let it set for years before I used it, and then only because I had a nice creek bottom that I couldn't hunt because of shifty winds. The Ozonics changed all that as long as hunt from a blind where you can manage your wind. I've killed multiple hogs and a couple deer there in the last two years, where in the three years preceding, I rarely saw anything in my food plots. I'd get lots of pics when I wasn't there, and spooked a few deer and hogs with the wind in my face, so I know the winds were carrying my scent where it shouldn't have been going.
I'm a believer, and I ain't trying to convince anybody, these are just my experiences.
I’ve used mine for deer and bears. I’ve seen better results deer hunting with it, but as stated above it has its place. It is not a fix for lazy scent control, but my experience with down wind deer has improved using it.
Bears are another story. I used an ozonics machine for the first 2 days of my black bear hunt last spring and never saw a bear. Left it at camp on my 3rd day, saw bears, and killed my first bear. I know it works because I tried it in my kitchen while cooking bacon, and it dramatically reduces the smell.
I’m looking forward to more testing this fall for deer here at home, and may even take it coues hunting.
MO
I do 95% of my hunting I Michigan, Ohio and Kansas. The Ozonics has definitely helped to get deer in range but it does have limitations as stated above. Michigan and Ohio deer are completely psycho about human scent. When using the Ozonics out of a treestand when it's a light steady breeze, most deer will hit your scent stream, pause, raise their heads, sniff a bit, then move on. I also use a plug in ozone generator in my trailer and hunting room for "de-scenting" everything at night and mid-day. This has helped even more, especially when hunting out of state and rewashing clothes isn't an option.
I bought a cheap ozone generator off amazon and installed it in a tote. I don't know if it helps or not??? I do know without a doubt that it will take any odors out of a room or vehicle. When my basement starts smelling like a basement I run it for a few hours and smells are gone.
I had a doe and fawn come out straight down wind. The doe raised her head and kept smelling the air. She knew something wasn't quite right and after about 3 or 4 minutes she relaxed and went back to feeding. The fawn never really paid any attention. I was hunting out of a tree stand with a light steady breeze.
Do you guys have any reservations about the toxicity of ozone, particularly in confined spaces such as a blind?
Baggin, if you can smell it, you’re not using it right. If you can’t smell it, I’m not worried about it.
If you smell it it is working or at least could be. If you can't, the concentration is not high enough to be helping at all in real time. Anecdotal observations do not change scientific facts.
"Do you guys have any reservations about the toxicity of ozone, particularly in confined spaces such as a blind? "
I would, in order to be effective O3 has to be at a high enough concentration to destroy organics, including the ammonia, sulfides, buturic acid, food odors, etc. coming off of or out of the the human body. According to American Lung Association at those levels it is damaging to the tissues of the lungs, an can cause significant irritation (coughing) and pulmonary disease.
So is being quiet, healthy more important than attempting to eliminate some odors you are generating?? Bag up your equipment, put in a tote with the Ozone, but certainly don't use it inside the blind or trailer, truck, etc. Bear in mind when this kind of thing is tested with tracking dogs they don't work, deer nose likely as sensitive or more sensitive as a dog. Use the wind to your advantage whenever possible.
Are Ozonics units and Thermocell Units both functional if operated simultaneously at same location?
The ozonics units work for sure. I've had enough deer down wind experience to be convinced. Coupled with a blind they are especially effective. DO NOT run inside your blind because they WILL affect your respiration! I made the mistake of doing this and I coughed all the way out to my Jeep. I don't think it did any permanent damage because I've still got great lung power, but I will never run one inside again. I carry a vise grip pliers and clamp it on the down wind side of the blind outside.
Greg, I've killed a bunch of hogs running both a Thermacell and an Ozonics unit sitting in my stand in the creek bottom where the wind is iffy at best. Understand this though, I never hunt if the wind is blowing toward where I think the animals are gonna be. I don't trust it that much. But I've hunted that stand enough to know that even though I have the wind in my favor, that ain't the end of the story. I have a hill behind me and the wind must roll up and back on itself kinda like a wave, because I've been busted at times when all I heard was a deer blowing upwind of me. I've had hogs start to enter the plot, pause and haul ass. This was pre-Ozonics though, and I've only had two hogs bust me since then, but I hit the edge of the blind, they heard it, and didn't stick around to ask what that noise was. In that bottom, I can't hunt when skeeters are active without the Thermacell.
I personally will not use one due to possible health reasons. But I do use a Whitetail'r 50+ unit in the back of the truck, and that is where I store all my outer clothes. The science is there to show that it does kill Oder. But science also shows it can harm your lungs. So I will continue to use as I have been till I find out different. Also I personally believe it has helped me using it the way I do. And you do not have to wash your clothes to death. Greg
Don't forget to bag your clothes once clean, treat with scent removal. I also add vegetation from the areas I hunt in the bag. Change out routinely during trips.
While you at it a few deer pellets probably wouldn't hurt either, but stay away from the bear piles-hee, hee,
Don't forget to bag your clothes once clean, treat with scent removal. I also add vegetation from the areas I hunt in the bag. Change out routinely during trips.
While you at it a few deer pellets probably wouldn't hurt either, but stay away from the bear piles-hee, hee,
Just..................................................Stop
Tony, sounds like your scent regimen is the shit
When mature grizzly bears and wolves come in directly down wind on several occasions that tells me they work.
A very weighted opinion, in my opinion right there. Thanks Nick...
That's cause they're hunting you Nick lol JK obviously
Like was said if you can smell it your using it wrong !!!!
Everyone who wants to understand how they work should just look at the science. Lots of real world uses out there. Ozone has to be able to attach itself to your scent molecules and then since it is heavier than air it falls to the ground. It no doubt can mask your scent as well by changing the smell from an alarming human smell to the smell of the air after a heavy rain storm with lots of lightning. Lightning produces Ozone thus the fresh clean smell after a storm. I do not use an Ozone unit to hunt with but I use a commercial unit to treat my clothes and gear as well as the inside of my truck and also the room I store my stuff in. I also use it in my motel room to keep my clothes fresh when on out of stat hunts. I lay y stuff out or hang it n the room and put the unit as high as I can in the room and let the Ozone cleanse my clothes. I know it works without a doubt. Shawn
So.... What is the response to these facts? When inhaled, ozone can damage the lungs. Relatively low amounts of ozone can cause chest pain, coughing, shortness of breath and, throat irritation. It may also worsen chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma as well as compromise the ability of the body to fight respiratory infections.
Again read the facts Ozone in higher concentrations is harmful, the amount produced by an actual Ozonics unit could be harmful in an enclosed space like a blind of some sort but not out in a tree. Shawn
There are a lot of people using them in blinds shawn. The new unit (with 45% more ozone) could be even worse, in terms of long term damage.
My wife’s box blind is positioned on the north side of a corn feeder as the prevailing winds are from the south, where we hunt in West Texas. I got her a ozonics for those times cold fronts change the wind direction to the north.
She closes all windows except the one facing the south in order to reduce portals for the scent to escape. The ozonics unit is placed where the veil of ozone passes downward right above the window.
Sitting in the blind with her I can attest that occasionally the deer will raise their heads as if they got a whiff of something, but they don’t spook. We have had deer less than 10 yards away, directly downwind that do not smell us.
We sit in the back of the blind and yes we occasionally get a whiff of ozone. It is not strong enough to make us cough or have any discomfort.
I cannot vouch for other applications like elevated stands as we have not tried it. But in the application described it is 100 percent effective.
Lever Action, when you're already 71 years old long term effects is not a big worry. Like I said, if you breath it, you smell it. If you smell it, move it until you can't smell it. Problem solved....
The long-term effects of a whole bunch of stuff I've done in my life are exponentially worse than anything a little battery powered ozone generator can produce.
If Nick Muche believes in it, so do I, except I'm also a Nose Jammer believer and everyone knows THAT doesn't work, and if it does, it's cheating anyway. :-)
Jaq,
I believe I've merely seen some localized benefits. My observations encompass three springs of using them. Irrespective the results, what I've seen would not be considered normal unless something altered my scent. I know of no other way to explain it.
