Funny what some say is Myth and some say is fact. Sorry but it has been proven certain materials shed or do not retain scent as well as others, rubber being one of them. Ask a few trappers about this scent stuff, not a bunch of deer hunters! Shawn
Most of the trappers I know, myself included...don`t use rubber boots....don`t shower before setting traps...handle their traps with bare hands and don`t wear any type of scent preventative clothing.
How many Elk hunters wear rubber boots....probably 2%. I don`t buy the rubber boot nonsense.
I tested this a couple years ago with a tracking dog. I zig-zagged through the grass with my leather boots, then hid. Dog was able to run very fast along the trail to find me.
Then I took a different path in the same direction with my pants tucked in my cheap rubber boots. The dog was able to find me just fine, but it took him 4-5 times as long to do so. He walked the trail, sometimes losing the scent and having to backtrack.
I've worn rubber boots (LaCrosse) probably the past 40 years without any issues whatsoever. I allow them to dry / air out (outside) when wearing leather boots.
If there is a problem with spooking deer it isn't due to my boots.
Tom Miranda started out as a trapper, ask him about scent control. I know he now seems like a big celebrity hunter but he still knows his stuff. The smell of rubber is not what spooks deer, hell you can place a car freshener that smells like new car smell and deer will be attracted to it, but again it s human smell that buggers them and it has been proven a million different ways that hard plastics, rubber and other non-porous material hold less scent than other porous items. Shawn
Millions of deer have been killed before rubber boots and scent lock suits...lol. Maybe you shouldn`t be stumbling around the woods walking in the same areas the deer you are hunting are. then you wouldn`t need rubber boots. "Scent control" as Ohiohunter stated has nothing to do with bandaids like rubber boots. It`s called "woodsmanship".
I've worn both. Real world experience, not sold on rubbers' scent control qualities, but my execution gets lazy. I am sure in certain scenarios they make low impact access easier, like the food plots that are hunted every time there is a westerly wind. Good old leather boots have killed plenty of good bucks for me (I'd like to stop and thank my boot sponsors for killing that there buck for me), but I get deep in mountains where only a masochist would wear gum boots.
Rubbers are great for standing water and keeping you healthy in some skeevy places.
Scent control is like a religion though. I am a scent control atheist but I just don't see any point in convincing the little boys that Scenty Clause ain't real.
One of my favorite clips on almost every whitetail outdoor tv show is when the product pimps have to do demeaning scenes dressing in indespensible scent clothes, bukakke themselves with mystical scent spray, and then hop on a sponsors atv which proceeds to spew the byproducts of petroleum combustion all over their scent free selves. Mr. Exhaust fumes then proceeds to scent bomb, ozonify, and evercalms all the named farm deer, and all is well in the deer husbandry world. Guaranteed rage in the cage with less penetration than a short dick. Couldn't have done it without my hoytmathewselitebowtechravin bow thang.
Franklin- most guys aren’t trying to kill any deer. They are trying to kill mature bucks. It is true millions of deer are killed without rubber boots but all of the guys I know that consistently kill mature bucks wear rubber boots. The trappers I know use rubber boots. I think I’ll just do what they do.
My take is this. After reading through this I think there is a little bit of truth on both sides of this one. Rubber may conceal human Oder better than any other boot product but if a deer cuts your track he/she will not like no matter what boot your wearing. That’s why, as Franklin alluded to, it’s not good to be walking around where you expect to see deer. Straight in and out, to and from your stand, preferably from a direction you don’t expect to see an approaching deer. That’s also why it would be better to squirt a little cover scent on your boot to mask the Oder. My personal choice is raccoon scent rather than skunk or Fox scent because I have seen deer spoke from the sight of foxes and all animals try to avoid skunks. JMO from experience
I think Mel Johnson shot his World Record deer in rubber boots....Scent lock suit and using his Ozonics…lmao. Longbeard understands it. A hunter or outdoorsman can use "scent control" without all these crutches for bad woodsmanship. Most hunters use these "crutches" to cover up for improper technique. "I can go this way because I have rubber boots on"...."I can hunt that stand even though the wind is bad because I have a Scent suit on". The idea that hunters take big deer because they wear rubber boots is silly. I know a guy that kills big deer every year hunting in his work clothes....that`s because he knows what he`s doing.
Franklin, do you float in the air to your treestand, or do you do some kinda shape-shifting thing ? Just trying to understand how an expert (like you must be) gets to his stand without walking where deer might also walk. You have some lanes fenced in for the deer to walk in ? You are talking about bowhunting aren't you ? You know, where the deer actually get close, sometimes very close. I've even seen them meander about in places where they shouldn't, like WHERE I WALKED IN. I think I'll leave the Keds to you and I'll wear my Aeroheads. Thanks for the advice though.......
For 2 days nobody posted a darn response to this silly topic.... I thought to myself “ we avoided a unnecessary argument “.
boonr had to bring the darn pot to the front of the stove!
And Shawn had to stir the pot.
This whole topic basically only applies to deer hunting. And then mostly stand hunters. Western hunters need not bother themselves with such trivial matters....
For as pompous as Franklin expresses himself isn’t wrong. But, rubber footwear in most cases is nothing more than extra insurance. You can buy insurance if you want .... or not. Depending on your personal risk management position.
Now ! Lets move on and not give this original poster his soap box.
