It is essential for deer hunters to get close to the target to hunt it comfortably, and they must take some proper scent-control measures to mask the scent of humans that can otherwise drive away from the animal and spoil their hunting efforts. Therefore, it is natural that scent-control is one of the most talked-about strategies in deer hunting, and the Ohio Guide Outfitters would remind you to keep it in mind when you go for guided hunting tours. The topic of scent control assumes more importance during deer hunting because research shows that the smelling capability of deer is about 100 to 1,000 times better than humans, which might sound unbelievable but true. To get close to the deer that you have tracked for long, you must keep your body odor from reaching the highly sensitive deer nose.
Latching on the need for scent-control by deer hunters, companies have introduced several scents- control products to lure hunters with the assurance of complete suppression of human odor to enable them to accomplish their goal of reaching closest to the target. And deer hunters indeed need that extra help because most of the whitetail hunting rules revolve around human scent. From paying attention to their clothing to monitoring the wind and walking into the breeze, hunters take several measures to ensure that they can prevent the human scent from reaching the ultra-sensitive noses of deer.
How good are deer noses?
Believe it or not, whitetail deer noses are so sensitive to scent detection that it can even scent water from a mile away. Its ability to smell provides the greatest safety because if it sees something suspicious or hears some strange noise, it will take some time to gauge the danger until another sense confirms it so that it understands that it is time to go. But a buck that smells danger will not wait but immediately flee the spot knowing for sure that some danger is lurking around. It is difficult for humans, who are quite weak in detecting scents, in fathoming the sensitivity of deer noses, and hunters would always do better to use some scent-control techniques to gain an advantage in getting close to the target during deer hunting.
A better understanding of the capabilities of deer in scent detection and what makes its senses so powerful should give hunters enough reason to attach more importance to the wind and enhance their own scent-control. Hunting clothes made by using carbon technology does help, to some extent, but the technique of hunting by facing the wind remains the most effective strategy.
Large nostrils enhance nasal sensitivity
The nostrils of whitetails are much bigger than many other animals, and it will be reasonable enough to call it huge. The huge openings allow massive inflow of air as it can expand and flare, and the slots on the sides elongate to expand the passage for airflow and ensure that more airflow inside. The lack of hair in the nostrils makes the flow of air even smoother, and more air means more scent captured.
Long whiskers are advantageous
Although air will normally tend to flow into the nostrils, the long whiskers of deer increase airflow further by acting as a funnel that sucks in more air. The long whiskers around the snout and nose are not only exceptionally long that you can make out by taking a close look but also tend to converge towards the nostrils. The arrangement acts like a funnel placed before the nostrils that direct more air towards the nose.
Nose licking aids scent detection
If you watch a deer closely for some time, its habit of licking the nose almost relentlessly will not escape your attention. You may be surprised why the animal stays so busy licking its nose, but the simple reason is that it helps to keep the nose wet, and the action intensifies whenever it faces tense situations. As the surface of the nose remains moist always, it increases the ability to trap scent molecules from the air and enhances the scent-detecting ability.
Long nose
By looking at the nose length of deer, you can quite understand what makes it so much better in scent-detection. While an average human nose measures between two and three inches, if you measure the distance between the eyes to the tip of the snout of a mature buck, it is usually between 6 to 9 inches, almost three times that of humans. Bigger nose means it has more sensitive tissues that enhance the ability to detect scents to make out any impending danger, and you can find it very hard to fool the animal by concealing your body odor.
More scenting tissues
The long big nose of bucks covers a wide area of about 100 square inches, which is massive for an organ like the nose and within it are numerous sensitive scenting tissues. It might be hard to believe that the nose coverage is so broad by just viewing it. The nose is not flat like humans but wrinkled and folded increases the surface area many more times, thereby increasing its ability to detect scent.
The brain is the driver
Since smelling and identifying scents is critical for the animal’s safety and protects it from dangers, the functioning of the smelling organ emanates from the brain. The largest portion of the whitetail’s brain remains exclusively dedicated for the purpose. There are about 300 million scent receptors in a whitetail’s brain followed by 200 million of bloodhounds and a mere 5 million humans.
The sensing abilities of deer are not only highly developed but also incredibly reliable, and whitetails repose their entire faith on the sensing abilities of the nose to protect it from dangers. Whitetails accept the signals of the nose without corroborating it with other senses. Any hunter would know how sensitive the nasal senses of whitetails are, and it needs no numbers to express the magnitude of sensitivity in detecting scents. Instead, one must admit that whitetails can see through its nose, which better expresses its scent detecting capabilities.
