Scent and hunting stands

[Bagmand87]

So, animals cant smell me in a hunting stand? Im in one atm, and the group of whitetail just 60 meters from me, does not seem to be spooked, even though they are right in my wind.

[Throttle Kitty]

Stands don't affect your smell directly. I am no expert, but it seems to work like this to me.

Your smell extends straight out in a 3D cone with a faded edge. The deeper an animal is into the center of this cone the more "smell points" are added to it per second.

As stands are high into the air, the core of this cone floats! Meaning if there isn't a sudden rise in the ground that direction, the animals can only be on the edge of the cone, even when seemingly in the center of it. This makes them build up "smell points" much slower.

It's worth noting, wind speed strongly affects the size of this cone, and the "smell point" per second distribution within the cone. No wind can result in you having such a tiny cone the animal will see you before it smells you.

It's also important to note, the "smell points" I mentioned seem to build up to a "startle threshold" which is not only different for each animal, but changes based on your hunting activity. Animals who've been shot at recently, and/or animals in a heat zone will have a much lower "smell point" limit than normal. (making them startle much quicker to noticing your smell)

Some animals, especially in an area you haven't recently hunted in, will just tolerate your smell for a really long time. They will usually do a warning call when they first get a decent number of "smell points", but can end up sitting there for a while. Especially if the wind isn't strong, and it's a species that isn't very sensitive to smell.

[Bagmand87]

Thanks for the answer! It seems like there are many factors in play here.

[McSqurl Nugget]

if the animal is close enough they can smell you from any direction. higher level animals will smell you from farther away and before lower level animals.

you can buy the scent eliminator, but it only removes about 60% of your smell or so, it doesn't fully eliminate.