ScentPURGE by Whitetail’R Gear Review by Edward Gramza IV
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Hunters, especially whitetail hunters, are fanatical about scent elimination when it comes to their clothing and gear. We have all seen the scent elimination sprays, the scent free totes, and even the carbon or charcoal based clothing options. I won’t deny that I have bought into the magic potions that you find on the retail shelves. I have practice the idea of washing my clothing in scent free laundry soap, hanging it outside to dry, placing it in air tight bags, and then spraying it down once I am wearing it. Well, I have recently found a device that might remove most of those steps from my scent scrubbing ritual.
Recently I was speaking with a friend of mine from Sitka Gear and he recommended an ozone creating device that I could slip into my new Sitka Launching Pad. The idea was that having a device inside of this gear case would eliminate all scent from everything inside of it. I was skeptical so I started researching the device my buddy recommended. Once I found the seller of the unit, I was surprised to see that they were based in my small town in east central Wisconsin. The company is called Whitetail’R’ and they sell various other deer hunting accessories.
I emailed the company and the president got back to me so we agreed to have lunch and talk scent elimination and hunting. After explaining just how the unit works I was convinced that I needed to give it a try. I told him that I had the perfect test for the unit waiting for me at home. While elk hunting in Montana in September, I practically lived in my Sitka Gore-Tex rain gear because of horrible weather. At times we were huddled around a campfire to stay warm. With that being said, my rain gear came home smelling like a camp fire. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get that smell out of it.
The Whitetail’R’ ScentPURGE 50+ is designed to scrub an area of about 80 square feet. That is plenty area for a gear tote, small closet, your truck, etc. The unit itself producing Ozone (O3) which is designed to eliminate odor. The extra oxygen molecule attaches itself to organic odors and destroys them. They aren’t covered up by way of a spray, they are literally gone! No matter what the odor is; body odor, cooking odors, cigarette smoke, gasoline, it disappears. At least that is the claim of the company.
Ozone producing devices are fairly new to the market place. There is a device on the market that is popular with whitetail hunters that mounts to a tree and emits ozone to mask your odor when a deer is approaching. The Whitetail’R’ is designed to eliminate odor prior to stepping into the field. With plugs for both a standard wall outlet as well as an adapter for your vehicle, you can make any space a scent free “clean” area. If you come back for a little siesta at the hunting shack, throw your camo back in your tote and turn this unit on to start scrubbing odors before you go back for an afternoon sit.
For my application, the Whitetail’R’ ScentPURGE 50+ will mostly reside in my Sitka Gear Launching Pad. The Launching Pad is a system that Sitka designed to be used as a mobile closet for a hunters truck. With various mesh packets, a “runway”, changing pad, and design big enough to carry your bow, this piece of gear can hold everything you need for a sit in the stand. With the Launching Pad and the ScentPURGE 50+, I will not have a scent free mobile closet.
In the August 2014 edition of Field & Stream, there was an article showing a test they did with a highly trained police K-9 to see the effects of ozone and its scent elimination characteristics. They were shocked by their findings. The K-9 was confused and took much longer to find the test subject when the ScentPURGE 50 unit was used versus the placebo. This is proof that the idea of ozone works in the hunting world.
So back to my problem of the campfire smoke smelling rain gear. When I got home from work, I put the rain gear in my Sitka Launching Pad along with my freshly washed and air dried Sitka Gear Whitetail Camo. I figured that I was going to contaminate my clean gear, but I also figured this would be a great test for how well the Whitetail’R’ ScentPURGE 50+ works. I put everything in, turned the unit on HI, and sealed up the Launching Pad. Right before I turned in for the night I figured I would check out the results after about 6 hours. To my surprise, the smoke smell was starting to disappear. The first thing I did in the morning was again go to my man cave and check the progress. Not only did everything smell fresh and new, but the smoke smell was gone! Also gone was the smell of the perfume used in the laundry detergent I bought to get rid of the smell. Three washes and hanging the gear outside for days didn’t eliminate the odor. Twelve hours with the Whitetail’R’ ScentPURGE 50+ and my rain gear smells fresh and clean. I was completely blown away.
As hunters we are always looking for that silver bullet. Many company’s come and many go to the wayside. But they all have the newest and latest gadget that is designed to make your time in the field more successful. The scent scrubbing products from Whitetail’R’ are darn close to that silver bullet. We all know that playing the wind is an essential skill when hunting. However, for whitetail hunters that are sitting in a tree that isn’t always feasible. By eliminating scent from
your clothes and gear you are leveling the playing field.