Bill from FL asks,
Bill, Merry Christmas to you and your family. I thank you for answering my previous question a number of months ago. My question for you is your opinion of the activated carbon technology in hunting clothing for the purposes of scent control. Does it work? Or Do you think it works if done properly and thoroughly by the hunter? If you haven't tried it, would you try it? I'm just wondering your opinion because I respect it and I know you are very candid and fair. Thank you. Very Respectfully, Bill G
Bill responds,
Topic: Does Activated Carbon Work?:
I started wearing activated carbon clothing when it first came out. The garments have really evolved since that time, but I have never experienced total scent control when using these garments, even though I was very careful in how I used them and handled them.
Bill,
Thanks. Merry Christmas to you and your family too.
I started using activated carbon when it first came out (the very first year) and I have learned a lot about it. The technology works in theory, but the problems lie in the application. It is not going to keep you 100% scent free, that is my experience. I don’t really know what percent of your total odor (human plus garment) it controls, but I never felt like it was a very high amount.
When you think about it, you are only as good as the air escaping through the openings (neck, wrists, waist). If air can get out of your clothing easily when you move, the deer are still going to smell you no matter how effective the technology.
Plus, if the garment itself can get contaminated with manufacturing odors and tainted by how it is stored and handled after being made, it is going to spook deer too – not just the human odors, but the garment odors themselves.
Think about it: the stuff is hanging on the shelf at the local sporting goods store – where else has it been hanging? How was it handled at the factory? How many people have picked it up and tried it on, etc.? And the adhesives used in the laminations – and the fabrics themselves – might have odors.
Once a garment gets contaminated, it is really hard to ever get it perfectly clean so the fabric carries zero odors ever again.
When making a garment that is 100% effective, you have to go to incredible extremes and these garments generally don’t.
Today’s activated carbon garments are constructed as much for style, comfort and usefulness as they are for odor control. They do a good job of that and are good hunting outerwear, in general, but they aren’t extreme enough to be really good at scent control.
Activated carbon technology is proven and it definitely does work in certain applications (filters, etc.), but the question is whether it works really well in this application (partially wrapped around your body). Does it work in every case for every garment? There are just too many other variables when it comes to total odor (you and the garment itself) for me to trust that it does. Those are my opinions based on years of testing in the field.
They may be fine hunting outerwear, but don’t pretend that you can hunt upwind of deer and get away with it. Good luck. (12/26/21)
