It had to be a scam. At least that’s what I figured when I first heard about Nose Jammer. I mean seriously, an aerosol can that sprays a substance that would supposedly “jam” up a deer’s nose? Unlikely. It seemed to me that Nose Jammer was just another in a long line of hunting “accessories” that would be a waste of my money.
But a friend told me it actually worked. And then a colleague. Half a year later I hear from another hunter, “it actually works.” This fall, again, a friend tells me that he swears by it. And then finally my co-host on The Wired To Hunt Podcast, Dan, shares that he’s become a believer.
It was finally too much for me to ignore, so I went to the nearest sporting good store on the evening of November 5th and bought two cans of Nose Jammer.
The Eye Opening Encounter Fast forward to the next morning, November 6, and as the instructions stated, I sprayed down my boots top to bottom with a heavy spray of the “Jammer.”
Now, for those interested, according to the can, Nose Jammer contains “vanillin and other organic compounds found in the woods you hunt.” Supposedly, when this vanillin and other compounds are delivered in this high of a concentration, it overloads a deer’s olfactory system. Vanillin, if you’re not familiar, is the compound that gives vanilla that nice strong aroma and flavor.
Now, rumor has it that simple vanilla extract from the grocery store can have a similar effect on deer, but I haven’t tried it myself. But here I was, November 6, walking in to hang a new stand and I smelled like a damn vanilla bean sundae. I mean I literally could smell the vanilla on my boots. (Admittedly, I kinda liked it.)
Once I got my stand set, I got settled in and then busted out my “Nose Jammer” again, as according to the instructions you should also spray a burst of “Jammer” onto your tree for about five seconds. So I did that, again feeling like I’m about to eat a tasty desert, and then waited.
As many of you know, not more than an hour later, a big old stinky heavy racked Ohio buck came walking my direction.
What’s interesting to the Nose Jammer story though is this; he walked right down the trail I walked on to my stand, for somewhere around 60-80 yards. He stuck his nose down in the grass several times, curious about the smell, but he kept on walking. Not once did he react to any bit of human scent. But let me tell you what, there was definitely human scent on that grass. Even though I’m very particular about my scent control and the wind was in my favor, I know I still was brushing against a lot of tall grass and bushes and I’m sure I’d left some sign of my presence. But this buck, he had no idea. In almost every other situation I’ve seen like this, a mature buck walking across or down my track, he would have caught on. But this time, he didn’t. I was amazed.
The only answer I could come to was that the Nose Jammer really worked.
Since that hunt I’ve used Nose Jammer every time I’ve been in the woods and I’ve repeatedly seen similar results. Deer cross my tracks and don’t care. They move downwind, don’t care. Now, that all said, I am using numerous other scent control techniques too. Scent-free spray, scent-free showers, Ozonics, storing my clothes outside, etc. I’ve obviously got a lot of the odds stacked in my favor, but still, every once in awhile, I’d get busted. Now with the Nose Jammer, I’ve significantly reduced that number of busts even more.
My Overall Thoughts In short, I’ve become a believer. Nose Jammer seemed kind of silly to me at first, but seeing is believing, and I’ve seen enough at this point that I’ll be keeping a can of the Jammer with me at all times. From my experience, this product definitely helps eliminate the issue of deer reacting negatively to your tracks and can also significantly reduce the number of deer that will spook after going downwind from you. Of course, there’s no fool proof product when it comes to battling a deer’s nose, but Nose Jammer definitely seems to be one more piece of the puzzle that can help us hunters in the pursuit of the elusive whitetail.
If you’re interested in learning more about Nose Jammer, visit NoseJammer.com.
Feature image via Matt Hansen.
