Is Ozone the Miracle Wash for Whitetail Hunters?
Ozone products have been getting increasingly popular in the whitetail world to mitigate human odor and scent. However, if you have never come across ozone before or are curious to learn more, this article helps explain how ozone works to mitigate scent and some recommended products to check out. In doing some research on this, it really does sound like the miracle wash for managing scent and killing odor. Washing your clothes all the time can be a pain, so it’s no wonder we’ve seen so many ozone producing products hit the market to help eliminate scent for deer hunters.
What is Ozone
Ozone, also known as O3, contains three atoms of oxygen compared to the two atoms we normally breathe in as oxygen. Ozone is often referred to as activated oxygen and can be an extremely powerful sterilizer. The properties we describe below help us understand how effective it can be at killing odors to manage scent when we’re chasing big whitetails.
That additional oxygen atom is the one that does all the damage to odor. When ozone comes in contact with contaminants, this third atom attaches itself to odor molecules and changes the chemical structure of odor and bacteria to neutralize it and remove the odor. This process is called oxidation, and it’s a whitetail hunter’s best friend.
Using Ozone Devices to Kill Odor
A device like Boneview’s Mobile Ozone Machine creates ozone to kill bacteria within your hunting gear. As soon as the ozone is created by the machine, that O3 will start to revert back to oxygen. The right level of ozone to generate is when it’s all being consumed by attaching itself to the contaminants in your gear. As ozone neutralizes the bacteria and odors, the O3 will then transfer back to oxygen through this process. If there’s too much ozone being created, then there will be leftover ozone in the air that will eventually transfer back to oxygen as well.
Ideally, if you have an ozone machine running with your hunting clothes, most of that ozone is attacking odor and being consumed that way, but overtime, less ozone will be consumed because there is less contaminants to attack, which will leave to some residual O3. If you open the bin and smell ozone, then it’s time to turn down or off your device.
Some Ozone Producing Products to Check Out
Boneview’s Portable Ozone Machine is a handy little device that you can drop into any of your totes or bags to help neutralize the scent. You can read more about this product in our review, and as a friend of Quiver, you get a 10% off all purchases on Boneview’s website with QUIVER10
If you want to go bigger, you can also get full ozone producing gear bags like the Scent Crusher Ozone Gear Bag or the Scent Cruhser Hard Tote. You can toss all your gear into one of these bags or totes, and then turn on the ozone to start killing the scent.
Taking it to the Woods
Above we talked about the application of ozone to your gear by eliminating scent in your clothes, but there are also applications out in the woods. I’ve heard and listened to hunters swear by their Ozonics Scent Elimination Device. Taking the same principles above, the Ozonics machine is up in the tree stand or in a blind with you and produces ozone while you’re hunting to eliminate scent. We can do everything ahead of time right by taking a shower, washing our gear, but we’re still going to produce some scents out in the woods that will alert a mature whitetail of our presence. An Ozonics Machine with you in the stand has the potential to neutralize your scent, never letting a deer know you’re there. Although a bit pricey, I’ve heard hunters swear by them.
In conclusion
After doing some research, ozone really does seem like the miracle wash for whitetail hunters. Smell is a deer’s first line of defense, and a dedicated deer hunter is always looking for ways to mitigate scent. The way ozone attacks odor seems too good to be true, but we’d love to hear from you on whether ozone has worked for you on your hunts. Send us an email at info@quiverapp.co and let us know.