Hunt scent-free with Shuma

Most of the animals successfully hunted are under three years of age. One reason for that is the relative abundance of young animals. But that is not the whole story. By the time an animal, be it boar, deer, dog, whatever, reaches 10 years old, it is an incredibly careful campaigner. Animals only reach that age by being consistently wary. The breeding season is a window of opportunity where the males lose some of their well-honed caution while competing for the ladies. The rest of the year, the old boys are right on top of their game. Every now and then, hunters get lucky, and a worthy old trophy animal will just happen to be in the right place at the wrong time. Then there are those few hunters who consistently outperform on such trophy animals. These hunters have layered experience and knowledge with a well-developed skill set enhanced by patience and perseverance. That combination is required to counter the acute senses of prey animals. The most highly developed sense in such animals is their sense of smell.

Experienced hunters know that they should not wash their hunting clothes with standard laundry detergent. There are good reasons for this. The chemicals that brighten the colours in clothing have a UV component that humans do not see. Many animals see further into the blue end of the spectrum than we do too, with blue coloured clothing best avoided in the bush because some dyes have a pronounced UV glow. Having opted for earthy dull colouring in your hunting clothes you still need to be careful in the laundry. The brighteners in laundry detergent can give you a neon-like glow to animals to shine like a beacon. And that lovely lemon-fresh scent can be detected by animals kilometres away. Seriously, kilometres! Another big giveaway is deodorant. It too provides a penetrating odour easily detected by wary animals.

Having lived in rural areas for many years, we had to be careful in our choice of laundry detergent. Relying on septic systems, we needed to opt for the ‘earth-friendly’ detergents that did not contain the harsh chemicals behind brighteners and scents. More than a decade ago I retired and began getting much more bush time, hunting and photographing. With my clothes washed in earth-friendly detergent I found I could get close to most of the animals I was chasing. However, as I mentioned at the start, I quickly discovered that the smart old specimens would bolt at the merest whiff of my presence while the younger specimens continued to hang about unconcernedly. I had to develop a super-careful reaction to the prevailing breezes. This was particularly so at the dawn magic hour when the breeze, although slight, would swing around a lot before it settled into a consistent direction after sunrise. I did consider trying the US deer hunting products but was not sure how well they might work under the vastly different Australian conditions.

So, when Shuma offered their products for testing by Australian Hunter, I was keen to participate. Shuma is a small start-up Australian company based out of Melbourne, established by a keen hunter who realised the need for something better in washing detergent and personal scent control. Shuma manufactures unscented, UV brightener-free products that are 100 per cent natural and organic. They have laundry detergent, hair and body wash, beard oil and dog shampoo, all unscented.

Scent suppression has been a major aspect of deer hunting in the USA for many years. One driving factor there has been that a lot of US deer hunting takes place at close range in forest, mostly from tree stands. Whatever the underlying reasons, scent suppression has never been adopted to any degree by Australian hunters, yet. My approach to using Shuma is that I first wash everything I will be wearing on a hunt, from floppy hat to socks. I keep this scent-free clothing in a small carry bag that I also previously washed in Shuma detergent. Before and during hunting trips I wash myself with the Shuma body wash and shampoo and do not use deodorant. Save that for the trip home to the family. The results have seen me get closer to animals than ever before, with positive yields.

Shuma’s home-grown solution provide the best chance of success on wary prey animals and is another vital tool in the kit of serious hunters seeking old, trophy animals. Shuma’s products range from $24.95 – $32.95 and are available from various gun stores and their Instagram at instagram.com/shuma.2024/.