Wet wool smell

[kjlarson]

#5775

I am not a sheep rancher but do my wet wool pants, shirts, coat and hat make me smell like a water logged sheep? Wet wool has a distinctive odor. Not exactly pleasant. If I do indeed smell like a shepherd, do ungulates detect it as threatening as normal human odor? Does it make them somewhat curious? I hunted all season in wool as an experiment. I can’t remember a day without precipitation be it drizzle, rain, downpours, heavy dew, or snow. I watched the wind direction but it swirls most of the time. I was happy with the results. There are no wolves in my favorite haunts, thank goodness.

[Fletcher]

#44437

I know the smell well, but have never noticed it bother anything. You could hang a wet piece someplace where you know they will smell it and see how they react. Just make sure to keep your smell off of it. 😆

[David Petersen]

#45019

To my nose (such as it is), the new generation of merino wool/nylon (usually a n 80/20) blend clothing (doesn’t itch and doesn’t shrink) lacks the distinctive wool smell, for better or worse. It’s the only wool I wear any more and I love it in pants, shirts and jackets, and sock caps.

[rnorris]

#45479

“Not exactly pleasant”

I must be wierd. I like the smell of wet wool….wet puppies too.

The first day I was an official, licensed bowhunter poured rain all day. I sat on a folding stool under a Russian Olive all day. I remember the boots and the shirt I wore….the shirt was an OD green wool shirt. I was 12 years old, I suppose that smell brings back memories for me. 😕

[kjlarson]

#45591

I should say that it is unpleasant scent drying out in my home. It is a perfect fit for field and forest. I feel like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The only thing more traditional would be to clothe myself in skins.

[John Carter]

#45640

I come from NewZealand,,we have more sheep than people and wool is one of our largest exports.
For the first 30 years of my life I wore wool almost everyday during the winter and fall,and then about 20 years ago along came high performance Polar fleaces,quiet windstop materials and non stinking Poly under garments.
So suddenly I didn’t need to wear wet,stinking,heavy,slow drying,itchy, “bloody wool”.
But you guys talk about it like it’s a new discovery with magic powers.
Sorry,but living an working on the land and “having” to wear the stuff everyday “I got over it a long time ago.
Today in NZ the only people you see wearing wool while working on the land are those that can’t afford better.
Wool is for carpets,,,sometimes I don’t get the fashion industry:lol:

[kjlarson]

#45704

Thanks for your pointed but humorous comments John from NZ. I need someone to bring me back to reality sometimes. I should have talked to you before I cleaned out my closet and replaced them with 20 wool shirts, 4 pairs of wool pants, wool coat and 2 wool felt hats. I have been wearing wool shirts to work for 3 weeks, now. 😳 It is my obsessive personality. Thankfully, almost everything is Pendleton and there is no itching with no tee shirt. The guys I gave my old camo gear to sure are happy, though.

[rnorris]

#46125

John Carter, I have no idea what the weather or hunting conditions are like in NZ, but wool suits me here in Michigan perfectly. I do enjoy high tech long johns, but other than that its wool for me. I’ve never been bothered by an itch with wool at all.

Aside from warmth and natural camoflauge issues, I find wool to be much more durable than anything man made (man made and suitable for hunting wear, as in quiet)

[makesmoosecry]

#46223

i have to agree with Morris… ever notice how every new “hi-tech” cloth is compared to wool? -i personally think a few layers of wool with a windbreaker over it is the way to go..cabelas offers one that is great and silent when a branch etc scrapes you

[kjlarson]

#46766

This thread has drifted a bit from the way I intended. As everyone else, I am a firm believer that you need to stay downwind of our prey. I had a strange thing happen to me this season when getting a couple hours of hunting in before going to work. It was raining lightly. The wind was at my back, and I knew it. I spotted a doe with a couple youngsters about 100 yards ahead of me in the forest. She snorted a couple times then started to zig and zag in my direction snorting occasionally. She stopped about 24 steps in front of me. There was only a small Charlie Brown Christmas tree between us. She never acknowledged me and walked off after about 5 minutes and went back to foraging. I know she was looking for the source of the smell but was it me or the wool? Or should I forget about it because it is impossible to tell? It has been an unusual season with six close encounters with deer and elk excluding the out of range animals. I have been wet every day, also.

[William Warren]

#46821

I have a sweater that has that strong lanolin odor specially if wet or damp but all of my other clothing, probably wool/nylon blend, don,t smell at all. Here in NC I only need it in late season when sitting for long spells. If I was constantly moving I could go with lighter weight clothing.

As for the high tech clothing, guess I was too tight to pay for it when I could get good used wool from the Surplus Store. Wool pants in your waders for duck hunting, cant be beat.

[John Carter]

#47741

Guys,please don’t take anything I say as critersisim,,it’s just a personal observation on different cultural approaches more than anything else.

There’s still pleanty of people in NZ that swear by their woolen gear,,and I still have a woolen swandri jacket that gets lots of use and is over 30 years old,,you don’t get rid of old favourites huh.

The weather in NZ is sort of ,,,in the Fall,Winter and Spring,,,if you didn’t get rained on,,you didn’t go hunting.

Two years ago,two other guys and myself flew into a remote zone for 7 days and got rained in for the whole trip,,it never stopped raining until the afternoon the chopper came back in to pick us up.
The river we had to cross to get to about 75% of our hunting area went from knee deep to over head hight in the first night,,my camera fogged up on about day two,,everything that could rust did,,which really upset my heathen mate with the gun,all my feathers laid down an never got up again until we got home,the bread went mouldy,,,,and we still laugh about it.

We’re going back to that place next rut,but this time I’m taking a kids inflatable boat so I can get across the river if ” when” it rains again:lol:

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