The inexperienced whitetail deer hunters should know that a complete strategy for using scents has three parts: remove as much of the human odor as possible; if you cannot remove all of it then the remaining odor left should be covered or absorbed; finally, use scents in order to attract deer closer.

The commercial whitetail deer scents are divided in two types: attractant scents & masking scents. The first category contains urine, in most cases from doe. The second category contains a large variety of substances that are intended to cover the human odor. The efficiency of scents is a rather controversial topic because no scientific studies have been made regarding this matter - we can't say that scents are efficient or not but we can affirm that many hunters consider them to be efficient, if properly used.

In their day to day struggle for survival, the whitetail deer's nose is the most important part of their protection, as a matter of fact, not many animals have a better nose than him. These animals can detect odors from a much bigger distance in comparison to humans, and this is due to the fact that a large part of their brain in "devoted" to odor reception but also interpretation.