Increase lure longevity, make same as scent eliminator

[rebel7254]

We know that using a call is not ideal for stand hunting because the animals usually head straight for the source of the call, thus making the opportunity for a broadside shot less likely. Also in a situation where you're attracting multiple animals, let's say blacktail deer for instance, if a doe or small buck is in front of one of the bucks you're actually interested in, then you might be forced to take a longer shot than you want or even miss the opportunity altogether because the doe in front gets too close and spooks him away.

Anyway, so obviously the answer to these issues is to use scents instead of calls, which you can spray some distance away from your stand. But the scents last 20 game minutes, or 10 minutes real time. This is too short in my opinion. If the scent eliminator can last for 60 in-game/30 real time minutes, then why can't the lures work the same way? Or at least offer "premium" scents in the store that cost more but last longer.

Right now, if I want to hunt a stand for a real-time hour and keep my scent active in the spot I want, then I will have to get out of my stand FIVE TIMES to refresh the scent. When you're having to get down and walk back and forth to the lure spot that often, it greatly increases the risk that you will spook animals. Furthermore, it nearly ruins the experience of stand hunting in my opinion, because you are interrupting yourself every 10 minutes to get down and walk over to spray your scent, then come back.

So what I'd love to see is the duration of the scent sprays increased at least to match the scent eliminator. That would make it so that, if I want to hunt a stand for an hour, I'll only have to get down one time to refresh the scent. I would pay triple the em$ for that, and I think that would be a fair and logical price increase because the lures would last 3x longer per use.

With all that said, I'm also aware that not all players like to stand hunt like I do, and rarely stay in the same spot for more than 10 minutes. So modifying the existing lures and tripling the price really wouldn't go over well with them. That's why I propose adding new "ultra concentrated" versions of the existing sprays which cost 3x more but last for 60/30 minutes instead of 20/10.

What do y'all think? The only potential concern I see someone using against this idea is that it might seem to tilt the game in advantage of stand hunters. Without having to get down out of the stand to refresh the scent so often, obviously that would increase the chances for successful stand hunts. It could also be argued that it would be a "pay to win" type deal, but let's be honest....theHunter is already a pay-to-win game, so I would reject that as a legitimate argument.

Personally, I think the game is already tilted in favor of the "stalk" style of hunting anyway, and even if they made these longer-lasting lures, moving around the map is still going to allow you to encounter more animals than sitting up in a stand.

[FunkyFlip]

nice idea ! i dont do much stand hunting but sometimes i like just to sit there and wait ! agrre with you they are too short ! and i dont think this should be any " favor style" game ! _as they said its the best hunting simulator around and there are soo many ways to hunt .....

[Hawkeye]

Well said, and couldn't agree more. As far as the game being tilted toward stalking, this is one of the reasons for that, and the OP has offered a valid solution. I have had scent sitting in inventory for years that I just can't bring myself to use because of the duration. My hunting style is rarely ever the same. I would like to mix up some stand / scent hunting with the spot / stalk.

[snakeyes32]

Fully support this idea i like to stand hunt but quit using scent for the simple reason i have to get down every 10 mins to respray. So yes i'd pay more for longer lasting scents and would start using them again.

[jim1965]

i'm in +1

[M0UNTAINMAN]

I agree 100%!

In RL, I can put out a scent wick that will last all day or make a mock scrape with some buck pee that will last for a week!

The 20 min sprays in-game are quite ridiculous, The duration is too short, the radius is too small and slow spreading for the duration, and when they do happen to work, they're too effective because every target animal comes to the scent. In RL, scents can attract or send deer running. Either way, they are on heightened awareness and easier to spook when investigating scents.

I have been experimenting with scents in-game with small cerveids and the results are quite mixed. Normally I'll scout a bit until I hear a grunt or spot one I'd been trailing, spray the scent in a nice shooting zone, hop in the treestand and wait... The majority of the time the target animal continues to roam without additional coaxing by calling. The spread of the scent is simply too slow for spot and stand applications on cruising bucks. You pretty much have to call them in and hope they get there before the scent wears off.

Another example of the inconsistencies of using scents, I tried a blind application of scent, not having seen any animals, but knowing the spot normally supported quite a few deer. At the northern tip of Whitehart Island there is a tree right next to the road that overlooks a large field. I threw up my treestand there, sprayed down the road a bit to the west, hopped in the treestand and waited... After about five minutes, there were five blacktails slowly making there way down the road from the west, one nice buck and four does.A while later another buck and doe popped out of the woods from the north and one more buck was approaching from the woods to the south. 8 freaking deer came to check out the scent! Normal deer would not behave this way.

So, my conclusion is that scents work on animals that are close or used in conjunction with calls to get them interested before the scent has reached them. The only real advantage over calls that scents have is the ability to place them in a preferable shooting zone and as an exploit, they will attract everything in range.

Offering a premium product that lasts longer like the OP suggested would be welcome. Or a new delivery method, like a scent wick, would be better for realism.

[Urgia]

The only real advantage over calls that scents have is the ability to place them in a preferable shooting zone and as an exploit, they will attract everything in range.

I stopped using scents a long time ago for the same reason.

I would only use them in long range shooting competitions, which i never do. Considering I mostly hunt with bows, I think callers are the best choice. I just keep calling until I hear footsteps, that is the moment i start moving (prone) away, by the time the animal reaches the spot I am 15 m away. From there I can maneuver until I get the perfect shot angle. I use this method with scent eliminator, especially for hogs (so I still spend em$ on consumables).

You can do this with treestand too (getting down from stand and calling 10-20m away), only you can not make adjustments on your position after animal has reached the spot, you're pretty much stuck in place. You can come down and move around the animal, but that defeats the purpose of using blinds. So if the hog arrives and is facing your treestand, just sitting there, there's not much you can do with a bow, other than risking a poor shot or wait until the call effect expires and the animal starts moving again.

[Tod1d]

+1 (again)

A scent wick should last an entire hunt. Even spraying on trees/bushes should last an hour.

My favorite way to hunt with scents IRL is to use a drag or scent pad on my boot. You walk a predefined route to your hunting stand that passes swamp, bedding & feeding areas and scrapes if available, leaving a trail of scent for the animal to follow. I've seen bucks following my trail with their nose to the ground up to 3-4 hours after application.

Scents could also be made more challenging by taking the wind into account. (instead of a 150m circle, maybe a 90 degree downwind wedge effective out to 220m).
Another more realistic mod to both scents & calls would be to have an attraction "area" instead of "point". i.e. the animal would come to a random point say, within a 30m radius of the call or scent. This could offset the advantage of making the scents last longer.

Just thoughts

Be Well

[SloNeZ]

I agree that the scents don't last long enough. In fact they last just long enough to usually stop working just as the target animal is almost to it.
What I don't understand is why it should cost even more for something to work as it should. Right now scents cost 1,439 to 2,079 GM. The duration is set too low to be effective for the price.
Correcting something shouldn't cost more. It already costs plenty.
Tod1d makes a very good point about the duration of scent wicks. I have also used them as well as dragging them from my boots. Urine and gland scents can be detected by animals for hours or days depending on conditions. Making them last the same as the cover scent in game makes sense. It would be a great improvement to game play while better justifying the cost of the lures.

[PerfectlyInSane]

I agree with this as well. Never use scents because I feel calling is way more effective.

The scents are not really more useful than callers with the current time limit on them, with the spread time on the scents it makes them underpower compared to callers in my opinion, if you increased the time before the scent expires and still had the spread time they would be more balanced.