Does Ozone Really Work for Deer Hunting?

Some hunters are skeptical about in-the-field ozone generators, but experience tells a different story. Image courtesy of Darron McDougal.

I could not believe what I was seeing: A 2-1/2-year-old buck stood 15 yards away, directly downwind. “Any time now,” I thought, expecting the deer to come unglued. But rather than spook, the buck exhibited a calmness I’d never witnessed from a downwind deer. And he was downwind for at least 15 minutes. The only explanation was my buddy’s Ozonics unit, which I had reluctantly carried and installed above me in the tree.

A couple of days later, a steady breeze blew directly toward another buck, feeding 29 yards away. He never lifted his head to assess the wind. After the hunt, I got an Ozonics of my own, because seeing is believing with gear and gadgets, and I had seen all I needed to see.

I’ve had countless deer downwind without being busted during the past 10 years, including a nice muley I killed from a treestand. On that hunt, two bucks appeared 500 yards away. They fed across a wheat field, downwind the entire time. I killed the larger buck with a perfect hit. Neither buck ever became alert.

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One more quick story. I was hunting a treestand overlooking a seep on an Idaho slope. A large cow elk wandered 7 yards below me. My thermals were dropping directly to her. She went to the seep — eye level with my stand — and drank for a long time, less than 15 yards away. At times, wind hit the back of my neck, but she drank calmly before moseying back into the timber.

If you’ve always dismissed ozone generators as gimmicks or marketing fluff, I can assure you there is way more to the story.

OZONE SCIENTIFICALLY EXPLAINED

Soon after picking up my Ozonics unit, I discussed ozone technology with Buddy Piland of Ozonics. I had seen the generator work with deer downwind, but I didn’t know exactly why it worked.

“Ozone technology is a scientific principle at the molecular level,” Piland said. “Ozone is created when you use high-voltage electricity to crack an oxygen molecule. When that molecule breaks up, the pieces want to reattach to something. When they reattach to another oxygen molecule, O3 is created, which is ozone — a powerful oxidant.”

Piland said ozone was discovered more than 150 years ago, and it’s been used extensively in industrial applications, especially in the medical field.

“It destroys bacteria,” he said. “Human odor is bacteria, which is why ozone scientifically makes sense for hunters. Ozone occurs naturally. Every time lightning strikes the ground, thousands of pounds of ozone are created. Ozonics units create that same fresh smell you inhale outdoors after a storm.”

FROM THE DENTAL OFFICE TO THE WHITETAIL WOODS

Piland said that Ozonics founder Scott Elrod is a dentist who’d used ozone machines in his practice for equipment and room sterilization, and odor elimination.

“One day while cauterizing tissue on a patient with a laser, which creates a repulsive burnt-flesh odor, Elrod had an assistant bring an ozone machine into the room to see if it would reduce the odor,” Piland said. “Amazingly, the machine destroyed the odor. Being an avid hunter, Elrod sensed possible hunting applications for ozone.”

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After time and development, the first Ozonics prototypes were designed and built in 2007. “We tested the units on free-range whitetails in southern Texas,” Piland said. “The results were astounding.”

Using an in-the-field ozone generator is a different approach to scent control than the sprays, soaps, shampoos, deodorants and detergents most hunters are familiar with.

Because ozone destroys odors, “We don’t worry about what you’re wearing, what you smell like or whether you showered,” Piland said. “I’m not saying those things won’t help or aren’t important. But if we can keep the air between the animal and us clean, what we smell like becomes more irrelevant.

“In hunting applications, Ozonics units flood the downwind airstream with powerful oxidizing molecules that do what God created them to do. They want to return to their normal state, and they search for anything to connect to. Ideally, they want to connect with another single and become O2 again, but they often connect to pollen, dust and moisture. In this case, they connect with odors and bacteria you release into the downwind airstream.”

To hammer home ozone’s effectiveness, Piland used an analogy. “Imagine your human odor molecule as a huge pickup truck and the ozone molecules as tiny BBs,” he said. “When all of the BBs attack that pickup truck, they destroy it, and the human-odor footprint dissolves. We always say that human odor in the presence of ozone for the right amount of time and at the right concentration will be eliminated. Aside from that, ozone always alters and reduces human odor.”

CAN YOU DISREGARD THE WIND WHEN USING OZONE?

Hunting a stand or blind with the wrong wind direction goes against everything we’re taught. But having intentionally hunted wrong winds to test ozone’s effectiveness, I wouldn’t hesitate to do that if I wanted to hunt a stand and was confident a big buck would show up.

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“Ozone, when used correctly, becomes powerfully effective, and even creates opportunities to hunt in situations where the wind is shifty or marginal,” Piland said. “Before Ozonics, I never hunted stands on poor winds. I knew I’d see few deer, if any, and the ones I would see would spook. Now, I hunt stands on marginal winds, and I do it successfully.”

FINAL THOUGHTS

As a word of caution, breathing too much ozone can cause respiratory issues or damage. It’s unsafe to run one in a non-ventilated enclosed blind. Hunters who’ve done it have reported headaches, nausea and other symptoms. Talk to a doctor about exposure and the related risks before use.

After using ozone while hunting and to destroy odors on my hunting gear in totes, I have seen that ozone works for deer hunting. And given the science behind it, it’s easy to understand why it is so effective.