Making Sense of Various Outdoor Scents

One step outside the door this morning and you would hardly believe it was the first day of May here in the upper Midwest.   The high temperature for today will top out at about 45 degrees or so…if we’re lucky.   It was a perfect day to stay indoors and clean a few guns that were still neglected from last fall.

During the process of cleaning the guns I paused for a moment to enjoy some of the smells – particularly the smell of the Hoppe’s Solvent.   There is no doubt about it you could blindfold me and pass an open bottle of Hoppe’s under my nose and I would be able to distinguish that unique smell.   More importantly, the smell of Hoppe’s seems to bring back a rush of memories of my sportsman’s career dating back to the early days of owning my first .22 rifle.

This got me thinking just how important smell is to the sportsman’s nose.   What other substance could you pass under my nose and it would immediately evoke memories of my sporting past?   One substance that comes to mind that I do not believe is even made any more is E.J. Daily’s Muskrat Lure.   Here was a substance designed specifically to attract muskrats in to my trap sets…but the sweet anise-like smell is as vivid in my mind today as it was 25 years ago when I last opened such a bottle during my youth.

Same holds true for campfires.   I can sit around the fire during a summer camping trip and it will remind me of times spent hunting deer in northern Minnesota…antelope hunting in Montana…elk hunting in Colorado…well, you get the picture.   The smells of a simple campfire somehow binds many of the fond memories of my past and in the process it puts a smile on my face.

Even though humans have some of the most pathetic sniffers of any mammal, it’s surprising how much we do rely on our sense of smell.   Studies have shown that memory is so closely linked with smell that we stand a far better chance of remembering an event if there was a smell associated with it.

When the brain learns something that is associated with a smell, coming into contact with that same smell at a later date will bring back complete memories of everything the brain learned that was associated with that smell, including any associated emotions. This is called the "Proust effect".

Wow!   Think of how much we take for granted when it comes to smell.   When we’re fishing on a northern lake and we smell the fresh cedar and pine air, it’s a big part of the experience even if only on a subliminal level.   Not having the pine fresh air on a fishing trip for many of us would fail to connect our thoughts with past trips.   Likewise, not having the ripe sagebrush of the Wyoming or Montana plains would mean something important was lacking from that natural experience.

Many years ago I was gutting a deer I had shot moments earlier on ridge overlooking a gorgeous valley.   It was such a peaceful location that I took my sweet time to appreciate both the moment and the fallen animal.   When it came time to eviscerate the game I suddenly stopped and began thinking about my professional career at the time.   I was an ambulance professional and it was fairly common to get blood on my hands and clothes during the course of performing my duties.

But something about the deer that morning evoked a memory of a particular car accident I was once on and I was convinced it was the smell of the blood that connected the two events.   Prior to that I did not realize blood had a distinct odor that was discernable even to a poorly developed human nose…but it does.    There have been several times since then when I have smelled blood and it connects me to my past experiences in life.

Often as sportsmen we don’t take the time to “smell the roses,” so to speak, about the activities we enjoy.   Maybe it’s an exciting moment in time during a turkey hunt after the successful shot is made.   Do you remember the pungent smell of the gunpowder during the crisp early morning?   Or maybe it’s the end of a long day of catch and release fishing when all you have to show for your efforts are "fishy" hands and clothes.

While there’s certainly been lots of studies conducted on smells I happen to believe that smells have a cumulative effect on the sportsman.   The more times a person experiences a specific odor the more likely it will be permanently etched into their mind.   Unfortunately, much like an odor smelled over a long duration of time, sometimes the olfactory receptors get tired and stop sending recognition signals to the brain.

What a shame!   A big part of the outdoor experience is not just the sights and sounds we experience…but it’s the smells, too.   This spring and summer I suggest paying a bit more attention to the wide variety of smells that sportsmen must endure—albeit, many being pleasant odors…while some are downright disgusting.

Indeed, a sense of smell will often connect you with your past and isn’t it the wonderful memories we create in the outdoors today that we want to last far into the future?   Recalling those odors along with the "visual" experience will ensure each of our outdoor recollections stay as vivid tomorrow as they are re-played today.

© 2005 Jim Braaten.  All Rights Reserved.   No Reproduction without Prior Permission.