On a recent extended hunting trip where two of us shared the camp trailer for the most part of the trip and more than three fourths of the time there were three men in the trailer, it got down right “homey”.  We really had a great time just being men and not caring about how we looked, acted or smelled.

Don’t get me wrong, we do care about all those things, but when you have been hunting for more than 5 days, those things tend to take a back seat to the quest to bag the quarry.  I did note however that as the hunt progressed the deer seen were a considerable farther distance away from us than they were the days before.  Some of the locals said it was because of the nice weather and that the migrating animals had moved back across the border…B.S.  I have the right answer.

Scientifically speaking when your nose quits smelling the odors around you they call that “Olfactory Fatigue”.

Stand and take the direct blast of a skunk at close range and you will experience exactly what that means.  At first you can’t stand the smell, you gag, choke, cough, spit and otherwise not like what has happened to you.  Your eyes will water beyond belief and you will no doubt think the next thing will be death.  I’ve been there.

But soon, you realize the smell just isn’t as bad as what you thought it was just a minute or two earlier.  Life begins to come back into your body and you decide you escaped death…wonderman!

Now walk over to the neighbors house and ask if you can come in and talk awhile.  As they open the door to let you in they will back off quickly and demand that you not step any closer and tell you things like “YOU STINK”!  And other nasty things that neighbors should not be sharing with you when you are standing so close.

Olfactory fatigue.  Here is Wikipedias definition:

Olfactory fatigue

Olfactory fatigue, also known as odor fatigue or olfactory adaptation, is the temporary, normal inability to distinguish a particular odor after a prolonged exposure to that airborne compound.^[1] For example, when entering a restaurant initially the odor of food is often perceived as being very strong, but after time the awareness of the odor normally fades to the point where the smell is not perceptible or is much weaker.

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After the hunt I knew I had to clean out the trailer and get it ready for winter.  I cleaned out the perishables the day we got off the mountain and the valuables that were stored in it were also taken out and put in their safe places around the house.  But the main cleaning was going to have to wait until I had more time.

It’s funny how time slips away and it was a full week later that I finally got back to cleaning the trailer up.  I walked in and was almost floored from the odor!  Oh My Heck!  It smelled like a gym locker, roadside bathroom and Podunk Cafe all mixed together!  Wholly mackerel did it smell bad!

My cleaning job went to the next level in order to rid the walls of the residual stink that had to have permeated the wood paneling.  Yes, I really cleaned that badboy up really good.  And so as not to fool myself into thinking I had cleaned it really good and that it was not still stinky (suffering again from Olfactory Fatigue), I chose to leave it and come back the next day to give it the “sniff test”.

It passed.

So there you have it.  After nine days of hunting with your buddies and thinking life is just about as good as it can get, maybe you should consider a bath and a change of clothes, even if you can’t smell yourself.

Bears Butt

Jan. 24, 2013