Although Scent Master is a young company, the roots of its ingenious scent-removing storage system stretch back several years.
“Back in the mid-’90s there was a product similar to this,” said Jamie Zimmerman, owner of Scent Master. “The company was sold a couple of times and eventually went out of business. I owned a couple of the units. It was smaller and wasn’t air tight, but it was a nice product and I used it as part of my regular hunting regime. “Then about five years ago, a few buddies from Pennsylvania came to hunt with me in Iowa. All three are avid bowhunters and whenever they were here they’d take over the boxes I had,” Zimmerman recalled. “The three guys decided they had to have one to take home, but after a little research, we found the company had gone under. That’s when one of the guys suggested I should bring the company back.
“I sat down and got to thinking about it and did some research before I hired a patent attorney. It took four years of working on it while I was working my full-time job,” Zimmerman continued. “The opportunity was just so great. How many times have you used and loved a product, but wished someone would improve it; make it the way you wanted it to be; the way you knew was actually better. This was my chance.”
Over the last 20 months—since its launch—Scent Master has been able to hire three full time and four part time employees. “We are growing that fast,” Zimmerman said. “I think the company that originally had it simply did not understand its market or exactly what it had. From my experience, my friends’ experience and customer testimonials… it’s just a no brainer after you see the results in the field.”
In today’s marketplace there are scads of quality products for controlling scent. Scent Master believes a critical, missing factor is caring for clothes when back from the day’s hunt.
“Most people are worried about odor on the outside of clothing, which is important, but the majority of our stink actually comes from the Inside out—from our bodies. No one is really focusing on taking care of their clothing when they get back from hunting,” said Zimmerman.
Scent Master Box
The Scent Master Box is an airtight, plastic container with a motor and a heating element. The motor sucks the air out of the box and circulates it via a tube through carbon filters. The heating element aids the process by raising the temperature to 130 degrees. “This allows moisture to removed from your boots, clothes, release, rangefinder, safety harness, or whatever. By immediately drying all of the moisture from your clothing and gear you are eliminating the bacteria—and if you don’t have bacteria, you won’t have odor,” stated Zimmerman. “The filters also help the process and eliminate any residual odor from the interior and exterior of your clothing at the same time. The nice part about the filter is that it is replaceable. The filters are about a ½-inch thick, commercial grade, and should be replaced yearly,” said Zimmerman.
“What’s the first thing you do before a hunt? Wash your hunting clothes of course. Why? Well, that’s obvious. After that, the effectiveness of your clothing is going to be reduced each day. Re-laundering your clothes every day is a hassle and of course, you would have to have a dedicated machine for that, which in many cases isn’t possible. The function of the Scent Master Box is designed to push clothes’ effectiveness back as close as possible to the level it was just after being laundered. After that, it can be returned to that level each day until you can fully re-launder your clothing,” said Zimmerman.
Zimmerman cautioned, “The Scent Master Box is not one of the ‘magic products’ you hear advertised. It is one step in the process. You still need to practice a good scent elimination/cover scent strategy that includes all of the sprays, watching wind direction, cleaning your body, etc. The Scent Master Box is another tool to avoid a wary animal’s nose.
“We are coming out with a larger product too. Right now, it’s in the hands of a few outfitters. The new box is over six feet tall and four feet wide. It has the same concept, but it uses three motors. Currently, we are working on new color and camouflage patterns and hope to have it in production and ready for distribution soon,” Zimmerman concluded.
Contact Scent Master at (319) 325-4322; www.scentmasterbox.com
