Bad Breath Can Spook Deer. Here’s How to Prevent Swamp Mouth

Breath Control

If deer can smell your stinky pits at 300 yards, they can smell your rotten piehole, too. Prevent swamp mouth with these five tips.

1. Stay Hydrated

A dry mouth causes pungent odors. Take a bottle of water or black tea to your stand and sip on it throughout your hunt.

2. Eat Bread

Our bodies produce ketones when they don’t have enough carbohydrates. Ketones cause bad breath. Eat a couple of slices of bread an hour before you hunt. Avoid smelly foods.

3. Chew Parsley

The chlorophyll in parsley, a classic home remedy, is thought to kill bacteria. Parsley oil is a main ingredient in over-the-counter mouth deodorizers, too. Products like Mint Assure are another option, if you don’t want green in your teeth.

4. Scrape Your Tongue

We’ll assume you brush your teeth, but don’t neglect the seedbed of stink: your tongue. Use a tongue brush before you hunt.

5. Gargle

Before each hunt, gargle several times using a mixture of baking soda and seltzer water—​a natural way to neutralize odor, not just cover it up. Stay away from Listerine, or any mouthwash with a particularly strong fragrance.