/ 25 October 2004

New gum for hunters conceals human breath

A deer hunter in Wisconsin is marketing a new type of chewing gum he claims can mask human-smelling breath and help hunters move closer to their prey.

Neil Bretl says his Gum-o-Flage helps fool the animals’ hypersensitive noses to human scent.

Hunters already can use special soap, shampoo and clothing detergent to eliminate human smell. Some even pay $300 for scent-control coveralls or rub themselves with horse manure.

Now, for $4,99, hunters can get 12 olive green, Chiclet-style tablets in a blister pack. ”Its sugar-free, by the way,” said Bretl (35) whose number plate reads ”GUM GUY.”

The idea came seven years ago when Bretl, a gun hunter since boyhood, began going after deer with a bow and arrow. That meant hunting at closer range, and Bretl took precautions to eliminate his human odour, including wearing carbon-lined clothing that was kept sealed in plastic bins with pine boughs.

Deer still picked up his scent. He turned to his brother and then-dental student Nicholas, who suggested the problem might be his breath.

Bretl contacted an organic chemist friend and began cooking gum recipes in a microwave.

”My first few batches were hideous,” he said.

”It was tough chewing.”

But he kept experimenting and ultimately settled on a formula that incorporates anti-microbial agents, chlorophyll and three kinds of pine oil.

Bretl has no clinical evidence the gum works and hasn’t done any official studies. But he says he and his associates used it after smoking cigarettes, drinking beer and eating onions and found it erased the odours. – Sapa-AP