Our History

The company was founded in January of 2022 but this was far from the beginning. Wayne Kaufman, the President and Founder of Wind-Cheaters, began working on the products 8 years ago. Wayne has been a hunter all his life but he really began studying scent control in 2000 when he became a K9 officer for the Louisville Metro Police Department. It became apparent early on during this training that using scent cones and wind direction were very important in the dogs’ success. For example, if a person committed a crime and ran into a 50 acre block of woods at night, the handler and dog would be tasked with locating the criminal in a short window of time. It wasn’t long after that he realized deer used the same concept using scent cones in the woods. After trying product after product over the years to become “scent free” with little success, he began experimenting with his own product. After 7-8 seasons, he finally honed in on a product that provided success unlike anything else he had tried on the market. The product was put to the test during bow season of 2019. A deer that had been winding him for weeks, wound up walking up the exact trail he had walked on licking the leaves he had stepped on. He had sprayed his boots before walking into the woods. The deer stopped at 18 yards and a perfect shot was placed. This buck was a 160 class buck. He began to wonder, “Was that a coincidence or do I have finally have it right?” The following season he had a 170 class buck on camera that was very wise. He would only come in on certain days, always with the wind in his favor. Wayne decided to put the product to test again, as it is hard to control scent during the early season when it is so hot outside. Sure enough, the buck came in from straight downwind and a perfect shot was delivered at 7 yards.

At this point people began to start asking Wayne how he kept managing to get this up close and personal with such mature deer. He told them about this product that ultimately became Wind-Cheaters. Everyone began hounding him for a bottle and wanted him to start a company. Before he decided to start the company, he wanted a little more data and footage. His two sons took the product to the woods this past season and shot deer that were 140 and 150 class downwind at less than 20 yards. The last and most satisfying success came when a family friend named Wes Irwin had been hunting a 170 class buck all season but had been getting winded over and over again. Wayne decided this mature buck would be great to put the product to use on. On mid January evening, Wes applied the product and for the first time, the buck came in. At 11 yards, downwind. He placed a perfect shot and the buck expired 90 yards later. At this point, Wayne was convinced that other hunters should be able to experience the same successes he had.