anyone smoke their clothes & gear?
Whitetail Deer
I just heard about hunters purposely smoking their hunting clothes, gear and even themselves on another hunting site. They use leaves or wood, from the simple standing next to a campfire, to building a structure just to smoke their gear. Then store items in a tote.
Anyone tried this?
Think about this: if you add a scent to your hunt area, what do you think it will do to the animal you are hunting?
Right!
I've been doing it this year and though the deer hunting has been slow I have had 2 coyotes come to my stand from down wind and shot the second one at 12 yards. I'll keep with the program and give it an honest try! Trying to be scent free in the past hasn't kept down wind deer from scenting me.
The theory is that deer are used to smelling smoke and don't associate it with hunters so they tend to ignore it.
Bear Track, I would tend to agree. BUT on that other bowhunting site the thread (smoking my clothes) has 58 posts and no-one that has TRIED it had negative reactions from deer.
Most posts go like this, "Looked at my notes from this season so far - I have spent 28 hours on stand this year and have had had 42 deer in effective bow range (30 yards or less). Of those 42 deer, 36 ended up at one point or another on the downwind side of my location. Of those 36 only two spooked out and that was because the caught me moving."
So, who has TRIED it?
I think it works , but havent tried it I talked with some that have and wont do anything else. Ive seen whitetails feed next to smoldering fires
Snapcrackpop- This is the 3rd season that I have been smoking my clothes. It WORKS!
I hunt very spooky deer on public land, and the 3 times that I have been busted this year, it was from my movement.
I've been doing this for the last 5 years I guess. I've had very few negative reactions when deer get downwind. Mostly, they just turn around and walk away if anything.
Sometimes I think you could smell of smoke a little too strong, but thats just my opinion. What they don't do is freak out when they get a whiff and most continue on their way.
I used to hunt an area where they burned the cattails on the edges of sloughs after harvest. Fires everywhere and the smell of smoke was thick. All the locals swore by it and I can see why, so I did too, although I don't have any evidence it helped as I had no deer downwind, but sure couldn't hurt.
I don't live in a particularly dry area...in fact, it is rather damp most of the time. My township has a burn ban, so there isn't a lot of smoke for the animals to acclimate to.....
Nonetheless, if it works, go for it....
I close my eyes very tight and wish the buck doesn't smell me and it works pretty good as well.....
That will just make you smell like a human who has been sitting around a campfire...it won't fool a deer for a second.
I have campfires going quite a bit by my house and the hunting land is connected with my house. I stand by the campfire when I'm getting dressed. I try to get the smoke in my hair and skin too. Just don't over do the smoke, it can be a little overwhelming when you're on stand. I had 5 does walk past me downwind the other night and none of them knew I was there.
I wear 2XL, hard to get them in my bong..... Old boys in Canada I've hunted with have been doing it for years, and they do well
I can't believe that you guys would stoop to this level of gadgetry! How about going one on one with your game instead of trying to trick them into thinking your nothing more than a harmless forest fire! Next thing you know you will be using compound bows, range finders and in the field ozone machines to give you an edge over the animals!
that's lol funny right there Frank.
The premise behind smoke is that it kills bacteria that makes you stink. What cracks me up is that guys get hung up on the smell of tooth paste, rightguard deodorant, soap or whatever but deer smell right past that and smell YOU! A deer could care less if you used Crest or some no smell special hunters tooth paste. Human smell not that Slim Jim you're stuffing in your face spooked the deer.
On the other site they say it's a combination of the strong smoke smell and the carbon attaching to your clothes to help reduce your scent.
When I was hunting in South Dakota with an indian guide, he was using sage to rub on his clothes, hands and face.
Again, have yet to read someone's response with negative effects that tried it... I'm curious.
Again, have yet to read someone's response with negative effects that tried it... I'm curious."
Could it be because it works???? Granted it goes against the grain of trying not to smell like anything. A guy still has to do his best to keep his body clean and what not, but to most animals, its really a non-threathing smell and if it covers your own scent just enough, then why not do it?
What I have experienced in the last 42 years is trying to smell like nothing doesn't last very long by the time you get to your tree stand. I think the odor from your face, neck and upper back and chest that sweats the most is where it originates from. I hate the smell of smoke but it does seem to over power the scent we emit from my limited real experiences. One thing it that it's cheap and doesn't require much in the way of equipment. I did buy a bee smoker and it's nice to contain the ashes. I do my clothes in a Walmart portable shower enclosure in my garage and two small handfuls of hickory wood chips smokes up the whole 24X30 garage! Do really don't have anything to loose if you try it, it won't ruin your clothes.
I'll preface what I'm about to say by telling you that I am not at all a fan of cover scents. That said, I've tried a lot of them and don't believe they work. A deer/elk's sense of smell is simply good enough to smell the cover scent AND the human odor underneath.
Anyhoo... I have tried the campfire smoke method during a scent experimenting phase I went through some years ago, but I probably didn't use it enough to develop a real solid opinion on the smoke method in and of itself. I never saw a negative effect, though either. I just ultimately developed my own habits of washing cloths and self w/ scent eliminator and becoming obsessively aware of wind direction when hunting.
So, IMO, pluses are that smoke is a non-processed, natural smell, so I'd probably trust it more than something you got at Walmart. And the concept of the carbon attaching to the clothes is interesting (never heard that before) and it makes sense at some level. But, I still wouldn't trust smoke so much as to do away with my scent eliminator detergent and shower soap, or to willy-nilly place myself up wind of a group of elk I'm trying to hunt.
Walks............. Get yourself a portable clothes closet, mine's made by rubbermaid and smoke your clothes inside of it, outside in your driveway. Unless you really want to smoke up your entire garage.
I have no illusions that deer don't smell me at some level when they get down wind. I'm sure there are times when it blows straight over their heads and other times it rushes down to the ground from thermals, back drafts, whatever. But I do know, based on my experiences only, it has helped with keeping deer from blowing out when they do get a whiff.
Of course, I'll never know about the deer that I never saw that just decided to walk away, but then that can be said about anyone and the methods they use.
I tried smoking mine earlier this year, but couldn't keep them lit.
Must be all the carbon the those scent blocker suits. :^)
I have not smoked my clothes for the fact I have nothing to do it with.
I am open to trying it. Everything that I read about the positives of smoking sounds legit.
I do know of a guy in OH, his name is Mike Rex, that smokes his clothes and routinely kills wopper PY's.
Just start a small leaf fire. But in an area where it won't catch dry grass or the woods on fire. Guys are using beekeeper cans or charcoal starters.
If you want a couple of hours of reading, google "scent smoker success!"
GNG, I could place the shower enclosure outside and tie it down so the wind wouldn't take it away but my garage isn't attached to the house so it's ok. I just zip the enclosure shut with my clothes in it when not hunting. It's a good place to get dressed for hunting as I hunt on my own property. My farthest stand is about 500 yards.
Called in 3 smaller bucks this evening and none showed any sign of being cautious or spooky. They all walked directly under my stand twice and from two different directions. Two of those bucks came in from directly down wind. It works!
Never tried it here. While hunting in Namibia we would collect Zebra turds and when the wind changed we would burn these turds in can and it did seem to work. The wind would be totally wrong ,you could see the smoke drift across the waterhole and animals would stand and drink, whereas before lighting they wouldn't get near the water before spooking. Never thought of trying it on a white tails nose. My theory has always been if the wind was wrong you were screwed. Interesting concept.
I don't smoke my hunting cloths but I had a hemp shirt and thought about smoking it.
only thing I can add is, while on safari my PH set several zebra apples on fire and they smoldered for hours outside the blind.
I couldn't find any rolling papers big enough! Who would of figured that in Colorado?
Back in the day , the Cheech and Chong 33 1/3 record album had a rolling paper big enough that came with it!!
Bailiff, whack his pee pee. Seriously though... I have heard of smoking your clothes but never tried it. What works for me is no toothpaste, deodorant, or soap in the morning. Scentlok clothing and Muck boots. Everything external like safety harness and fanny packs etc is stored in plastic bags with Earth Scent wafers. I've had deer walk downwind towards and away from me on the path I walked in on and have never been scented. Most of my treestands are at 15ft.
Been doing it for 6-7 years. It works. Period. Doesn't make you invisible to the deer, but they are more curious about the smell rather than alarmed.
Bonfires are cool and all but I don't want to smell like one.
I did but I didn't inhale! How many mature bucks have been killed with this method? Killing deer is easy, killing mature bucks consistently, is far from easy.
the only ones that bash it are the ones that havent tried it...
Thats what I'm saying....
Deer,Elk,Bear,Moose,critters in general! associate smoke with people and they dont like people very much...JMO
MikeC
crankn101 - you hit the nail on the head.
"the only ones that bash it are the ones that havent tried it..."
My thoughts on anything like this is that I am sure a lot of these things help reduce odor but I have yet to see anything that beats a whitetail's nose. Maybe...the rut will cause a buck to act careless but I am pretty sure an old mature doe when downwind will smell you and spook unless for some reason your scent doesn't reach her nose and I am not talking about it being masked. I am talking about the scent literally not coming into contact with their nose.
