Do/ Don't you use a campfire.
Elk
On an elk hunting trip where you best shower is some soap and a stream, do you guys cook on a fire? Why don't you are you worried about smoke scent?
Some years here in Colorado in some areas Camp Fire Smoke can be a great cover scent- not so much with food scents...
Most days, I'm up at 4 AM, and I don't drag myself back to camp until after 9 or 10 PM.
If I want any sleep, I really do not have the time to mess with a fire.
Best of Luck, Jeff
I don't screw with a fire because I don't do any sitting around a fire when hunting. I do make campfires in the summer but when elk hunting my routine is wake-eat-hunt--eat-nap-hunt-eat-sleep. I get back to camp late and just want to eat, have a beer and go to bed. In spike camp the "fire" is a Jet Boil. In base camp a stove and oven suffice and cook the meal while changing out of my hunting clothes.
Can't say for sure whether campfire smoke bothers them but suspect not so much. Like the old wive's tale about human pee, etc.. spooking game which we now know to be a myth.
I already knew ohiohunters answer. :)
I like a fire if someone else is already there in camp to build it. :)
I really enjoy S'mores so a nightly fire with cook stick, graham crackers, fluff and chocolate are a must with a Sky full of western stars! You only live once:)
A campfire is nice with friends but I've hunted elk solo for the last 15+ years and haven't made a fire once. I don't mind the smoke but it's just one extra thing I don't make time for. My 12 year old may go with me this year and if he does then we'll make a fire. I don't want to burn him out on 12-14 hour days anyway.
We'll have a fire if the fire danger allows for it. I'll build a fire when we get back to camp while we get dinner going. Eat by the fire and maybe have a drink then hit the sack.
One day, season before last, we built a fire in the middle of the day while out hunting. We were way back and planned to be away from the truck all day. It was raining and spitting snow. No action in the hunting so we took a break and built a fire to warm up and rest for a while. It was a big moral booster!
I'm also not worried about smoke smell. Often during archery season, fires are burning somewhere and smoke will drift in at some point during the season. It's a natural smell to the animals, at least that's my opinion.
Personally I can't stand the smell of smoke on me after I leave a fire. I think if the elk smell the smoke on you, you are sol to begin with. I haven't ever had a grouse and it sounds like a nice addition to mountain house meals.
Rarely when backpacking, sometimes when truck camping. Sometimes we purposely knock off early to cook a nice dinner and sit around the fire for an evening. Most days there just isn't any time.
You stay till dark a mile or two from the truck, hike back, throw together something to eat and pass out.
I don;t worry about the smell but I also doubt smoke (or about anything) is an effective cover scent. I think elk either smell a human that has been hunting 3 days or a human that has been hunting 3 days and having campfires. Either way, they smell the human.
A buddy was using the wafers you clip on your clothes or hat. He offered me one. He had "Fresh Earth" or "Pine". I declined and explained that I was standing on 6 sextillion tons of fresh earth and surrounded on all sides by thousands of pine trees. :^)
50/50 on having a fire when elk hunting. Having a cocktail with a campfire after day of chasing elk is damn near what life is all about. But there are times when it just cant happen due to late night hike out of the woods or packing elk.
If there is time and the menu calls for some homemade brats [or walleye lunch] you damn right there will be a fire!
And I see who wont be joining my camp.... :)
Nope. Never when bowhunting. Stinks to me and I assume the critters.
Rarely have a fire, usually too tired and just want to eat and get to sleep. But do enjoy a small fire if there's time and energy. Best way to cook a grouse or rabbit or other small game. Good way for tender loins too. Something about tending a fire.... primal.
Fires nor smoke bother elk. We've had em literally walk through camp with a fire going and they paid no attention, just cruised on through. I don't mind the smoke smell at all. I don't know about cover scent for animals, but smells better than I or my partner do after 3 or 4 days for sure.
Depends. It can have it's purposes - for example If I'm soaked a fire helps dry out socks, etc. If I need the Z's, no fire. It will slow you down in the morning. Don't generally cook with it much unless I have some downtime and have the gear and opportunity to catch some fish. If it is effing cold, then warming up by a fire before jumping into the bag can help. Solo in woof country, a fire provides a psychological boost
The scent doesn't matter, the elk is going to either smell you or the smoke. Doesn't matter if you've been standing around a campfire or not.
Wood burning stove! Smoke is a great cover scent, probably only one that actually works. Some guys even use bee smokers to cover their scent. My dad trapped back during wwii and they would use a smut fire to descent skunk hides. It's your aroma they are scared of, not the other stuff
Generally no because I'm too tired. Daylight is 15 hours long in elk season, throw in the travel in the dark and you have some really long days. Eat, go to bed and repeat again tomorrow.
Deer season, when you're looking at closer to 12 hour days, heck yes. Nothing like a good campfire and a few beers.
Nothing personal but smell concerns make me chuckle a bit. If they are downwind of your fire they are smelling you anyways.
That's what I'm talking about Paul. The thought of eating some of that instead of mountain house overrides my dislike of smelling like a campfire.
Often it's so dry I would be afraid to start a fire with almost no water to put it out for sure.
I like to burn paper plates, etc. when hunting from my old camp trailer and have a 5 gallon metal pail that has a small hole about 1/3 way down. To keep the fire contained I have a bit of screen for the top.
Not usually, I don't care for the smell and I it kills my asthma! I don't think it bothers the animals one little bit!
Scar.
In the early seasons especially, lots of places have fire restrictions.
I was shocked at how many guys actually smoke cigarettes and have killed some B&C whitetails- like Phil mentioned- the old wive's tales about human pee being an issue with deer...
Whenever carcus and I are hunting the same time same place it's fire and whisky time! But that's a truck hunt.
Like others I'm generally tired from the days hunt to have an evening campfire but wouldn't hesitate if so inclined to have one. Odors of about any kind have not really bothered me. I pretty much hunt the wind & have few regrets doing so.
I do generally have a fire in the woodstove morning & evenings to knock the chill off when hunting out of a walltent.
ElkNut1
Too tired. I value sleep more than a fire. Only time I had a fire is when I was in survival mode trying to dry out after days of wet snow. All of my stuff was either wet or frozen. 6 miles deep. Pretty high on the suck scale.
Z, I thought backpack hunting for elk was a romantic immersion where you can commune with nature in peaceful solitude, living under a thin tarp with minimal provisions. You mean it can actually snow?? ;)
yep... Nothing better than sitting around a campfire with my buds... I don't think it bothers the elk at all. Hunt the wind. Relax and enjoy the hunt...
Nope, I don't have time. I'm to busy hunting and trying to rest up for my next day he hunt.
Sometimes I build one during the day, sometimes st night . Depends on the weather, is anyone else with me, how late, etc
Man, hunting and fire have been together a long time. Nothing wrong with fire and hunting.
In 4-years spike camping I've only had 2-fires. Both times it was to warm up at night while eating dinner after a snowy/rainy day. Get the water boiling for the Mountain House on the JetBoil, and fix the fire while the mountain house "cooked". Once dinner was over it was into the sleeping bag until morning. There is something to be said for eating a meal on a westward facing slope with the very last sliver of twilight on the far horizon and the millions of stars appearing while warming next to a fire after a long day of chasing elk. Tranquility...
Whenever the wind was wrong in RSA, the PH would light up a string of dry zebra turds.
It did seem to help with covering our scent, but it made the S'mores taste like sh!t.
I usually don't have a fire, but that's 'cause I'm too lazy to pre-plan.
Ambush.....ha ha ha!!!! Very funny!!!
Fires rock!!!
Mark
Years ago we used to have a bowhunting camp in the Illinois River Bluffs country in western Illinois. We'd cut and stack wood the first day in camp and then because we were using oak/hickory, we'd only have to start the first ONCE (unless it rained), because even after 8-10 hours oak coals still will get a fire going with very little effort.
There's nothing finer than a bottle of Coors around a campfire at the end of day's hunt with your best friends.
We usually build one in the morning and evening in the titanium box stove. It sure is nice getting in and out of the bag when the TP is toasty.
"A buddy was using the wafers you clip on your clothes or hat. He offered me one. He had "Fresh Earth" or "Pine". I declined and explained that I was standing on 6 sextillion tons of fresh earth and surrounded on all sides by thousands of pine trees. :^) " I always thought the same thing! Re. fires, they're nice, for sure, but I've never had time to mess with one.
I am with Cnelk on this one. There is nothing better then chasing elk all day. Then unwinding by a camp fire drinking a beer or two before crashing.
I would have to trade sleep or hunt time to mess with a camp fire. I plan to start using a wood stove in my wall tent for heat and hot water, on elk hunts north of NM and AZ. The wood smoke from a stove will not be an issue. LP heat creates moisture where wood heat removes moisture.
Typically the only fire I light is the one in my wood stove.
I'd rather stay dry and dirty than slip into that icy WA lava tube stream in the predawn and feel my nads withdraw back up into my body cavity where they were prenatal. I use the campfire woodsmoke to cover up my B.O.
No need for the fire I have regular neighbors at the trailhead that have a fire 24/7 if I need one and I am always invited because I bring the deer jerky.
A good campfire is essential when possible. Love them! Only time I refuse to do it is if I'm hunting bears. It may not matter but I'd rather not chance it.
I think most animals can tell the difference between 'human' and 'smoked human'. Though I enjoy the scent of woodsmoke in a mountain camp I just prefer to remain as odor-free as possible. That's one reason I basically never build a campfire even on long hunts. The second reason is that I generally hunt fairly late...return to camp...eat...and crawl in bed. I have no time to sit around a fire if I'm going to be up at 5:00 AM. Lastly, if I'm building a fire it's generally inside my Ti stove while getting dinner going. I love sitting beside that little stove as it heats...then later laying in the bag watching it glow and hearing the pop and crackle of dry spruce.
BUT...I'll tell you right now that nothing is finer than a good warm campfire on a chilly evening. That's especially so at the end of the hunt as we celebrate the success of just being alive and able to experience the mountains.
It's funny to me that some of the same folks who won't have a campfire because of smell sleep in their hunting clothes for a week. I understand being tired and not having the energy/desire to make a fire. But the extra scent added to you by the smoke is definitely not going to make a difference to the animal your after. They fear human stink more than campfire smoke and after a couple days of never changing clothes I'm sure most of you could benefit from a smokey perfume. Me personally, I love a big fire at the end of a long hard day, accompanied by copious amounts of beer.
We don't have time to build and cook on a campfire. Takes a way to much sleep time. The only time we have used a fire is in wet weather to dry up or warm up.
Depends on where I'm camped relative to the elk I'm hunting, but the smoke is a great cover scent. I would certainly rather have them smell smoke than my stinky butt! ;-)
It's also funny that guys (including me) spend boat loads of money on "scent killer" products and then eat smelly foods and drink alcohol, coffee, tobacco, regular toothpaste... wind is the key!
Scar.
I don't think the smell of smoke is an issue for the elk, but I hate the smell of old smoke. If I sit around a fire, I can smell it in my clothes and hair. Just don't like it. So I avoid them unless I know a shower and change of clothes is available.
Usually fire up the wood stove in the tent. Almost never have a campfire. Too worn out.
I never hunted with a campfire until after joining Bowsite. You learn a lot from here.
I worry about my human odor vs. fire odor.
I now pee from a tree stand and do not worry about urine odor.
if I wear camo or not I have found out it doesn't matter to much.
Do I think deer think smoke odor is natural? No because how often do they smell it?
I have a buddy who is a Canine Officer in the Police Force he told me once that a dog can detect odors the same way us humans distinguish sounds. They are all different and we understand what each sound means. Example we hear a child laughing and we at the same time hear a child crying. He said that is how a dog deciphers odors. So I assume deer are no different.
Kelly is exactly right. I can smell peanut butter, bacon, skunk and smoke individually or in any combination as long as there's enough scent in the air. None of these covers or cancels out the others, but enough of one (say skunk) may make it the dominant odor. A sensitive nose will still pick up the other odors, and it's true for animals in the extreme.
.
I don't think smoke odor alarms an animal. I'm 100% sure it doesn't cover up my human scent completely. I do think smoke odor may make an animal curious or investigative...not good for me. I don't like smelling smoky at all though. Stale smoke smell is one step up from sweaty feet to me.
Stale smoke smell stuck in your sleeping bag is the worst!
I almost never have a fire for many of the reasons already listed, i.e. I don't have time, I'm too tired, I hate the smell of smoke on my clothes and in my hair, etc.
I also don't believe in cover scents. I believe that an animal will still smell the human but it will smell more like a smokey human.
One of the biggest reasons I don't have a fire is to keep as low of a profile as possible. I don't want to draw any attention to my camp from elk or other hunters. Smoke might not alert elk to the fact that you are there but I figure why take a chance. Several years ago I was camping and hunting a drainage and I was into elk everyday. After a few days the elk were suddenly gone. On the second day of no elk I was heading back to my camp after dark and I caught a whiff of wood smoke wafting down the drainage. I had my answer as to what happened to the elk. I don't know if the other hunters pushed the elk out with their hunting activities or if it was their campfire, but the next morning I packed up my camp, moved over the ridge into the next drainage and got back into elk every day.
The attached photo is one of the exceptions. We were soaked and very cold from days of rain and snow and we needed to dry out. I found out that the only thing worse than smelling like old smoke is smelling like smoked trout! Probably a really bad idea in Grizzly country...
I hate that stale smoke smell in the sleeping bag. Pretty much lived with it back in my serious backpacking days.
Elk smell smoke regularly all summer from forest fires and campfires. The "smoke smell" per se won't bother them or else they'd run themselves to death.
Seek Outside BCS-2 + Wi Fi Stove
Seek Outside BCS-2 + Wi Fi Stove
My take, I liked Kevin Dill's take on this. Archery hunting in September requires an early exit from camp + a longer day afield. I will be hunting solo this year and may use a floorless shelter to spike camp. It will be rifle season and the days will be shorter and the nights longer . I do plan to get creative maybe cooking a soup on my Ti-stove especially If the weather dictates I hole up. I plan to enjoy the heat provided, and the fire will go a long way towards my relaxation while alone in camp. Looking forward to this "hot tent " option.
I'm not in the camp that says it certainly will spook'm, but with my elk opportunities far and few between, its not worth the chance. More over its a continuation of whitetail hunting and doing everything in my power to rid myself of any stink. I think most of us have agreed that stale smoke stinks.
I'm also in NM where I'm trying to cool off more than I want to warm up, not to mention the constant dangers of a drifting amber. Funny story after the fact. My 5'nothing Hindu Indian straight off the boat squeaky habib voiced friend of mine drew a cow tag (first hunt of any sort aside from being against his religion). We managed to harvest the first morning after his first shot exploded a log 10ft in front of the cow, the second shot was on the money and through my glass looked like a paintball splatter, he could barely work the bolt w/ his tiny meek hands. Later that night we had a fire going, it was cold in December. We extinguish the fire and bundle up for bed, the fire flared a few times and after a some more water we went to bed. For no reason I woke up and looked towards the fire through the tent it looked like everything was on fire, I mean floor to ceiling was flickering red, I choked myself trying to get out of my bed, I could barely make a noise to wake everyone up. I pulled and tugged...opened the door... a car was driving down the road and its bouncing head lights were lighting up our red tent. Talk about adrenaline dump!
Looks like an Ewok
Looks like an Ewok
It's 2017 and people still worry about stink.... The wind is right or wrong, there is no in between.
The earth is flat......
Ohio, that was hilarious. God Bless men
Cazador has it right. I can't believe anybody thinks otherwise at this point.
With all the forest fires we have out here in the Rocky Mountains------the wild game smell smoke from mid-July into September.
I like a relaxing campfire in the evenings--------->
Good luck, Robb
For me it's not really about whether or not the smoke bothers elk. I know that if they are downwind of me they are going to smell me no matter what.
I just hate the smell of smoke on me and my clothes regardless of how the elk feel about it...
I agree with Mike I don't care for the smell on me either. But after a few days in the mtns and eating mtn house it is a better smell to be smelling.
It doesn't get much worse than that Sweet Wet Smoke Stench! (grin)
ElkNut1
Ohio, was he a better man than you (Gunga Din)?
Taking off on a point several have made, if you're going to do a woodfire, do it right. I carry a lightweight saw and take my wood off trees (drier that way), and have a lightweight tarp or at least large garbage bag I've sliced wide to cover the wood. Dry versus damp or wet wood makes a HUGE difference. If I go fire, the last thing I want to do is screw around with is a sulky sodden fire. Another point is making sure you set up a proper firepit in mineral soil. Once, solo backpack hunting I made a fire in the middle of the night when a pack of wolves began howling close by, and spent 45 minutes frantically digging down through smoldering duff to get to true soil. Should have known better and checked ahead of time, but it looked like an old firepit. Lesson (re)learned.
I guess I'm a real rebel because I like the smell of stale woodsmoke on my hunting clothes....don't really want it on my bedsheets or business suit, but when in the right setting it adds to all the sensory wonderfulness of hunting season. Wouldn't be the first thing that made me weird though, oh well!
All the talk about smelling like smoke and hunting the wind...who the heck sits on the downwind side of the fire?!?! C'mon man !! You're no more going to smell like smoke than an upwind critter is going to smell you!
krieger, if you figure out how to stay downwind of the smoke, please let me know. When I'm sitting next to a fire, my chair is in perpetual motion. If It's not hitting me in the face at any particular moment, give it 10 seconds. I finally give up, close my eyes, and hope I don't gag to death before it switches again! ;-)
Smoke follows beauty! (grin)
ElkNut1
I'll sometimes do a midday fire if it's cold. Back at camp I'm with most of you, eat and sleep with a shower thrown in if I get the stove going.
Elknut, I obviously dispel that myth! Ha!
With cnelk on this one. I like fires at camp if time permits. I just change my clothes before lighting it up. Life doesn't get much better than a day of hunting elk followed by a good meal, a beer or four and a hot fire. C'mon September!!
Camping is camping...... hunting is hunting. Camping with the family..... I'm kinda on vacation (certainly on vacation if no valid tags for anything.....)
But on a hunting trip I am not on vacation..... my greatest and deepest joy is being out there chasing something with sharp sticks. "can't kill em sitting in camp....." That is what I am there for. Not to "unwind" or commune with nature....
I can enjoy a night around the campfire....... very much so.....as long as it doesn't interfere with the main mission...... problem is... it normally does.
Get in late (I'm always back late..... seems you're always the farthest away when the last "magic hour" of the hunting day comes.) Eat. Get some sleep, 4am comes fast. I need to be where I want at very first light.... better yet sitting there WAITING for very first light.
One year I was hunting in West Virginia. I walked down into this really deep gully before sunrise and set up to stay until about 10 or so. Well, about 6:30 it started snowing, by 8:00, it was a blizzard. I went into my pack and pulled out my "survival stuff" and, giving up on hunting, started a fire to keep me warm.
I fed the fire steadily for the rest of the day as I couldn't get out through the snow and didn't have the keys for the truck that dropped me off anyway. All day long I had deer walking up the gully straight into the smoke trail that was blowing down the valley. When i finally got out I told my buddy about it and he told me that his dad use to build a fire when he was hunting, and always believed that the deer werre attracted to the smoke.
Now elk are different critters, so you can take this story as you will, but I think that smoke smell is a whole lot more natural to them than is the stink of a hunter who hasn't bathed in 4 or 5 days.
TMBB
Wyobullshooter x100. It doesn't matter where I sit....smoke comes in my direction. Great big Stinky, eye burning billowing clouds of it.
Again, what the elk think of it isn't a consideration. If they get your wind, they will smell you regardless. Deer as well.
I hate the smell of it. I can even smell it in the shower when I'm washing it off.
Wyobull, I'm in the same category! (grin)
ElkNut1
Wyobull, I understand, lol. My wife is a smoke magnet, doesn't matter which side she sits on, it goes her way. My comment was somewhat tongue-in-cheek , if the wind is variable enough for campfire smoke to follow a guy around the fire, it's variable enough to get busted by critters. For those guys that continually yell " Hunt the wind !" ;)
Easily enough accomplished in a treestand in Iowa, not so much in elk country, as I've found. Dang wind goes every which way...frustrating...
I don't mind fresh smoke smell, wood or cigar for that matter, but when it's "old" I can't stand it. Weird...
I am always grateful when I get (most of) an evening on the right side of a steady (say downslope) breeze that lets me sit next to the smoke. If you get up and move it knows you're there and will follow you.
I like a big camp fire and cold beer after filling my elk tag.
I only get to hunt elk every couple of years so unless it is in the wood stove I don't mess with it.
Moose hunting on the other hand I almost always have a fire to cook, dry, and generally hang out in the evenings. Sitting in camp around a fire somebody usually breaks out a moose call. We have called in quite a few moose over the years directly to the camp. Moose are sometimes slow to come to calls so in the morning you slowly open the zipper of the tent to look around hoping one came in over night. Makes packing them out a lot easier.
Fires are a waste of time I almost never have one. That said 100% sure I would rather smell like smoke then human. For sure. Smoke is good for scent not. bad.
honestly I'd rather have a camp with a fire, than a hunt without one.
Sometimes I do sometimes I don't, it just depends on how the day went and how much time I have in the evening. If it's super cold and I have time or just feel like having a drink and relaxing yes absolutely I have a fire. When I do have a fire I change into different clothes rather than my hunting clothes. Not because of the scent, just because I don't personally like smelling the stale smoke the next day while hunting. I hunt the wind either way.
I don't mind the smoky smell on me, but makes it hard for me to smell elk, when all I can smell is myself...
Just another reason I don't bother with campfires.
Best of Luck, Jeff
Having a campfire is a personal decision for us. There's a level of great comfort sitting around one & staring into it in addition to the warmth it can bring on the mountain or at camp. One thing for sure is we have one when we want or it's needed. Worrying about the smell during our elk hunt has no bearing on our decision.
ElkNut1
Aside from the smell I don't care to tend a fire when I get back to camp. Like others said All I want to do is wolf down some dinner, put together next days plan, and get to bed. I sure as heck don't want to put it out just to worry about it flaring up. I want elk on the mind not a forest fire.
wind is the key - the elk WILL smell you, smoke or not.
I have no problem with a Fire, everything around here has already burned. Everything smells like a fire. I think if you can smell yourself you better pay more attention to the wind.
-- Bill
