Smoke as scent control

[dragon rider]

I have a friend who's a big believer in smoking his hunting clothes, with a chiminea or small fire ring under a tarp hung so the smoke will collect and permeate the clothes.  He smokes them until the smell like thick wood smoke, puts them in plastic bags and leaves them there until he's ready to put them on.

Have any of you guys tried that and, if so, how did it work for you?

[lpcjon2]

If I'm not wrong the indiand smoked their clothes(to get rid of evil spirits or something). there was a thread about campfire smoke last year and it had good comments.do a search for it.

[Winterhawk1960]

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=105595

Here was one thread that has a post that has some links to several other's. Some people swear by it......others not so much.

Winterhawk1960

[Swinestalker]

I am one who swears by it. My routine is different however. I get as clean and scent free as possible, then build a small fire out of natural materials(I told a not so bright friend about it and he "smoked up" using his kitchen garbage!). Simply waft yourself and clothes in smoke and go hunting. I believe smoke deters bacteria growth. It either works or I am just very lucky.

[TIM B]

Only do that in elk camp when I hafta- I just stay clean and play the wind
TIM B

[MikeW]

All I can say if you think scent killers/cover-ups really work you need to go educate yourself on how animals smell...dogs are the easiest to research(it's all the same)If you want to stop an animal from smelling you, you need to be sealed in a "Seal A Meal" bag and even those don't work really. Animals smell at the molecule level,meaning in order to stop them from smelling you, you have to be vapor proof, even "seal a meals" aren't vapor proof. Cellophane is, go wrap you self in that head to toe. Do you really think your scent lock suite is vapor proof?

Edit: Turn the "Outdoor Channel" off,put the magazine down,take a shower in a non scented soap, save yourself a ton of money and go hunt the wind.

[TxAg]

Next time you eat spicy food, light a match and blow it out after the next morning's bathroom experience.

I live in a 900 sf apartment with my wife...so I keep a lot of matches handy.

I don't know why it works but it does.

I'm not saying it's the best trick out there, but it's free and, to me, it works better than scent killers, etc

[pintail_drake2004]

I've used smoke for years with great success. Especially when hunting an area with lots of pines or cedars (just keep your eyes closed when getting in the smoke). Save your money, scent lock does not work imho I've had better luck with smoke.

[buckeye_hunter]

I have done it for years and never had a deer "spook" after walking past/over my trail. This is even if I accidentally rubbed grass and brush while getting to my stand. I literally watched easily a dozen deer follow my same path over the course of a week with zero evidence they were anxious or even noticed my scent. The guys that hunted with me at the Ohio Trad Deer hunt saw some of those deer on my phone via video. I have proof. A couple of them spooked, but only after catching me move. They were totally calm up to that point.

I had 4 deer walk over my trail this weekend with the same results out on AEP public hunting land. Matt (AKA Celticknot) was on the other side of the pond and can attest that the deer walked right in on me. I was on the ground and got busted ONLY after a doe caught me moving to get in better position.

With my results, I believe it is effective in covering or minimizing scent while getting into and sitting in your stand. Too many deer have been in places where my scent should have been left behind without spooking for it to be a fluke.

These are my results and I'm sure there are other opinions. I do, however, have witnesses and even had video. Unfortunately, my phone wound up under water and died a few months ago. The video went with it. I will get more pics/video in the next month or so of hunting.

Again, these are my results and there may well be evidence to the contrary. I know tracking dogs will still find you, but there must be some other reason it works to throw off deer. Maybe it decreases the human scent to make it seem older and less intrusive?

[toppredator]

I get so tired of hearing people say "just hunt the wind."  I agree wind direction is important but where do you people hunt where the wind stays consistent.  I'm a stand hunter and if I only hunted my stands when the wind was "just right" I'd hunt a total of 25 minutes a day, TOPS!  I prefer to put my stand as high as I can stand it and religiously use scent eliminating spray before and during every hunt.  I know I'm probably going to get blasted by some of you guys but that's just my opinion, TRW.

[bigugly1]

Now don't get me wrong I try to hunt the wind as much as I can but I only have so many days to hunt and honestly if I waited for the right wind I would give up hunting as I would rarely be out. I do my best to stay clean, try to keep my clothing away from food smells etc. for confidence sake I use cover scents, not sure if it works or not. What I can saw is this, last two deer I killed where both direct downwind and I mean direct. One a 2.5 year old doe the other a 2.5 year old buck. Neither acted like I was there at all both shot at under 25yards. I still take mind of the wind but sometimes it just doesn't work out. I hunt mainly small woodlots in farm country so maybe they just don't mind human smell cause if they ran every time they smelled humans they would never stop running.

I am a strong believer that me constantly swatting at early season skeeters will scare a deer a lot quicker than my corn cob insect repeller. I hunt on the ground and I hunt the wind. If the wind changes to spot I wish to shoot a deer, I move.

[mrjsl]

Originally posted by toppredator:
I get so tired of hearing people say "just hunt the wind."  I agree wind direction is important but where do you people hunt where the wind stays consistent.  I'm a stand hunter and if I only hunted my stands when the wind was "just right" I'd hunt a total of 25 minutes a day, TOPS!  I prefer to put my stand as high as I can stand it and religiously use scent eliminating spray before and during every hunt.  I know I'm probably going to get blasted by some of you guys but that's just my opinion, TRW.

I am one of those people who says just hunt the wind, but I am only able to do so by having a bunch of different stand sites and being completely mobile.

I know a ton of people who cannot hunt that way because they hunt private land/clubs/leases or small patches and are tied down to specific spots that they can hunt. I hunt in big woods on public land. 20,000 acre plus tracts. I just look for spots that fit the predominant wind patterns. In my area on great hunting days, we have N or NE wind, and other days it's S or SE. Rarely have any westerly wind. So when I scout I keep tabs on potentially good spots for N/NE winds and S/SE winds, and hunt them accordingly. I find some very good reliable spots but only hunt them on the right winds.

[Night Wing]

Where I live in southeast Texas, we've had lots of wildfires this past summer because of the high heat, very low humidity and a severe drought. One wildfire burned 2300 acres and got as close as 300 yards to my house.

In our area, the smell of smoke to a deer is a "danger" sign and they avoid the area where they smell the remnants of smoke.

Just food for thought.

[b.glass]

I've never actually smoked my clothes but don't mind if they get a little smokey. Around here smoke is pretty common but not a cause for panic.

You can't get rid of all scent but you can minimize it to the point that it is not alarming. Like when you get a slight whiff of skunk you may think "Oh, there's a skunk somewhere". If you get a strong smell of skunk you'll think, "I'm getting the heck out of here. There is a skunk nearby!!"

The buck in my avatar walked on the same path I took to get to where I stood on the ground. There was a cross wind. I shot him before he got directly down wind of me.

[Jeff Strubberg]

I don't think you can ever cover up one scent with another.

I do think you can reduce your scent stream.  You still need to hunt the wind, but you can cut down on how far away you will get busted and how large your scent "pool" around your stand is.