smoke as a cover scent

[Slickhead]

Lots of people use it, for some its the "bomb"

Im trying it as soon as I can get out to hunt.(probably in a week after a business trip)


The other night we drove out by where I hunt a lot.My wife and I normally drive out to look at deer at 7-7:15PM.
 They are doing some work to a cemetary that is adjacent to where a lot of deer are seen.
They were burning stumps and the ground was still smoldering a lot (grass)
From a distance I told my wife look how foggy it is already , but the closer we got I could tell it wasnt fog)
As we turned the corner a 4pt buck was feeding near. The smoke was pretty thick but he didnt care, just kept on eating.
So my point being is that the odor doesnt seem to bother them.
If it helps conceal your scent it appears to be a win/win
FYI
Good hunting !
 

[SteveB]

Nothing hides your scent from a deer or confuses them.

Smoke may kill some bacteria which can reduce your scent. Big difference between hiding and reducing.

[beaunaro]

I know some guys who swear by dry oak leaf smoke from an old charcoal grille.
Can't swear it's foolproof. I've tried it. Probably can't hurt.
I also know there is a commercial "Scent Smoker" unit for sale out there. Never tried it

[Traxx]

Old Indian trick.

[2Blade]

What kinda material? Pine? Or will just plain wood smoke work? I could climb on the roof everyday and stand by the chimney

[7 Lakes]

After running bird dogs for a while I'm convinced that nothing covers your scent.  Smoke will add to your scent and maybe stir up some curiosity in a deer.

[kenn1320]

Contact a search and rescue dog trainer and ask his opinion. You will quickly realize nothing and I mean nothing will hide or cover up your scent. They have proven deer smell better then dogs! The guy I talked to said he can take his dog into a building after the fire, and its so bad in there it burns your eyes and lungs. He said if an excellerant was used to start a fire, his dog will find where it was used. Amazing! I contacted search and rescue trainers, they had some amazing examples. Said If a body is under water and decaying, their dogs can smell the scent as it floats to the surface. They didn't quantify to what depth, but even still that's crazy. I spoke with a drug police dog trainer and he said they tried hiding drugs in glass jars and every imaginable material and couldn't fool the dogs. He figured that just lifting the drugs over the container was enough to get scent on the outside of the container. Another officer told me he pulled a guy over and suspected drugs so he called in the dog. The dog walked around the car and signaled when he got by the tail light. That gave them enough to search the car and they found a small amount of weed stuffed in the back seat. It was able to smell that from the scent going into the trunk and out the tail light area. The other guy I talked with said they could drag a scent across the field and of course the dog could track it. Said they burned the field and the dog could track it. They plowed the field and the dog tracked it. Go ahead and smoke yourself, but its not going to help you based on what I have learned.

[Lineman72]

So that scent blocker stuff is BS? If so is it true that if your above 20 feet your scent doesn't come down to the ground?

[buckeye_hunter]

The scent smoker is not BS. You do not need it though if you have access to a campfire. I have done this for years and had deer on top of me too many times for it to be a fluke. Even with marginal to bad wind. I've had situations where the wind switched and the deer should have busted me easily, but did not. Maybe there were thermals working in my favor, but it couldn't be the case every time.

THESE GUYS ARE RIGHT. A dog can track you through anything, but that does not mean that smoking your clothes and body/hair will not help.

Remember, the dogs are trained to find you. If not trained to find you, then a dog may walk right on doing what they were doing. Does this mean a deer can smell you? Likely, but the smoke does something where deer are concerned and it helps greatly.

Just try it and experiment. Smoke your clothes, boots and body. If it does not help noticeably this hunting season for you, then I will personally and publicly call it BS myself.

I don't believe I will have to do that. I have seen it work in my favor too many times.

By the way, I AM NOT endorsing the scent smoker because I don't own one. I smoke my stuff in a camp fire. I just think the scent smoker would be simpler.

This is only my opinion, but I shot 2 deer last year that I firmly believe smoking my gear and body helped with dramatically.


-Charlie

[buckeye_hunter]

Look up Scent Smoker on youtube  and watch their video. I would post the link, but they are using compounds in the video. I have had similar results as the video in the woods with deer. That is how I know the video is not bologna.

In the video, it is clear the deer smell something, but they do not freak out. I have witnessed this personally while hunting public and private land.

The argument should not be whether or not the deer smell something. They definitely do smell something, but the smoke has a weird effect on the deer.

What is the worst that can happen by giving it a try? You still should hunt the wind as best as you can anyway.

-Charlie

[SuperK]

I tried smoking my clothes the other day before hunting.  I used hickory chips I got from the grocery store, charcoal and an old burnt out grill.  Wind was kind-of strong and swirling around.  I did have some deer come from directly down wind.  They bolted and ran off a ways but they didn't snort and explode out of there.  I was impressed and do think it made a difference.  I plan to continue doing it.  Time will tell.    

[eflanders]

From early American history we have learned that native American Indians did a bit more than just smoke their clothes.  They literally went into a smoke filled room got totally naked, got mentally prepared for awhile and then got dressed for the actual hunt.  Smoke supposedly kills certain bacteria.  It also was an acceptable (non threatening) scent to the animals in the areas they hunted. From what I understand from the folks that commonly use smoke as a cover scent, one must also smoke their bare bodies as well as their clothes for success.

[pukwana]

I'm a believer. I smoked my clothes the other night and put them in a plastic bag,  tonight I showered with scent free soap and put the smoked clothes on when I got to my spot.  I had two bucks cross the path in tall grass that I took in, not 20 min after I went through, and neither one batted an eye.  I was hunting on the ground and they were about 15 yds away, couldnt get a clear shot.

I had a large 8 pointer cross my pipe smoke trail once. It was one of those mornings where the smoke hover without rising. Anyway, the buck hit the smoke that was drifting some thirty yards away from, took a big sniff and then headed straight to me.  When he got about ten yards away, still coming striaght at me, he smelled something wrong and bolted. If I would have had my littel Browning recurve or a longbow I would have had him, but that was the year that I hunted part of the year with a metal handled Wing wheelie thing and it was hanging on a branch out of reach, my hand was too cold to hold any longer and I had moved to be on the sunny side of the tree that was sitting against. I probably would not have gotten a shot off with the clumsy thing even if I could have reached it.

[Knawbone]

Ken1320, Ken you can believe what you want, but brother your leaving a whole lot of factors out of the equation. Now we could debate the effects of scent reduction or lack there of, but Deer are not trained dogs. Those dogs are trying their utmost to find that scent. Deer are preoccupied with many things other than trying to constantly sniff out hunters. I'll use this example: How many times have you smelled something, but the smell didn't register right away. Maybe you were engrossed in a conversation with someone as you walked in their house. The house had a different smell, but your brain didn't notice due to the fact that your thoughts were on the conversation at hand.Animals are no different at times. A buck trailing a Doe is searching for one thing, and that is the scent of the Doe. That rutting Buck may smell you, but his brain is elsewhere. Unless he gets a close up, full blast of human, he's not going to flee from the buiseness at hand. That's just one situation or senario were lowering your scent level can make all the difference in the world of the successful Deer hunter.
 So don't be so quick to think you have it all figured out when it comes to how deer react to unnatural scent.Respectfully Sir, there's a lot more factors that come into play other than what a dog can or can't smell.

[Knawbone]

Plain YES, smoking yourself and your cloths can make a big difference to a successful hunt.Combinations of scent control can be even better...........IF you know what your doing!    Good thread, Good subject.

[chanumpa]

I agree ,very good discusion here.I still contend,that the best scent is no scent.However,smoke is natural,especially with most of our western national forests experiencing such widespread forest fires in the past decade.And it would certainly be all right to our mountain men predecessors whom smoked there buckskins for better waterproofing of them,and had to make a kill to survive.I once had a hunting partner whom liked his Swisher sweets.We constantly scolded him elk hunting that if we could smell his cigars that the elk we persued would surely bust us.Alass,he proved us wrong on more occasions than I can count.

[Knawbone]

Chanumpa, I tend to agree with you that smelling like nothing is best overall. Smoking yourself and/or your clothes every day and hunting the same area could become pattenable by the Deer. I believe that part of what works about wood smoke is the natural calming scent. I think where people get confused about cover scents is the association Deer have with the natural smells they breath in every day.If those smells are not part of you, then you are a threat.Your body scent is a red flag, especially if you carry other smells such as house smells, dog, cat, gasoline, cooking smells,ect,ect,ect. Incorporating woodsy smells with your person ( in the Deers mind )makes you more natural to their environment and therefore less threatening.

  Hunters must remember that animals respond to stimuli more than they respond threw cognitive thought! Case in point: Fur trappers that blend their own animal lures use many ingredients that are foreign to the target animals environment, yet instinctively the animal is attracted to it's odor. The odor is usually a complex BLEND of smells that are designed to reduce fear, cause excitement, curiosity,hunger, sexual excitement,ect. My point is, that Cover scents can be used to BlEND IN with the animals environs.
Guys who say cover scents are no good because a Deer can smell you no mater what, are exactly right, but what they miss is the fact that with a much lowered body odor output and a blending, scent wise, with the Deers domain, you can and will tip the scent scale to your betterment.

[Shane Reed]

You can buy a bee hive smoker instead of the expensive smoker sold. I have an outdoor boiler heating house and hot water. I mix pine and hardwood. I am going out tomorrow evening as I had deer on the property tonight and think they may take same route now. Will let you know how it works hunting from the ground.

[Pine]

I think sometimes deer are curious about some smells . A friend of mine shot the biggest buck of his life while eating a peanut butter cup . It came in on him from down wind . Now he wont go hunting with out some