I enjoy a good cigar and when I'm glassing I would love to puff on a good stoggy.
Does this make the game think it's a forest fire/make them run away?
You know that look women give you after a good cigar? Now a deer has sever hundred times more receptors in its nose than we do, and don't get me started on pigs :readit:
I know 2 guys that smoke while on stand. I can be 200 yards down wind form them and I can smell it when they light up. They don't shoot very many deer with their bows either. Just don't compare me to a pig ok....LOL
I agree with all the above statements, but historically the three guys I know that always seem to shoot monster bucks with their bows, all smoke on stand. It is truly maddening. I guess you could say that if the wind is wrong, it's wrong no matter how you smell.
Just something to think about...
Nathan
Kingwouldbe kills more hogs with a ceeeegar in his mouth then most normal people do without.
I'm not much of a smoker myself, but I do think if the wind is wrong the wind is wrong....
Peter Hathaway Capstick writes about leopard hunting out of a hide and having to chain smoke. He thought if the wind was wrong they would smell you regardless, but if you struck a match to light your smoke, you'd never see the leopard. So, he'd light only one smoke and light then next smoke off of the burning smoke......
Good luck to all...
Todd
Some odors don't bother animals as much as you think.My dad has shot every one(Or close to it) of his rifle and bow deer while smoking.
Yep, I have and know other that smoke or have smoked and killed plenty of deer while smoking. Why as a matter of fact I klled my first deer while smoking one of those "funny" smokes, but that was along time ago.
I think smoking can only hurt, but when I smoked cigarettes I knew I wouldn't see a deer until at least my third smoke in the morning on stand. It worked everytime. I used to think it attracted them but we know that can't be the case, I think. I would wait until brown is down to light up and pop a cork too!
Gil
not that i'm proud of it nor encourage it but i often smoke whilst hunting , just as i am prone to making a quick brew of coffee duing the break in my morning stalk.....' i usually fill my freezer. smoking for any reason is dumb i know but i think paying attention to the wind and its currents etc has far more to do with success than whether you smoke , wear camo etc ...
having said that , wished i didn't smoke as i'd feel better , save money for bows etc
cheers
ben
I won't do it, (OK, might be a fun experiment) but I have watched two people shoot deer (albeit with guns, but at bow ranges) and both had to put down their cigarette to shoot. In both cases they were fairly high in a tree in the swamp and I was glassing them from a couple hundred yards away.
ChuckC
I have seen a lot of opinions on smoking while hunting over the years. Here's how I see it;
Smoking has several drawbacks, besides the health issues. It creates too much unwanted movement. I hunt high pressured areas. Mature bucks will assoiate smoking with human activity. They get a whiff and they will either duck you or avoid the area all together. Just the smell of smoke will stay in your hunting clothes for a long time (big dis-avantage).
Do yourself a favor if you must smoke. Wait til you get back to camp and get out of your hunting clothes before you lit up.
Better yet, leave the weeds alone all together. You'll feel a lot better, be a better hunter (better stamina,ect) and save the $6/day you would spend on smokes on something hunting related.
JL
Probably has less effect if you're trying to glass long-distance game than if you were sitting in a stand and waiting for game to pass by.....bottom line is that having the wind in your favor is paramount....
Derek, as Todd said, your uncle has killed as much game as anyone while toking a stogey...ask his opinion... :readit:
If the deer can smell the smoke, they can smell you. But I do think the whole idea is still not be scented, so watch the wind.
I don't think any animal necessarily associates smoke with danger. Around here at least they would be fleeing every time smoke from a forest fire drifted by them. This time of year there's lots of that.
I had a friend who hunted elk primarily out of a tree stand. His normal setup included chain smoking and lots of beer. He hung the empty beer cans on the stubs from the branches on the tree he trimmed. Pretty soon his stand looked like a Christmas tree hung with ornaments. Of course drinking all that beer meant he sooner or later had to go. Which he did - right off the side of the stand. :rolleyes: Funny thing was he killed more elk then anybody else. I finally gave up trying to figure this all out. :saywhat:
My so smokes while in his treestand. He hunts a minimum of 25' up a tree. He didn't learn either one of his habits from me. I've never smoked and I can't stand heights. If I get more than 8' off the ground, the tree is trembling and shaking as if there was an earthquake or a hurricane influencing it! :) I might add that my son kills 8 to 10 deer every year. He also butchers the deer himself and the family eats off the venison throughout the following year.
Bill
well said fatman.Keep the wind in your face and puff away if thats would you choose to do.Smokers always get game because of that reason they always seem to have the wind in their face.I chew so I never get any game because I never have the wind in my face or I got spit in my eyes.bd
LOL>>>>LMAO>>>> :)
Oh one more thing I should add. He used one of those old self climbing stands with the big knarly teeth that really bit into the tree trunk. We hunt pretty high so the most common tree is an Alpine fir. The kind with the big sap blisters on the bark.
After going up and down a few times with the stand, that tree looked like a very angry beaver had attacked it! This gave the already ornamented tree a rather unique look.
I won't get into how he looked. That was pretty different too!
:scared:
I don't even know anyone who smokes so can't comment on smoking while hunting. Wind indicator?
Well when you smoke you always know for sure which way the wind is blowing. :D
I smoke but keep it to a min when hunting.Still I can show you some treestands seats with several burn marks on them from laying down a smoke to shoot a deer.I try and hunt the wind and on edges.Smoke blowing across a feild is not the same as blowing around in the middle of the woods either.Smoke does not always spook animals but if they are down wind to smell it they have already caught your scent anyway.
Not a chance,wont even let a smoker in camp.
I save a good cigar for a special occasion, if I shoot a nice buck I might lite up a stogie to celebrate.
I do, but the wind tells me when. I go to extremes as far as ashtrays(35 mm case with water) and always keeping the butts in there too. Then that goes into a ziplock and into my fanny pack.
I have had HUNDREDS of deer in bow range. I can only remember one deer, a yearling, that spooked on me due to a slight wind change while smoking. But was it the smoke? I have no clue.
Dont get me wrong, I am trying to quit, and I hate to smoke anymore, BUT if you hunt smart and hunt the wind, it isnt any different than smelling like a human...
Oh another thing, in the morning up here....sunrise, when those first rays warm up everything and the thermals bring your scent(and smoke) high up into the sky...it is nice to have one and watch the woods come alive.
Lets face it. Most of us have limited time to dedicate to hunting due to family obligations, work, ect. If I start scouting and patterning a good buck, I'm going to try my best to keep as many advantages on my side to get him on the ground. Bowhunting is a very close encounter style of hunting. I guess I just don't see any advantage's to burning a smoke while hunting. Paying attention to wind direction is paramount when hunting, thats basic hunting knowledge.
I read were a fella did a scent experiment's with a trained police dog. He was 25ft up a tree and the Shepard locked onto him 250 yards downwind of him and made a beeline to him. Deer have twice the amount of scent recepticals in there nose's then a dog has. Mature bucks will and do learn to assoiate sounds/scents with danger. Ever have a stand squeak in ya while getting in shotting position? The big boys don't wait to see what made the noise, they are in third gear before the noise even stops. If they make it to be a brusier, you better believe they have 9 lives (at least in the areas I hunt...) and they have been shot and/or shot at many times. I guess hunting unpressured areas is different, don't know, never had a chance to find out. I guess I just don't see any real advantage to make your presence known by smoking while hunting. I know guys who have killed some nice deer with a smoke hangin out of their mouth. 99% of those guys were hunting with rifles also. Putting a broadhead vs bullet thru a deer requires differnt rules/disiplines to adhere to. Just the way I see it.
When I was archery elk hunting in the Black Hills a couple years ago I ended up hunting with some local guys part of the time. Real nice guys, who knew the country and the elk well. I ended up killing my elk while on my own but really appreciated their help along the way. Anyway one of those guys was named Dave. Dave smoked the entire time we were hunting. Dave actually got me close to 2 different bulls that would have gone between 330 to 350+". I never got a shot but that had nothing to do with Dave smoking. I remember almost busting out laughing one time when I looked over at Dave and noticed he was smoking at the same time he was blowing his elk bugle. On the way into town to check my elk in at the check station and take my meat to the locker Dave came up behind me in his big county dump truck and flagged me down. I followed him over to the county shop so he could take a look at my bull. I took a picture of him standing in the back of the truck with the bulls rack sticking up. Just before I snapped the picture Dave went to lower his cigarette so it wouldn't be visible in the picture but I told him no way ... I want the picture to get the real Dave. Anyway, long story but here is the picture of Dave ... the only person I ever saw bugle and smoke at the same time!!! :bigsmyl:
(http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m174/bohuntr77/Resizeof2006ElkHunt040-1.jpg)
I'm not a smoker.
But, I guess its kinda like the Thermacell discussions..if they can smell the thermacell, they're gonna smell you, too.
I know a fella who is a lethal predator caller. He smokes cigars while calling coyotes. Guess it just depends on the wind.
You will be farther ahead not to smoke at all period, be a healthy hunter and throw the stogies away :thumbsup:
I don't smoke so I have no first hand experience. I did read an article in Fur Fish and Game about a fellow in Canada who lights a small smokey fire in his ground blind to keep warm while deer hunting. He claimed the deer would come down the trail sniffing to see where the smell was coming from. Said he did it every year and always gets his dear. I live in Iowa farm country and deer here don't seem to be bothered by tractors, combines or trucks. Their not even bothered by my dogs in the yard! The only thing that seems to bother them is humans moving. As long as you set or stand still they just watch you. More and they will run.
I hope my neighbors smoke while they hunt.
It's been a long time, but I used to smoke, and when I did I smoked while bowhunting. Now I can't prove that it's related, but my success on deer is much better now than it ever was when I smoked. Maybe I am just better at hunting - after all, experience should count for something. But I've always felt smoking had something to do with it. I'm sure some of it has to do with the extra movement involved in smoking.
It's not just the smell of the actual smoke from the cigarettes either. Now that I no longer smoke I can't believe how strong the odor is on people that do smoke. I can smell a smoker as soon as they walk in a room. The odor lingers long after the butt is extinguished.
Sure, if the deer can smell the smoke they can smell you. But it's the same principal as keeping clean and washing your clothes. They are going to smell you a whole lot better and from much further away than if you are clean and not smoking.
Bohuntr
Smoking and wearing a 'DARE' shirt ....lol :)
Interesting...
QuoteOriginally posted by the real bowdoc:
well said fatman.Keep the wind in your face and puff away if thats would you choose to do.Smokers always get game because of that reason they always seem to have the wind in their face.I chew so I never get any game because I never have the wind in my face or I got spit in my eyes.bd
Doc. That's to funny, but your right, 95% of my hunting is from the ground and I use my stogy as a constant wind detector, hunting into or across the wind.
I do believe they some time's smell it ( how could they not :p ) but I also believe it does not alarm them at all, they know what smoke is, and smoke has never jumped on there back, so I don't think it gives them any cause for alarm.
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w27/kingwouldbe/DSCN0346.jpg)
Is there really a better nose than a hogs, I think not.
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w27/kingwouldbe/DSCN0271.jpg)
I have killed a few bucks while I was smoking a cigar in a tree, they came right in.
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w27/kingwouldbe/DSCN2821-2.jpg)
This is the Hope Bow for 2007 and I just shot the buck below, this buck bedded down @ 25 yards for almost a hour, I set the cigar in a fork and it went out, but it's time to relight it now :D
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w27/kingwouldbe/DSCN2797-2.jpg)
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w27/kingwouldbe/DSCN2805-2.jpg)
Derek, is my nephew and is just now getting into Trad Bowhunting, I know he respects a lot of the opinions here on Tradgang.
I think it's one of those mystery questions, they have to smell it some times yet, it does not seem to bother them.
If I was hunting out of the same tree every day, I might think twice about lighting up a cigar, but if they smell the cigar, they my not get alarmed, as it's just smoke.
Young buck are you bring a box for are Elk hunt? I'll show you my technique, they actually come runing to me :saywhat:
Smoke not only smells bad to the deer it also helps to carry your scent along with it.Plus the movement that go's along with it.Beleive it or not I quit smokeing because of deer hunting.
Thats been 25 years ago and my buck siteings went way up.Remember when the winds right for you it's wrong for the buck.
I used to smoke, but never hunting deer or anything in the woods with a good nose. Between the smell on me and everything around me and the whole idea of fire in the dry fall leaves, it just never seemed like a great ides. Now water fowling was different. Birds don't smell you and lots of water around.
Smoke less, live longer, and hunt more. 10 years smoke free for me.
I Smoke all the time while hunting and have deer and other critters very close as long as you play the wind well there should be no problem. Everyones opinion will vary Though.
quote:
Originally posted by Kingwouldbe:Young buck are you bring a box for are Elk hunt? I'll show you my technique, they actually come runing to me :saywhat:
Kingwouldbe, as a matter of fact I ordered a couple including Oliva Serie 'O' Maduro, Don Pepin Garcia Cuban Classic, Gurkha Status Torpedo Tubo, and a few others :campfire: . I can't wait for the elk hunt :jumper:
"A dying breed"
All smokers are a "dying breed",and in more ways then one!
Some of the most sucessful hunters I know smoke on stand. Having said that, I certainly wouldn't consider it an attractant as much as they're good hunters and generally compensate by hunting higher. The movement would concern me more than the smoke. We've conditioned deer to walk around looking up in NC!
My father smoked but limited the number of cigs while hunting. He said the smoked was his wind checker. He also said it all the movement that goes with smoking not the smoke that keeps most smoking bowhunters fail to kill deer.
I smoke and have on several ocasions had to slowly put out a smoke when I saw deer approaching. I was caught once with a smoke in my mouth when a doe came out from behind my treestand right under me. I was only about twelve feet up. I let her pass and did not shoot but she never spooked. Yes I still smoke on the stand.
I know guys who smoke on stand and kill deer.I take a dip while hunting and have seen deer.I think wind and movement are key.
A smoker will tell you it does not matter - a non-smoker will tell you it will.
It will
There is a late 1950s or early 1960s archery book (the title escapes right now) with a photograph of Howard Hill taking a cigarette break DURING a hunt. Byron Ferguson smokes. I don't smoke but I wouldn't kick Howard Hill or Byron Ferguson out of my bowhunting camp. :o )
I used to dip Copenhagen snuff 24/7 (even while on stand) but I gave it up about 15 years ago to salvage my teeth & gums.
I dont smoke but I have no problem with it. When Bruce Baughn was up here hunting with me he asked if I minded if he smoke in my stands. I told him I didnt mind, i chew on stand I have killed 2 deer as a direct result of my spitting on the ground.
Tobacco is old skool hunting in my mind. In fact i bought a bee smoker and will be smoking my clothes before I hunt this year rather than going scent free.
I carry a pipe or cigar to light-up after I've made a shot and am waiting for the follow-up.
Of course, smoking is about the single worst thing you can do to your health. If you smoke, you should stop. If you don't smoke, don't ever start.
Good Scotch is something altogether different ....
Here's my thoughts.....
Cigars are nothing more than burning leaves(unless you smoke 'flavored' ones)....and I don't think the scent of burning leaves spooks animals.
Cigarettes are filled with chemicals, and they might be more likely to spook game but I don't know since I don't smoke them.
I've killed plenty of animals after I've had a cigar,(some of my biggest) and a few as I was smoking one. I'm much more worried about them smelling me than my burning leaves.
As mentioned earlier...a cigar is a great windicator.
my dad for many years smoked while on stand,and i will say he had extremely good luck. i used to before i quit,i now chew snuff and don't see any problem with doing so.i have seen many deer and even taken a few while doing so.
It's a personal issue. Lot's of folks don't smoke for their own personal reason(s). It's very hard to be against something as an individual and have an objective opinion about it.
I could go on about why it is never a good idea to smoke while hunting - but then, I have a very strong opinion against smoking at all. It can't be separated.
At least, for now, you are free to do anything that God and the law will allow. I'm thankful for your right to choose. But all we can do is reinforce, or aggravate, your already selected predisposition.
I know several old geezers like myself who smoke while hunting. Most of them kill a lot of game. I always put my smoke down before I shoot, don't want to burn my string in two.
just an opinion but this might have some bearing on the subject... the u.s. has become so populated that our human encroachment on wildlife habitat that i would assume that with increased interaction between humans and wildlife has become more frequent, particularly with deer, they may have become desensitized to being in close contact with human smells. i see deer where i live almost everyday. and i smoke. just an observation and opinion
I feel the only thing smokin should be the limbs and then the pass thru hole!