I think Native Americans may have used smoke to mask their scent before hunts, not sure though. Have any of you folks tried it? It seems like a good idea but I was wondering how well it would work and if the scent of smoke might frighten deer since most critters have a natural fear of fire.
In my area the smoke does not scare them. We often see them walking through areas the USFS is doing prescribed burns as if nothing was going on. In fact they seem less concerned about the human presence.
Do a search for cover scent and you will find thread upon thread on this There has been tons of threads with some good info in them.
Native Americans used fire all the time. Cooking, heat, light. Fires where all over their camps so...YES they have the smell of smoke on them all the time.
And they used smoke to seal their buckskins from water,moisture. You can read about that in a book "deer skin to buck skin"
Bought a scent smoker last year and was amazed, try it and you will be pleased.
My experience with using a smoker is the same as Hill Hunter's - AMAZING!!! Now, I use scent elimination soap AFTER the hunt -- you will smell like smoke.
It's certainly worth a try. Good luck.
Thanks guys, that is good info.
You can go to this thread to get more info on the subject!
http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=089049;p=1
Yes, I personally stand in campfire smoke and don't worry about it. I have had too many deer close to me that didn't care. Never got to shoot any of them, but they still were plenty close enough. Dozens of them at 10 yards. The reason none of them fell to my bow is my need to sit still better when on ground level! If I had been in a tree stand the game would have been over!
I have been using smoke to cover my scent for several years. I have noticed that I have gotten closest to animals after doing this. A couple years ago, I called in a bear after smoking my clothes. It came in from several hundred yards away and stopped at 3 yds. where it met a sharp stick. I think that the carbon in the smoke absorbs odor and I have never had an animal spook from the smokey smell. I have had several put their nose up in the air and I could tell that they could smell something, but they weren't afraid of what they smelled.
Thanks to all for the great info; I'm gonna give it a try this year!
Great cover scent and keeps the bugs away.