Trad Gang

i heard a bunch of ol timers who smoke said theyve had deer come down wind will smoking,and snuff users say theyve had deer lick up their spit..i smoke but try not to while hunting unless it is so unbearible in action,and get figgity.so who smokes and dipps

I chew tobacco and had deer stick there nose right in it. They dont seem to pay any attention to it. I had a squirrell last year get on the bottom of my stick ladder and lick every bit of the juice off the bottom steps. He was there for 15 minutes cleaning it up. Smoking may be different.

I used to do both here and there and never noticed any ill effects on deer. I believe deer are wary of human odor, not burning tobacco leaves, exhuast or even gas for that matter. Just my 2.32145 cents.

Critters seem to like the smell of my pipe tobacco(Borkum Riff rum).

Been smoking on the stand for years. Had a buck come in while smoking put it down on the ground shot the buck and finished the smoke after he ran off.
Read articles that encourage standing in the camp fire smoke if you are not able to shower or clean up to get rid of human smell.
However I always pack out the butts.

i love me some skoal and like what was said above have had deer come right in and investigate my spit.

Used to smoke and chew and my bride told me to quit so I did.

I do know that deer like the taste of tobacco as my buddys pet deer was on the wrong side of a road and I used a cigarette to feed him back across the road.  He gobbled up two smokes and ran off.

that was back in the 70's.

Quit in the 80's, when Fred Bear started hauling around an oxygen tank, probably had something to do with his pipe habit. I realize it has nothing to do with bowhunting, but thought I'd kick the habit, and stop smelling like a cigarette walking around the woods.
:knothead:    

I chew durning deer season to help pass the time and then quit in dec or jan which can be a bear for about a week. I realy dont need it to hunt but there is just something cozy to me about having a dip every once in while while hunting. I have had to spit a few time when deer where in close and didnt enjoy that much. They never spooked to the smell that I know of any way, wonder if any big buck caught me moving to spit and I never know it???

Cigarette-chomping pet deer.  I was going to guess that was in the 70's.

I chew...and swallow (but only while chewing...I don't want that statement to be misinterpreted  :D   )

When done I always put the chew on a branch up above my head and then pack out w/my lunch/snack trash...Never seemed to have had an issue, but not sure if any mega bucks just never came into sight because of it...

Skoal man since I was a kid, never seemed to have a problem in the woods....

I had a 150 class 8 pointer come straight into a stream of pipe smoke.  Problem was that metal handled knuckle freezing machine was hanging on a branch out of my reach.  Then the area dominant buck, a monster, came to with in ten yards of me on the up wind side. One nice buck within ten feet sharing my pipe and the dominant monster less than ten yards away, and there I was sitting on a rock in the sun smoking my Caminneto pipe and Balkan Sobrainie tobacco and my finger freezer machine was six feet away.  Keep your bow & arrow handy when you light up no matter where and when you decide to do it, because you just never know.

The last 2 big bucks i killed i was smoking and had to put my cig out before i shot them.

Im looking at both of them as i type this, both bucks were upwind of me when i shot them.

I have a buddy who smokes over 3 packs a day and he kills several nice bucks every year and you can smell him 50yds if your downwind of him.

I used to dip and never had a problem with it spooking deer.  My uncle dipped as well and I have actually saw a small 8 point come to the bottom of his tree and like the spit.  As for smoking, if I'm not mistaken doesn't Terry smoke cigars while hunting?

I have chewed both leaf tobacco and finely ground tobacco for years while hunting and can't attribute any negative outcomes from it.
I located a tresspasser once due to him smoking cigarettes while hunting...you could smell it a mile away. Modern science tells me that if I could smell it so could the deer, but can't attest to the scent either bringin' 'em in or spookin' 'em away. I just know that my spitting on the ground has zero chance of setting dry leaves or grass on fire...so that's the route I go.

Been dipping while in the stand for over 30+ years. It seems to have no effect and I harvest at least 5 deer every year.

i dip while i hunt ,behind the house ,i grew up in them woods ,the deer are use to it.heck they have some now that you can hunt over ,berry flavor,peach ,mint,citrus ,the stuff smells good.

I don't think the animals are so much afraid of smells that are unfamiliar as much as they are afraid of smells that they associate with danger.  Notice a fawn the first time it catches your scent?  It doesn't run it tries to figure out what you are.  Mama teaches it to be scared of that smell, she knows it's dangerous.

Had an uncle who smoked cigars while hunting and he killed more deer than any of us.  Once he had on his car radio listening to the Geogia - Florida game, smoking a cigar and big buck came out on him.  Several bow hunting friends dipped and no ill effects on their hunting.  We had several pet deer raised from fawns and they would eat tobacco in any form.

I yoosta let the deers lick my ashtrays clean back when I smoked but it made their breaths smell just horrid rotten, worse than mouldy potaters, more like dog-doo, yeck, by golly.

I was told it is not the smoke that spooks deer they pick up on arm movement if you are taking cig out of your mouth.

I've smoked and used chew in the stand without any problems. But the best one was a friend of mine left his coffee sitting at the base of the tree he was in. A spike buck came in knocked the cup over and drank the coffee. He used his phone to video this event.

my hunting budy and his hunting wife both use there "cigar cover scent". they roll up the windows and smoke while driving to there hunting spots. They only bowhunt and he kills 10-12 deer a year. so it works for them. I have completly quit using the scent away sprays since seeing this and it has had NO affect on the amount of deer I see and shoot at. I still use a no scent detergeant when washing my clothes but that is for allergy reasons.

Every once in a while I enjoy a pouch of old levy during hunting season and have never seen any ill affects on the wildlife.

maybe one or two of dads deer were shot when he DIDNT have a cigar/cigarette in his mouth.

I think smoke doesn't scare them no matter what kind of smoke it is. But I don't like to smell like gasoline/kerosene, I think that scares them, so if I get some kerosene on my hands while filling up the heater or gas when fillin up the truck I spray down, but most of the time I only spray when I remember . . .

My Dad use to like to hunt out of cherry trees that way he could have a cigarette holder when he had to draw on a deer.

Couple of years back I was setting up a fixed tree stand and smoking a cigar, It is a metal stand with a chain that goes around the tree, so I was making plenty of noise. I look down and there are does standing about five yards from my tree. The best part of it was what spooked them, it was the white five gallon bucket that I used to carry some stuff in sitting under the tree. They were looking at it and started to stomp their hooves, I just sat there with a big smile on my face at how nature is sometimes beyond our understanding.

Back in the good ol' days I had to put down my pipe of "whacky backy" to shoot a buck. However, he had been shot in the eye the previous year, and shot again in the nose about two weeks earlier with a 30/06. The eye shot took out his eye and a couple of jaw teeth before exiting his mouth.

I caught much ribbing from the guys in the club over that one. He was blind and couldn't smell, either.

I've had a cigar or two in the turkey blind while hunting with buddies, but Ive never used any tobacco while after mammals.

nuttin like a shot of skoal juice to the eye of a running elk to slow em up long enough for a shot.  :D    :laughing:    :D

I have watched several gun huntes put down their cigarettes to shoot a deer that came in to them.  Shots were close.  

My buddy and I were sitting on a log in the woods one December,  worries on our minds and talking softly about the problen,  smoking cigars and a whole herd came past us, upwind, down wind and cross wind.  None of them cared.
ChuckC

Tobacco is bad for you fella's...!

Just messing around, I chew while on stand.

I been chewing and dipping for over 30 years. Wish I didn't but never have noticed it spooking any deer. At least not the ones I've seen. Never know, might be a bunch of em I never see because of it. Oh well, can't kill but 5 here anyway and I sure enjoy it.

FUNNY!!! STORY my buddy was archery hunting 2 years ago as he got in his stand he took out his snuff and before he got to open it the can of snuff fell out in front of his stand, about 1 hour before dark a mama and yearling came past his stand the yearling picked the snuff up and starting chewing, the can must have broken and  the deer had it all through its mouth he then said that the deer ran around in circles and was snorting for about 15 mins HA HA he said he laughed so hard he about feel out of the tree.

I would NEVER chew while in a stand.
Only because I am a wussbag and would puke and fall out! Whatever makes your hunt more enjoyable my friend. If "not" smoking or chewing makes you miserable, have at it!

Chew or coffee ? .... surely this is baiting !    :bigsmyl:

I rub snuff, I have mixed feelings about it spooking deer.  I am not sure, so I try not to spit on the ground.  Sent control is important to me, but I also know for sure there is no way to be completely sent free.  

I have been busted with a rub in, and also without one in.

I quit dipping.  Life is good without snuff.  Don't know about it spooking game, but the movement of taking the cig out of your mouth or spitting might get you busted by a whitetail.

I too have had deer come in a lick the snuff spit at the bottom of a treestand...  Never seemed to bother deer.

spit on a does ear one time as she walked under me.  another doe came over and licked it off.

When I dipped (since quit) I never had an issue, had deer stick their noses in it literally, I was in an open backed box blind 6'on stilts. Deer came in behind me as I sat above her - luckily for her this club had asked not to shoot does or she'd carried an arra. Was a cool experience though to be so close and go unnoticed.

J

I will be the dirt bag who tells you that you should QUIT!!!!!!!!!!! Then yo have no worry about it spooking anything.

Better yet let me revise my story and tell you about how it spooked everything away but the possums. NEVER use that stuff within a week period before going on a hunt because the residue will spook em it is sooo bad.

J

I also chew while hunting and have never had a problem with it spooking game.  

Jack

QuoteOriginally posted by Buckeye Trad Hunter:
I don't think the animals are so much afraid of smells that are unfamiliar as much as they are afraid of smells that they associate with danger.  Notice a fawn the first time it catches your scent?  It doesn't run it tries to figure out what you are.  Mama teaches it to be scared of that smell, she knows it's dangerous.

You just nailed it Buckeye!
It all depends upon what a deer associates with that particular smell. I remember a deer calling scent that was widely used back in the 80's and it did work quite well, but it had nothing to do with what naturally occurs in their habitat.........wanna know what it was?
Oil of Anise. Yep, the stuff smells like black licorice and brings deer in, but there is nothing in their world that even closely resembles this smell. It's a curiosity scent, and it smells kinda sweet so the deer think that it may be something good to taste.

Back to the question at hand......I smoke and chew Levi Garrett, but I try not to smoke any more than I can bare it while in the stand. I'll carry along a pouch of Levi and chew on that in between cig cravings. I know for a fact that tobacco spit will not spook deer, my brother has done it for years and even spit on a doe's back one time and she barely even flinched.....then kept on feeding.

I have had deer come in upwind while I was smoking, but then that's upwind and my scent was drifting away from them. I also don't have any idea how many trophy bucks avoided me while I was smoking and circled my direction rather than coming on past me.

My final 2 cents on the matter is this.......We go through great pains to control our human scent and spend excruciating amounts of money on Scent blocking clothing, sprays, washes, deodorants, ect. Why then would a guy sit in his tree stand and smoke? Seems like that would defeat the purpose of blowing all that cash on high tech scent control to me.
I don't buy into all that nonsense anyway. I simply wash my hunting clothes in baking soda and take a shower in unscented soap. Then I put my camo in a tub with a couple of earth scent wafers and call it good. That's about all I'm willing to spend on that, and I can tell you right now that even with that kind of careful approach....a deer coming in down wind is still going to smell you, but whether it spooks or not is entirely dependant on the personality of the deer. Don't think for a second that they don't smell your dirty butt even though you sprayed down with earth scent, because they do.....it just takes the edge off of your natural predator smell and tones it down to the point that you just might get a shot before the deer bolts.  :saywhat:  

True story.....The landowner we used to hunt on killed the biggest buck of his life when he hurried out to his stand wearing the same green coveralls he just worked on his tractor in. He said that he wreaked of diesel fuel, but didn't have time to change and simply grabbed his bow and hit the woods.
He said the big boy came in from directly down wind, turned and looked away.....then caught a broad head square in the chest at 15 steps from the tree. The deer never did know that anything was out of place, nor did it find the smell of diesel fuel alarming or repulsive. Think about it, deer smell tractors and farm equipment all the time.....kinda makes you rethink your scent control strategies don't it?  

I've been tobacco free for three years now and am now in control.  When I chewed, I didn't think it would spook the deer (I didn't think it it was that bad for me either).

quote:

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Originally posted by Hud:
Quit in the 80's, when Fred Bear started hauling around an oxygen tank, probably had something to do with his pipe habit. I realize it has nothing to do with bowhunting, but thought I'd kick the habit, and stop smelling like a cigarette walking around the woods.
 :knothead:      :laughing:    :laughing:  I smoke and never had a problem