Allright, I'm going on 2-3 years readin and hearin about smoke cover scent and it's really got me thinking (since that's all I can do this time of year). Seems kinda all or nothin - scent free or smell like a campfire. So I never tried it.
Some good hunters swear by it, some scientists talk about how it kills odors, and I'm mighty tempted to give it a shot.
Seems a lot more "traditional" to stand in smoke and smell like a campfire than to have a 10 step try to smell like nothing ritual. :campfire:
I hunt in a place where I must camp sometimes, and I suppose I smell like smoke. I do see deer and they aren't smelling me.
My approach is to stay downwind and if I can't I relocate to a place where I can.
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Here are a few old threads on the subject if you don't get enough responses.
That's all I used to cover my scent last year. Worked like a charm!
Thanks Rasta!
I'm not trying to "beat the wind." I'm just thinking about using smoke as a cover scent in the same way I would try to limit my scent - as an edge for crosswinds, swirling winds, and minimizing downwind spooking.
Where I hunt, the deer will circle you until they smell you.
Killing/reducing scent is one thing - and possible.
Covering scent is a different thing - and can't be done to hide from most animals.
I know that when I was in Africa every time we went to a blind along came a bag of dried Zebra dung. The would line them up touching each other and then light the one on the end and it would slowly burn like incense. It worked very well over there. I have never tried it in the U.S. though. Joseph
Pretty much anything you can do to make yourself smell "natural" will work "MOST" of the time. Smoke from a camp fire is natural in some places and not in others. Look around and see what is "NATURAL" then use it.. Using white oak cover scent in a cedar brake is kind of a red flag... :D My favorite screwup cover scent is Fresh Earth.... Seen a guy cover himself with it..... while hunting in S. Texas caliche dirt.
Cover scents "DO" work... just keep them natural...
Unlike humans, animals process multiple smells at the same time - their life depends on it. Add another smell to yours and they smell that AND you.
Been using it in the bathroom for years. If it works there it works anywhere.
:biglaugh:
smoke1953 it may work to kill the smell for your nose.I dont know about game but thats a good point! Joeseph I wonder if you burnt Zebra dung in elk country if they could tell the diffrence between Elk dung and Zebra dung. I truly beleave when I was kid on stand hunting White Tails I swore I saw more deer when I had bad gas this is no joke. I dont know but I think they smell so well they can seperate diffrent odors. Some of the guides had earth waffers and cow elk waffers and my god I never smelled earth that strong or cow elk smell that bad JMO. Play the wind that is the best I think. When I am a ball of sweat running up and down a mountain side thats all you can do.
Indians hunted for a living and they smoked their clothing
I think it may help by leaving behind no human scent from your clothes if you rub some brush on the way to your stand.
I couple smoking my clothes with stepping in a puddle or mudding up my boots on the way into my stand. Using that method, I have seen many deer follow my trail with zero clue or alertness to my presence.
Smoke = carbon I think, right? Carbon is what they put in all those expensive suits. So.......
One issue:
If a deer gets downwind, you are usually out of buisness no matter what you try. Play the wind AND try to leave no scent trail into your stand.
A buddy of mine hunted with one of the very popular Wisconsin bluff outfitters, and one of the "famous" outdoor channel couples were hunting at the same time. He asked them what their "secret" was. They said they bring a Weber grill with them were ever they go, and before they go out hunting they burn oak leaves in it and inpregnate their hunting clothes with it. These people rely on sponser's, I have yet to see Weber grills as one of their sponsers.?
QuoteOriginally posted by okla bearclaw:
Indians hunted for a living and they smoked their clothing
X2... It works way better then anything on the market today.
I was told to step in a cow pile or hors pile on my way to a stand... That was years ago.. If there are cows or horses around it makes sence...
As to smoke... I have worn "smokey" clothes to the woods... I also crush a bunch of cedar and rub it on my clothes occasionally...
Story time! I once stalked a large herd of elk with my uncle and father. We smoked ourselves before closing in and at one point we were downwind of all 250 elk. The elk were anywhere from 30 to 70 yards away and not one of them spooked. we could only shoot browtine bulls and it took 15 minutes of searching the herd to find out that there was not a legal elk. At that point we walked into plain sight and it still took the elk another 10 minutes to clear out. Take it how you will but I am sold on smoke as a cover scent, but only if smoke is a natural scent in the area!
I like to smoke up my insulated jumpsuit with hickory chips you can buy from the grocery store. I don't know if it fools a deers nose, but I like the smell. It reminds me of years ago when I was a kid and ..... :campfire:
I have been smoking up for 2 seasons now,I don't use anything else, now carbon suits or coverscents, I have had more deer come in from directions that they should have winded me then I can remember in the past. I used to use skunk scent and it is probably the 2nd best thing I have used if you get good scent, but smoke is much easier for me to tolorate, and so is my wife when I use smoke instead of skunk.
QuoteOriginally posted by Hill Hunter:
smoke is much easier for me to tolorate, and so is my wife when I use smoke instead of skunk.
:readit: AMEN TO THAT!!!
I've been teaching my German Shorthair Lucy to blood trail and I've done a little experimenting. It makes no difference if the blood came from a rare, grilled rib eye or blood straight from the uncooked package. She can follow the "smoked" blood just as well. Smoke does not cover the scent. It may make it more interesting but it doesn't cover. I assume for this arguement that deer use their sence of smell just about the same as dogs.
I've read through many of the comments from previous posts. There are many pro's & con's , arguments, evidence, successes & failures. There is evidence for & against smoke, cover scents, getting s short haircut, lures, urine, chlorophyll tablets, carbon clothes, etc., etc. I've often wondered if some guys just smell different, i.e., stink, more than others. I wonder if diet & / or plain old body chemistry have more to do with it than anything else. I've never tried smoke, but it has merit. I've always tried to be clean, get a short hair cut, & "play the wind", but still get picked out when I think I've done everything right. I've got a good friend that doesn't worry too much about overdoing the scent control thing & he kills a nice buck almost every year. He wears a lot of wool, doesn't wash it much, but hangs it outside. I know of another successful hunter who has a houseful of dogs & cats, and you can tell! He kills a good deer every year as well. Go figure.
Ya'll can keep on doing whatever "works for you". I'll keep on buying my hardwood chips, its much cheaper and works as well as ANY of the other ways of masking your scent does. The last three years have given me all the proof I need.
There is a "reason" that in the old days meat was either smoked or cured. The woodsmoke "inhibits" the growth of bacteria. Do your own research and find out what the LEADING cause of "odor" is. It might go against everything that you have been taught or believe......BUT....it works for me and many others.
Winterhawk1960
You know what sets this site apart? Civil discussion and thoughtful posts. Lots to think about.
Looks like the one thing separating smoke from other cover scents like coon or skunk or cedar, is that the smoke itself may actually kill and inhibit bacteria and odor. I know it's not gonna let you get away with much downwind, but using careful scent control, I've had several deer walk or cross my trail without noticing or spooking much, so that's more what I'm going for and that last second they are closing the distance into a cross-wind. That little time or less alertness can be all the difference you need.
I think I'm gonna give it a go!
yea i heard that another TV hunting celebrity made everyone on his camera crew walk through a trailer made just to be basically a smoke house in order to make sure noone on his crew messed up his hunt by smelling bad. The indians used smoke and bear grease as a scent control strategy and im sure they knew what they were doing. Smoke is made up of carbon so the way i see it, it's like having a new carbon suit every hunt...besides i hear a lot of those carbon suits work for only the first few times, and theyre so much heavier than normal hunting clothes.
ive bee n smoking my clothes for the last 6 years since i went trad i believe it woks if the areas you hunt the smell is norm. in my area we all have outside furnaces im convinced but i still try to watch the wind i believe its more a cover sent than a stopper
QuoteOriginally posted by Winterhawk1960:
Ya'll can keep on doing whatever "works for you". I'll keep on buying my hardwood chips, its much cheaper and works as well as ANY of the other ways of masking your scent does. The last three years have given me all the proof I need.
There is a "reason" that in the old days meat was either smoked or cured. The woodsmoke "inhibits" the growth of bacteria. Do your own research and find out what the LEADING cause of "odor" is. It might go against everything that you have been taught or believe......BUT....it works for me and many others.
Winterhawk1960
So it is working then as an odor inhibitor/killer because it is killing bacteria (the cause of odor's)and not covering anything.
QuoteOriginally posted by SteveB:]
So it is working then as an odor inhibitor/killer because it is killing bacteria (the cause of odor's)and not covering anything. [/QB][/QUOTE]
That and I'm sure, somewhat a cover scent. There isn't a doubt in my mind that the deer can, and do smell the woodsmoke. It smells even more so if you get wet. The deer in WV and southeastern OH just don't seem to pay any attention to it.
Winterhawk1960
Would it make sense then to smoke with some old cedar posts that I just dug up? I'm not sure if the cedar smoke smells as good as fresh cedar but....
I never thought of it just as a cover scent but more for a saturated carbon source that may provide additional odor absorption qualities.
Isn't there a bug repellant based on cedar oil? Maybe the cedar smoke would also work as a repellant?
QuoteOriginally posted by owlbait:
Isn't there a bug repellant based on cedar oil? Maybe the cedar smoke would also work as a repellant?
Not sure about any bug repellant qualities but I'd be willing to bet (and I'm not a betting type person) that if you were hunting in or around cedar trees that it would work. Everywhere that I hunt, the hardwoods are the main trees in the forest.
Winterhawk1960
my understanding it that the bacteria killing component (can't think of the name) is only found in hardwood smoke.
Sponsor Doug Schlabach http://www.lettinlose.com turned me back on to it a few years ago. I did
it a few times back in the day but got away from it. I save the leaves I rake up in the fall and
when I am ready to go out I dump out a small pile, start a little fire and smoke up.
Afters years of wasting money and a ton of time in pursuit of not being a stinky human. I realized that sent free is impossible and just use natural stuff. I keep my clothes in containers with hickory nuts I smoke all my clothes and self before hunts so I smell smokey and nutty (which my wife thinks I am! But she is thinks I am less crazy than before folding clothes with rubber gloves sealing in ziplock bags and then sealing in plastic containers, spraying people for even looking at my stuff with "scent eliminator" which cant even knock down the smell of my shoes but will magically hide me otherwise)! Anyhow Ive used smoke for the last 2 years and seen more deer than ever when I get a change in the wind or have to hunt in a less than favorable wind. So #1 Wind 2# smoke or something that is common to the area you hunt to cover as much stinky human as possible. Smoke works in my area because most in the area use woodburners for heat and smell them most of the season as a normal and daily smell in the area. My rambling .02 cents try it, its cheap anyhow!
In all seriousness, a couple of old friends have extremely poor hygeine under just noraml conditons and you don't have to be a deer to take notice. When you arrive at there deer camp, they seem to always have big fires and the smoke is so bad it burns your eyes and you feel totally saturated in smoke even after being there for but a moment. It's quite comical to watch them employ their techniques that us so called seasoned hunters would totally avoid. They seem to always get their deer.
What I like about smoke is that if you ever go to camp hunting situation like an elk camp, your going to smell like smoke after sitting around a campfire. All the whitetail-type of scent prevention is pretty much impossible in those settings. Guys kill elk all the time so it definitely can work. Plus, its just fun to be around a campfire with friends.
All the commercial scent stuff seems like snake oil to me. I'm not saying anything including smoke can fool a deer. Their noses are able to detect things in the parts per billion that we can't. So how can we really say something neutralize our scent to a deer. Its all seems like speculation.
Not trying to rain on the parade, I just think its much more complicated than anyone in the pro such and such scent would have us believe.
JMHO
CK
I remember back in the 60's that we used to de-scent our hunting clothes with the exhaust from a car right before we headed for the woods. The idea was similar to the smoke. The theory was that deer smell exhaust fumes all day (where we were hunting anyway!) and this would mask our scent. I can't say it worked or not because like the rest of you, you never know how many animals smelled you and walked off without you ever knowing it.
Scent Control is a very intriguing subject for me. I did some research on this a few years ago and I'll try to share what I remember. Some of the processes we've already heard above. But I'll try to relate our routine as best as possible. De-scent your washer and dryer. A lot of folks don't think about this. We use scent free detergent and do not add anything to the dryer so this step is already done for us year round. Wash your clothes in any of the scent free detergents. We lean toward "Hunters Specialty". Don't forget to descent your bath towels, I think some folks over look this important step. Take them right out of the dryer and take them straight outside. Bathe your self in one of the scent free soaps. Here again we lean toward "Hunters Specialty". Apply "Hunters Specialty" scent free deorderant. Now your almost ready. Here is another step a lot of folks leave out. Brush your teeth with baking soda. Swallow some. It taste kind of nasty but you'll get used to it. Swallowing some helps take care of the stomach to mouth connection to bad breath. Take something in the field with you that occurs naturally that you can have in your mouth all the time. We use walnuts a lot because we don't have an apple orchard nearby. A man once said to me, if you could hold your breath the entire time your in the field 80% of your scent problems would be taken care of. For your gear I have a recipe for a descenting solution that you can make for pennies. I'll post that later when I remember the exact measurements. Other things to do is watch your red meat intake, watch your spices and alcohol intake. If you do all these things you still will not beat their nose everytime but you'll be surprised how often you will.
Hope this helps.
Most scent molecules are high or low pH, or very easily oxidized. That is why this recipe works well. Baking Soda has a very strong neutral pH so it will neutralize the high or low pH molecules and Hydrogen Peroxide will oxidize the kind of scent molecules that are easily oxidized.
2 quarts Distilled Water
1.5 quarts Hydrogen Peroxide
.5 cups Baking Soda
1 oz. unscented laundry detergent
After thorough mixing store in bottles that won't let light through. Light will reduce the shelf life of this product. Also keep caps loose for a week because this concoctioin will generate some gas and the bottles may come apart violently. Or the way I like to say it, "Rapid, Random, Disassembly".
Thanks for all the discussion guys. Pope, didn't see smoke in your posts, but appreciate the tips. I have used the Hunter specialty clothes wash and it seemed fine. I have also used the silver spray a good bit. Put some old doe p on a cotton ball and then spray with that silver stuff = no smell (I still wouldn't believe it if I hadn't done it myself). Will also remove cigarette smoke on hands, which may have some non-hunting usefulness for some folks. :D
Skunk scent is a nightmare... but it is the only thing that really works :)
I tried it accidentally once after a heavy rain in late morn I dried my cloth by fire, all I could smell was smoke thought I'm never gonna see a deer well I did and it didn't seem to bother them but the smell just seemed to strong.