so I assume that when y'all hunt the back country and/or Alaska for days on end you guys build a fire. do you also make sure you control your scent ? I mean at night when you build your fire and sit around it does it concern you about the smell of smoke for the next day? I have always wondered about this. do most animals pay no attention to it?

I don't worry about smoke smell. You aren't going to get away from it anyway.

I know people that stand directly in smoke to try and limit human smell.

Hunt the wind and stay warm

As bad as we want it. We don't build a fire. Just in case it does make a difference. If we're soaked I'd definately consider it.

Free cover scent:) my uncle sometimes builds a small fire and smothers it out, he says deer will some times come in to see what's going on, hes got a few this way.He's got a few this way. Makes sense, some trappers will make sets in a fire ring, kind of the same thought. The buck I saw yesterday came in down wind and never spooked and I was covered in smoke

You can't be "scent free" on a backpack hunt. Watch the wind is your only recourse.

I got to have a fire. I have all these marsh mellows. Smoke is natural scent cover.
But I stink so bad I need to stay down wind.

We built a campfire every night... Second morning of our elk hunt had a mountain lion walk right through the elk wallow we were set up on (35 yards away)

Unscented baby wipes allow me to be in my sleeping bag without gagging after about day three of hard hunting in the backcountry, but it still isn't pretty.

Steve has it nailed above: You either have the wind or you don't.

I stand in the smoke , and also do the baby wipe and damp cloth bath every night...

I like my clothes to smell like smoke and don't think it has hindered me in any way....

,,,Sam,,,

(A) a dirty fire helps mask scent. I have friends from SC who hunt the Francis Marion National Swamp and "smoke" their cloths before they out every time, and the temps are in the 80s with swirling winds around the swamps. It sure seems to work as they kill alot of deer with bows (B) I do not build a fire normally, but use a propane single burner stove, take a sponge bath from a small cup daily, and try to stay down wind!

QuoteOriginally posted by Steve O:
You can't be "scent free" on a backpack hunt. Watch the wind is your only recourse.

you can't be scent free ever.

unscented wipes....if weather permits some sun bathing and air bathing....but like was mentioned...here in coastal SC..smoke or cedar cover scents are about only thing you can do besides playing the wind.

You are going to stink if you are upwind from an animal's nose. I have braved mountain streams on back country elk hunts (doesn't take long to bathe in that icy water   :eek:   ), but bottom line is you have to hunt the wind or expect to get busted. Smoke masks my scent from me, but probably not from animals.

I don't ever build a fire except to burn trash.  I'm not worried about the smell of smoke, I'm just usually so tired all I want to do is eat dinner and go to sleep when I'm done hunting each day.

I may take a few wet wipes and wipe down after a couple days or take a quick creek bath (brrrr) but it's more for my sanity than worrying about spooking animals.   One time a guy that packed in with us packed a full stick of deodorant...we Nearly laughed him off the mountain joking that it was like spraying perfume on a goats butt.

I use First Lite base layers, 10 day hunt this year. We had a camp shower so that was nice. I didn't smell great, but my buddies that were using under Armour (junk) got pushed into the pond the last day!
They smelled horrid. Stay away from polypropylene base layers.
I made a fire as I got poured on (forgot to treat my boots!)-my feet and hands were freezing-not after the fire! Elk can smell what I had for breakfast, I wouldn't get a shot if they were downwind anyways so I don't worry about it.
My body was warm after the rain, using First Lite raingear-that stuff is incredible.
I treated my Kenetrek boots when I got back home, no more wet feet!

Several of the Plains tribes used the smoke from a sage fire, ostensibly to purify themselves, but secondarily, to provide a cover scent that was natural to their area.

i climb on my roof before every day hunt, and smoke my clothes at the chimney- dunno what the neighbors think      :D

I sit by a fire most nights, fires are good company.