Scent smoker

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JakeJD
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Scent smoker

Unread postby JakeJD » Sat Nov 12, 2011 4:30 am

I have been deer hunting since I was a little kid, mainly rifle (around 20 years of hunting including tagging around with my dad). But over the last four years, I wanted to extend my season so I decided to get serious about bow hunting. My old scent control routine involve washing all my clothing and storing them in tubs with cedar branches. I noticed that the deer still could wind me, but they seem to tolerate the smell more and would simply avoid the area (not blow and tear out of the place). Recently, I have read tons of first hand experience with hunters who smoke their clothing. I wanted to give "smoking" a shot, so I found an old bee smoker and smoked all my clothing last weekend.

Well, this morning I snuck out for a little bow hunting before work and before the bullets start flying tomorrow. I hunt a large public piece near my home, plenty of deer hunting pressure along with duck/pheasant. The deer seem to tolerate human scent more here than other private spots that I have hunted. Anyway, I showered with scent killer soap like usual, brushed my teeth, and gargled with my homemade "scent free" mouth wash. Just after sunrise, I notice two does and three bucks out in the weed field in front of me (just upwind of my scent stream). After some time, the biggest buck (my guess is 3 y/o 8 point) started working his way south toward some doe bedding areas. I would guess that he was scent checking the bedding areas for the morning. Well, as soon as he reached my "smoke" scent he stopped, stared, and then tore the out of the area waving his flag the whole way. At this point he was 200 yards from me, and he did not see me. He winded me, plain and simple. I am kicking myself for not setting up in a different tree that I had ready, which probably would have offered a shot. But, that is neither here nor there.

I am not ready to completely give up on smoke, but my first experience with it is completely negative. Does anyone else on here have any experience with smoking.

Thanks, Jake


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Re: Scent smoker

Unread postby dreaming bucks » Sat Nov 12, 2011 5:54 am

My guess is that he winded your " human scent ", and probably cared less about the smoke scent....
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Re: Scent smoker

Unread postby JakeJD » Sat Nov 12, 2011 6:55 am

BTW, I understand that you still have to hunt the wind. I don't believe smoking your gear is some "end all, be all."

But, I am always looking for little areas of improvement in my hunting so I can be as successful as possible with my limited time. I was hoping that smoking my clothes might buy me a little more time if a deer happend to get downwind. And, I was hoping that smoking my clothes might put younger deer at ease if they got downwind of me.
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Re: Scent smoker

Unread postby cwoods » Sat Nov 12, 2011 7:09 am

Ive had more deer around me after mowing the grass and smelling like gas hunting the wind than I have hunting a bad wind w/ all kind of gimicks. Plain and simple its just hard to fool a whitetails nose, bottom line. I understand where your coming from with limited time to hunt and scout but, I promise you if you hang out here on this site long enough and if you love to hunt bad enough you'll start picking up little pieces here and there and your hunting will improve to the point were you'll drop the scent smoker thing.
I hope you dont think this is coming from an elitest bc Im far from it. And in NO way am I saying your not a good hunter. IMO it seems like your smoke scent failed given your report of it.

And WELCOME to the BEAST man! :dance:
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Re: Scent smoker

Unread postby Brad » Sat Nov 12, 2011 9:19 am

I have been studying the smoking thing and on AT they have all had a lot of positive experiences, but it sounds like your hunt went the other way. I was skeptical and hadnt bought one yet but still kept it in the back of my mind. I don't believe you can beat there nose completely, but I do think you can help keep scent to a minimum or to a level that may not get the flight response. If you keep using the smoke I would be interested in hearing how the rest of your hunts go because I would still consider giving it a shot.
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Re: Scent smoker

Unread postby JakeJD » Sat Nov 12, 2011 1:45 pm

I headed back out tonight. I had a nice 8 point following a doe at 75 yards, but that was as close as they got. I grunted and snort/wheezed at the buck and had him leave the doe for a few minutes and walk towards me. He eventually thought the better of it and resumed his slow chase.

For this afternoon, I took the bee smoker with me and smoked up in the field. I had three deer (including the buck) get down wind of me at last light. I never heard them blow or tear out of the area. Who knows? I will cotinue to try this method, and report back for those that are interested.

BTW, I really don't think this is a gimmick as hunters have done this for centuries, but I am not sure if it is effective or not. I tend to be a no gimmick, low impact type hunter (little to no calling unless I have nothing to lose, no scents, no decoys, etc.). I have developed this low-impact type strategy after years of trial and error. I agree that you cannot beat a whitetail's nose, but the wind does not always cooperate. Some flat river bottom ground I hunt tends to swirl alot unless the wind is above 10-15 mph. If everything is not perfect, I believe reducing human odor can buy you a little time with deer downwind or can mitigate a buck's response if he is looking for love. Again, I am not looking for some "forget the wind" type gimmick.
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Re: Scent smoker

Unread postby Brad » Sat Nov 12, 2011 2:05 pm

jakedeaver wrote:I headed back out tonight. I had a nice 8 point following a doe at 75 yards, but that was as close as they got. I grunted and snort/wheezed at the buck and had him leave the doe for a few minutes and walk towards me. He eventually thought the better of it and resumed his slow chase.

For this afternoon, I took the bee smoker with me and smoked up in the field. I had three deer (including the buck) get down wind of me at last light. I never heard them blow or tear out of the area. Who knows? I will cotinue to try this method, and report back for those that are interested.

BTW, I really don't think this is a gimmick as hunters have done this for centuries, but I am not sure if it is effective or not. I tend to be a no gimmick, low impact type hunter (little to no calling unless I have nothing to lose, no scents, no decoys, etc.). I have developed this low-impact type strategy after years of trial and error. I agree that you cannot beat a whitetail's nose, but the wind does not always cooperate. Some flat river bottom ground I hunt tends to swirl alot unless the wind is above 10-15 mph. If everything is not perfect, I believe reducing human odor can buy you a little time with deer downwind or can mitigate a buck's response if he is looking for love. Again, I am not looking for some "forget the wind" type gimmick.



I agree 100%
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Re: Scent smoker

Unread postby dan » Sun Nov 13, 2011 6:08 am

Jake,
I would suggest you read this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=341
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Re: Scent smoker

Unread postby JakeJD » Tue Nov 22, 2011 8:15 am

I tried "smoking up" through the rifle season here in Nebraska. My time was pretty limited, but I was able to hunt all day Thursday / Friday and Saturday morning. Generally, I would say that that deer smelled the smoke and acted nervous. I had a few deer get downwind of me and spook, but I also had a few deer that did not seem to notice or be bothered by the smell. I did not see a mature buck the entire time - only small bucks (2.5 y/o and younger) and does.

I plan to keep trying smoke through the late season. I will report back.
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Brandon
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Re: Scent smoker

Unread postby Brandon » Tue Nov 22, 2011 8:31 am

Wow Ive never heard of such a thing and I can assure you I will not be trying it!

I do not want ANY smoke smell while Im on stand....

I used to wear all carbon, shower with hunting soap, cook all my clothes in the drier, spray my self and everything with scent spray, ect.... and it got me nowhere.

Now I could care less if I stink, sweat, worked before or anything because I ONLY hunt if the wind is blowing away from the deer or towards a direction where deer can not come from... or a lot of times I set up wehere they COULD wind me... but I WOULD have a shot 1st.

My scent control routing is hunting with wind away, and I usually kick my boots around in the 1st puddle, creek, mudd I find to wash any scent off my boots to minimize ground scent on my way in.

There are a TON of gimmicks on AT... :?
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Re: Scent smoker

Unread postby RUTIN » Tue Nov 22, 2011 8:38 am

I bought a scent smoker this summer and have had great success with it with very few times I truely think the deer were concerned with the smell. Ive had multiple bucks walk right under me throughout the year and never care one bit. Its the act of using the carbon from the smoke to cover your scent but after about two weeks of smoking i would recommend washing all your clothes bc they will get a funk to them.
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Re: Scent smoker

Unread postby Brandon » Tue Nov 22, 2011 8:47 am

RUTIN wrote: Its the act of using the carbon from the smoke to cover your scent but after about two weeks of smoking i would recommend washing all your clothes bc they will get a funk to them.


I would like you to think about that statement for a minute. :o
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Re: Scent smoker

Unread postby JakeJD » Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:22 am

Brandon wrote:Now I could care less if I stink, sweat, worked before or anything because I ONLY hunt if the wind is blowing away from the deer or towards a direction where deer can not come from... or a lot of times I set up wehere they COULD wind me... but I WOULD have a shot 1st.


This would work if the wind was consistent where I hunt. However, everywhere I hunt is flat as a pancake. The wind has a tendancy to swirl the first hour or two of daylight until the wind picks up. I would say at least 50% of the time the winds swirls in every direction the first hour of daylight and the last hour or so of shooting light. I always keep tabs on the weather and the wind, but it is just not predictable.

I am not expecting to shoot a mature buck downwind with careless hunting. I am just looking for ways to minimize the deer's reaction to my instrusion. I hope to minimize the flee response of the "other" deer that get downwind in hopes of keeping my shot at the mature buck alive. Does that make sense?
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Re: Scent smoker

Unread postby JakeJD » Sat Dec 03, 2011 5:09 pm

I hunted again this evening on a public spot near my home. I recently smoked up my clothing, so I did not resmoke in the field prior to the hunt. However, all my clothing and gear is always stored away in tubs.

This land sees a lot of pressure from small game / pheasant / duck hunters in addition to the deer hunters. So, the deer are pretty wary and nervous. Plus, the nine day rifle season ended November 20th. Anyway, I changed locations to an overlooked spot near a road and a trail. I had bumped some deer here previously, so I wanted to give it a look. Upon entering the thick stuff, I found a ton of rubs and many, many scrapes. I think this will be a great pre-rut / rut spot next year.

So, I found a good tree and got set up. I saw quite a few does and one small buck. At last light, I had two does cross downwind of me on their way out to the fields. The does smelled me, but did not seem all that concerned. One doe put her nose in the air and walked cautiously towards my tree. She stopped about 10 ft from my tree and then proceeded walking in her original direction. The other doe trotted a little bit and then proceeded to walk out of the area. Neither doe blew or spooked out of the area.

My latest experience seems to be a positive one - very cautious public land deer got down wind of me and did not spook.
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