Smoking clothes

[rakbowhunter]

I bought a bee smoker and tried it once. Not sure what I did wrong, but I had multiple deer stop dead in their tracks and look straight up at me. It felt like anything within hearing distance was blowing at me too. Very frustrating season for me. I have not done it again. Too afraid to try!

 

[BTaylor]

Most of the time I just wash my hunting clothes with baking soda only.

 

[Micneador]

I think it has a lot to do with what houses in the area use for heat or do often. One area I hunt there's a handful of houses and most use a wood stove. Those deer pay me no mind when I'm wearing smoked clothes.

Another area is a little more suburban and have natural gas ran heating. Those deer wig out when they smell me. Not blow but just get nervous.

 

[Sbrammer]

Most of the time I just wash my hunting clothes with baking soda only.

Used this stuff for years without any issues. Plus baking soda is cheap, can treat those early season mosquito bites and bee stings and can be used to tenderize your deer meat later (if you are not targeting the young ones).

 

[Newhunter1]

I did not read all the comments, but I've smoked my clothes for 15+ years now. I use wood from the shag bark hickory as well as throwing dried leaves in the smoker. Then I place the clothes, pack, anything that I hunt with in the back of my truck with the tonneau cover closed and let it smoke for hours. Prior to going to bed, I then put everything back where it belongs. As far as smoking my clothes go and fooling deer.

For the past 13 seasons I smoked up all my stuff. While not eliminating the human smell...the carbon on the clothes works to mix my scent and cover it as much as possible. I take scent free showers first and then I'll even go so far as allowing the smoke to make contact with my hair, and skin. So the past 13 seasons, I was able to get multiple deer per year...a couple of booners and decent bucks. Year 2021-22, I decided to forgo my smoking practice and went scentlok...I took scent free showers, keep my scentlok in totes that were scent free as well. That year was the only year in my 20 years of hunting where I did not get one deer on the ground. Probably because I was picky but also due to several deer winding me.

This past season, I went back to smoking my clothes and killed a decent buck and three nice sized does. Is it because I was less picky or because I was smoked up? Don't know...but I'll keep smoking my clothes and my body...like the native americans did.

 

[TradBowGuy]

For you guys using "Free & Clear" type detergent. You need to look at the ingredients-most of them still contain UV brighteners, which is something that makes you more visible to deer.

I started smoking my clothes 2 yrs ago, because I mainly hunt on the ground. After 2 yrs of close encounters with deer, I'm sold on it. I also live in a rural area, where darn near everybody has wood stoves, so the way I see it, it's a scent that the deer are used to.

We have a campfire ring in our back yard, so I just build a fire from my woodpile & hang my stuff to catch the smoke:

 

[Halfstep]

If you have some perfume in your hunting clothes and have trouble removing the odor, mix 1-3 bottles of rubbing alcohol and a little water in a tote and soak your clothes for an hour, then let them hang dry. Use just enough water to help get all the clothes wet.

 

[Halfstep]

I agree, my bee smoker seems to draw the deer in every time!

That adds new meaning to "huntin' high".

 

[Loopwing]

I think the main thing we are missing is every time we walk into the woods we introduce some type of scent. Is it offensive, a natural smell, or something intriguing to the deer. If you hunt an area no one camps or lives by then smoke would be an "oh crap, the woods are on fire" smell. If you hunt an urban setting, then Bounce dryer sheets might be a great cover scent.
I used to hunt with a guy that the only time he smoked was when he hunted one particular farm. The farmer was always out smoking Chesterfields. He noticed when he hunted the deer were skittish and didn't come out until night. He tried smoking a cigarette one day and the deer piled into the field, they were used to the smell.

You have to read the room.

 

[Allegheny Tom]

..........You have to read the room.

The trouble is that very few hunters can define what the "room" actually is. It's size, shape, how adjoining "rooms" or "hallways" have influences on the other "rooms" and how deer potentially utilize the rooms all relate to the concept of odor busts. Heck, there are a lot of hunters that can't identify what an odor bust even is, or how deer are reacting to the bust. We get busted all of the time and we never realize it. Sometimes its deer that we are currently observing in close proximity, and sometimes it's deer a few hundred yards away that we aren't even aware of. And a high percentage of busts occur after we've left the stand.

 

[Loopwing]

The trouble is that very few hunters can define what the "room" actually is. It's size, shape, how adjoining "rooms" or "hallways" have influences on the other "rooms" and how deer potentially utilize the rooms all relate to the concept of odor busts. Heck, there are a lot of hunters that can't identify what an odor bust even is, or how deer are reacting to the bust. We get busted all of the time and we never realize it. Sometimes its deer that we are currently observing in close proximity, and sometimes it's deer a few hundred yards away that we aren't even aware of. And a high percentage of busts occur after we've left the stand.

That was so eloquently put and so so so true! To that response there is no answer. Time in the woods and not just hunting. I love the whole play the wind debate. I have never seen wind blow one direction unless it is 20+ mph and then that still makes back eddies and it follows tree lines. That is the reason I am hard core on scent control AND play the wind. Reading the room is subjective to each individual hunt and constantly changing throughout each day. How many guys playing the wind get busted 300 yards away, how many scentlok guys get busted solely trusting in their clothing and never ever know.
Remember these animals are trying to survive, we are not playing for the same stakes. They are way way more on point than we are.

 

[Sbrammer]

I have never seen wind blow one direction unless it is 20+ mph and then that still makes back eddies and it follows tree lines.

True that!

 

[Jammintree]

Some of the indigenous peoples of this land we call america smudged themselves regularly with sage and cedar, resins from coniferous trees, and other plants too. In Asia and Europe incense was used in similar fashions. Turns out many of the plants used in those traditions are excellent for combatting bacteria and reducing body odors.

 

[BTaylor]

Some of the indigenous peoples of this land we call america smudged themselves regularly with sage and cedar, resins from coniferous trees, and other plants too. In Asia and Europe incense was used in similar fashions. Turns out many of the plants used in those traditions are excellent for combatting bacteria and reducing body odors.

Exactly why last season I kept a half gallon zip lock bag of Big and J mixed with corn partially open in my clothes tote. If it is private here it is almost without question being chummed. That stuff doesnt fight bacteria but its not a foreign smell either.

 

[Icedog]

Exactly why last season I kept a half gallon zip lock bag of Big and J mixed with corn partially open in my clothes tote. If it is private here it is almost without question being chummed. That stuff doesnt fight bacteria but its not a foreign smell either.

and leaving the open bag hanging out of your pocket helps too, the deer are knowen to follow you

 

[Loopwing]

I skip the bag and just pour it out into piles on the ground!

 

[BTaylor]

and leaving the open bag hanging out of your pocket helps too, the deer are knowen to follow you

Yeah didnt do that.

 

[BTaylor]

I skip the bag and just pour it out into piles on the ground!

Works fine on private, you get a an awesome hunter award if you get caught doing that on public.

 

[Loopwing]

Works fine on private, you get a an awesome hunter award if you get caught doing that on public.

The getting caught is the key point. I like to hunt in a style no one knows I was there, except for the spine I leave behind for the coyotes.

 

[Halfstep]

Works fine on private, you get a an awesome hunter award if you get caught doing that on public.

On private ground, you dump the corn on the ground but on public ground, you plant "no-till" corn.