Smoking

[Old Man Hunter]

I don't know if this has been posted here before or not but I have had great experience the last couple of years using smoke from hickory chips in a bee smoker to treat my cloths, skin, stand/saddle and anything I carry into the deer woods to hunt. Since doing this I have had on numerous occasions deer dead down wind of me and not spook. Sometimes they may indicate that they smell something by lifting their head tilting their nose in the air for a better sniff but they don't spook. I've had them walk in my footsteps, walk within inches of the tree I'm in with out spooking and as I said be straight down wind with not spooking. I have quit using sprays and have never had any of the high priced scent covering clothing. I do wash my cloths in scent free soap. The other day when my wife took them out of the dryer she said you cloths still smell like camp fire smoke. The carbon from the smoke impregnates the material and sticks. I do pay attention to the wind direction but where I hunt in hilly terrain the wind can shift multiple times during a hunt so scent control is critically important. This is an old time method of cover scent or scent elimination from before there was the fancy clothing or sprays. The carbon from the smoke is what controls the scent. Basically getting carbon clothing without the cost. I do bath in scent elimination soap before each hunt but my cloths and items are smoked every hunt. If any of you are wanting to go the simple route with something that works I recommend you try this.

 

[Red Beard]

What all does one need to get into "smoking" their clothes @Old Man Hunter? And what are the details of the process sir? I.e., smoke your clothes while you're showering in the morning? Or when you return prior to putting them away?

Could one get into this method for less than $100?

 

[Weldabeast]

Here comes the debate over the best wood to use

 

[peteherbst]

I think my old man’s hunting party used to do this in the old hunting cabin at deer camp with a few carton of cigarettes during gun season.

 

[Red Beard]

Here comes the debate over the best wood to use

Sorry guys. Didn't mean to start up the whirlwind machine. I actually hadn't heard of this before...

 

[Bwhana]

Here comes the debate over the best wood to use

My bet is on 420 oak!

 

[Ga_hunter]

What all does one need to get into "smoking" their clothes @Old Man Hunter? And what are the details of the process sir? I.e., smoke your clothes while you're showering in the morning? Or when you return prior to putting them away?

Could one get into this method for less than $100?

I've been doing this for a couple years now and I agree 100% on how well it works. It's cheap and it works better than anything else I've tried.
@Redbeard I got my bee smoker from Amazon for around $13. I get bags of hickory chips from Walmart for $2.50 a bag and usually use 2-3 bags a season. I bought a small torch head that screws on a green propane cylinder for under $10 from harbor freight and that's it. The torch isn't necessary but gets it burning and ready to smoke really fast. Once you buy the stuff, it doesn't wear out so all you have to buy is wood chips, in a pinch I've just used twigs and leaves from the ground too.

 

[Kenbama]

This is a different prospective for me. I live in a developing neighborhood. The contractor is burning every night. I am fussing because all my stuff smells like smoke. I guess I got in the program for free.

 

[drew13]

There are a couple of threads on here about smoking up for scent control. The Scent Smoker (glorified bee smoker) is mentioned a lot - try searching for that.

I believe it works. Scent Smoker docs say hardwood chips like hickory and oak work best.

 

[mtsrunner]

I used to do it all the time and I believe it works. I got lazy and haven’t done it in a while.

 

[Red Beard]

Finally got a chance to read up on this method of scent elimination. Thanks for the suggestions to do so.

Seems like there are many that believe as strongly in the effectiveness of smoking as Scentlok. Looks like one could get into this for significantly less than a full Scentlok outfit. So... I just ordered one on Amazon.

 

[Jtaylor]

I was going to go this route as well due to price compared to other methods or Scentlok/Scentblocker. My one concern is that deer eventually (quicker than we may think) will know smoke=getting shot. There have been articles showing the effectiveness of commercially available estrous scents, tarsal scents, cover up scents etc. when they were first main stream in the hunting industry but now due to over use have diminished effectiveness. In my opinion, eliminating scent is probably still the best option but I have no evidence to back that up.

 

[LilBit]

My bet is on 420 oak!

Toss some Applewood in there?

 

[Ga_hunter]

I was going to go this route as well due to price compared to other methods or Scentlok/Scentblocker. My one concern is that deer eventually (quicker than we may think) will know smoke=getting shot. There have been articles showing the effectiveness of commercially available estrous scents, tarsal scents, cover up scents etc. when they were first main stream in the hunting industry but now due to over use have diminished effectiveness. In my opinion, eliminating scent is probably still the best option but I have no evidence to back that up.

I agree that animals learn to associate new things with danger but the smell of smoke is as old and natural as the earth itself. Yes, if you got all smoked up and went busting through the woods spooking deer on a regular basis, they would learn to associate that smell with a human. In my case the smoke masks my scent, combining that with a little stealth and some good woodsmanship at least keeps them guessing. I let more deer walk than I shoot, Saturday for instance I saw 14 deer, 3 of which were bucks. Nothing I was interested in shooting so I just sat still and observed. None of them ever spooked. They just went about their business as usual.

 

[NikoTheBowHunter]

What all does one need to get into "smoking" their clothes @Old Man Hunter? And what are the details of the process sir? I.e., smoke your clothes while you're showering in the morning? Or when you return prior to putting them away?

Could one get into this method for less than $100?

I got my smoker off amazon for less than $20. It’s all you need. Watch a vid on how to get it lit and going. Nothing too it. Super simple.

I just lay my clothes out on the lawn chair with my gear and just smoke them out. I don’t go overboard. Did it once early and i can still smell it on my gear after a couple washes. I would say it’s working as I’ve seen more deer this year than last.

 

[MaxJac]

I was planning on doing that for the second half of the season, when it's colder and actually more common for wood smoke being around.

 

[Allegheny Tom]

I was going to go this route as well due to price compared to other methods or Scentlok/Scentblocker. My one concern is that deer eventually (quicker than we may think) will know smoke=getting shot. There have been articles showing the effectiveness of commercially available estrous scents, tarsal scents, cover up scents etc. when they were first main stream in the hunting industry but now due to over use have diminished effectiveness. In my opinion, eliminating scent is probably still the best option but I have no evidence to back that up.

You could say the same thing about hunting from trees. 40 years ago, deer never looked up, and in some areas, they still don't. In my area, they have stiff necks from constantly looking up but we still hunt from trees.
As far as smoke goes, its not a cover scent, its a bacteria eliminator.
To your point...how will deer ever relate smoke to danger? Deer on my property walk thru my yard and heavy smoke when I'm lighting my wood stove. They do not associate smoke with humans.

 

[Red Beard]

OK. Smoker is on order and I'll be picking up some hickory chips in the near future. A few questions for all the veteran smokers...

Smoke before a hunt? After?

Apply sparsely (quick over all gear) or liberally (spend some time smoking all gear)? I.e., is saturating materials preferred (like applying in a confined space) or should you apply in the open air?

Is there such a thing as too much or too often?

 

[Bwhana]

To your point...how will deer ever relate smoke to danger? Deer on my property walk thru my yard and heavy smoke when I'm lighting my wood stove. They do not associate smoke with humans.

I thought the same thing this evening in the tree as I was smelling smoke from a house a half mile away upwind from me. Deer are not that smart, no way they could associate smoke to humans or they would have to vacate the entire area until spring to avoid smoke smells.

 

[Old Man Hunter]

As to my method of using the smoker. I bought a bee smoker off of Walmart.com for $13, bag of hickory chips $2, and a torch from Home depot for #15 including the gas cylinder. When I get to my hunting area first thing I do when I get out of my truck is put a small handful of chips in the smoker light the torch and get it to burning. Once it's burning I close the lid and let it start smoking. As I dress I just stand in the smoke and get my cloths saturated with the smoke. I also smoke everything I'm carrying into the wood especially if it has anything fabric on it. Just for kicks I put the smoke on my gun or bow to eliminate the contact points where I have touched it. As stated earlier I do bath in the green scent eliminating soap before each hunt. This routine is an every hunt routine. I have put my cloths in a pop up blind I have and lit the smoker to saturate them with the smoke but I think this was too much. At least it was for me I had to roll down my truck windows on the way hunting the next day it was so strong. As you can see the total cost to get started is less than $30. I use around 2 bags of chips a year and I usually hunt around 40 hunts a year or more. As someone else said I believe this is not actually a cover scent but a scent elimination process that works similar to how the carbon suits work by the smoke (carbon) soaking up the human scent. It is still important to hunt the wind but this does give me some assurance that when the wind shifts I will still be good as to my scent stream. Try it the cost is minimal, you might get the same results as I do but there is no guarantee when it comes to deer hunting and scent elimination in my opinion. But I'm no expert just a seasoned hunter that is willing to give an idea a try.