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when to smoke

Jay_Disarray

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2019
Messages
1,950
Location
MN
im going to be smoking my hunting clothes and gear out this year, and ive never really done it before, so i was wondering how far in advance do you usually smoke your clothes prior to hunting season and how often do you do it?
 
Depends how you store them. I’ll do mine before the season starts and keep in an air tight storage container. I’ll do all my clothes and put them in the container. As long as I put them back in the container with the other smoked clothes after my hunt, they will pick up more smoke scent from the rest of the clothes in the container. If I have to wash them, I’ll re-smoke them.
 
Any evidence or perception of how well this works for scent control?

Also what the easiest way to do a lot of clothes at once?
 
I have no scientific data but the last 2 or 3 years I’ve been doing it, I hadn’t noticed any deer scent me and spook like I have in the past.
I hang all my clothes on a clothes line and use a bee smoker.
 
I have no scientific evidence either to prove its effectiveness in hunting. Fires release several different types of carbon into the air- black, brown, co2 and hydrocarbon ozone precursors according to a NOAA thing i read. Since carbons are used to inhibit scent bacteria in other clothes, like scent lok, i figured it would be a decent enough alternative. Ive heard the natives would smoke themselves up in their teepees before hunts.

ive never cared for those scent killing sprays that you can buy, but i wanted a way to conceal my human scent a bit more. id rather smell like a natural fire than a human any day
 
Last edited:
Following.
I bought a bee smoker and I plan to smoke this year for the 1st time, so I'm by no means an expert.
But I believe there are 2 different aspects to smoking...
Cover scent, which I'm not confident in at all. I believe deer have the ability to smell and decipher thousands of odors simultaneously. I don't believe cover scents work.
What I do believe smoke will do for us is it reduces bacterial growth. Inhibiting bacterial growth is one of the reasons why smoking preserves meat...bacteria is the main cause of why deer smell us.

My plan is to smoke my body and my clothes/gear as I'm getting dressed at my vehicle. But since it's not yet something I have done, I'm not sure how easily I can do it. I think its mostly an issue with keeping smoke contained around me while I'm dressing. I've thought of a few possible solutions but I have not tried them yet.
So, are any of you guys smoking just prior to the hunt? Any problems that you've encountered with that approach?

Also, what fuel are you using? I've read about "clean" smoke for use in bee keeping but it the fuel that we use important?
I've read that pine needles make good fuel. It's what I planned to try.

I need to start experimenting with this. I've had that smoker for a few months now and it's not been used yet...gotta get that figured out.
 
I stuff pine needles and oak leaves into the smoker. I don’t do it fresh for every hunt. I just smoke my clothes and store them in a box. All I smell when I open the box is smoke, no matter how many times I sweated in the clothes on prior hunts. I stayed at a friends camp and he asked, are you hunting in the same clothes again. I said smell it and tell me what it smells like. He said smoke. After an evening hunt we all hung out around the fire. Others were dodging the fire and changing there clothes before coming to the fire. I stood in the smoke. Lol one day I even held my clothes over the fire on a stick. They were just shaking their head. I shot a hog and a deer that trip. They just shook their head. Lol
 
I have a blind my Dad gave me several years ago. I set it up. Put all my stuff inside and then start a homemade bee smoker inside. I do this a few days before season and don't do it again for the whole season.
 
I stuff pine needles and oak leaves into the smoker. I don’t do it fresh for every hunt. I just smoke my clothes and store them in a box. All I smell when I open the box is smoke, no matter how many times I sweated in the clothes on prior hunts. I stayed at a friends camp and he asked, are you hunting in the same clothes again. I said smell it and tell me what it smells like. He said smoke. After an evening hunt we all hung out around the fire. Others were dodging the fire and changing there clothes before coming to the fire. I stood in the smoke. Lol one day I even held my clothes over the fire on a stick. They were just shaking their head. I shot a hog and a deer that trip. They just shook their head. Lol
I think it might be a mistake to compare what/how odors a human detects to how a deer detects odors. I believe that's how we humans have the wrong impression about cover scents. Our ability to detect multiple odors is not even in the same universe as what deer, dogs, etc can detect. No doubt, to us smoke is cover scent. At best, we humans might be able to detect only one or two additional odors simultaneously. Deer on the other hand have the ability to identify thousands of odors all at the same time. Heck, they recognize individual deer by odor alone. Trying to fully comprehend a deer's olfactory abilities is like trying to describe color to a blind man.
 
I have a blind my Dad gave me several years ago. I set it up. Put all my stuff inside and then start a homemade bee smoker inside. I do this a few days before season and don't do it again for the whole season.
Excellent idea! Thanks. I have a cold smoke generator for meat processing that I’ll set up inside the blind with all the washed hunting clothes.


Each year at deer camp In Alabama, we sit around the fire on the first night and hang our coats and jackets on trees nearby. The more smoky we are, the more deer we see. Seems to work, so we continue doing it
 
I have a blind my Dad gave me several years ago. I set it up. Put all my stuff inside and then start a homemade bee smoker inside. I do this a few days before season and don't do it again for the whole season.

I like that idea. I have a few pop up blinds.
 
Smoke isnt an uncommon smell, especially around here where lots of people use wood burning stoves, smoke doesn't immediately alarm a deer, especially small amounts of smoke smell. But if you had a huge fire going and lots of smoke they would probably run. From what I understand
 
I think it might be a mistake to compare what/how odors a human detects to how a deer detects odors. I believe that's how we humans have the wrong impression about cover scents. Our ability to detect multiple odors is not even in the same universe as what deer, dogs, etc can detect. No doubt, to us smoke is cover scent. At best, we humans might be able to detect only one or two additional odors simultaneously. Deer on the other hand have the ability to identify thousands of odors all at the same time. Heck, they recognize individual deer by odor alone. Trying to fully comprehend a deer's olfactory abilities is like trying to describe color to a blind man.

Oh I agree, I was just saying the smell sticks with it. I don’t know how well it actually works or why. I just know I’ve seen a difference and with a lot less effort that trying to use scentlok correctly.
 
Aren't the deer alarmed by the smell of fire?
No.
I've watched them in plots right outside my house when I first light my wood stove. Sometimes there is a strong down draft and deer are in the heaviest smoke concentration and at close range. They pay no attention to the smoke from my wood stove.
 
My son is a smoker. Was, I guess, is a better way of putting it. He now uses a smoke spray made locally (I think @SCSaddleman knows the guy that makes it). He gave me a bottle late last season and it does, indeed, smell like smoke, lol.

He swears by it and says he gets the same results from the spray.

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