Smoking up

[Thunderflight]

I'm still doing it. My friends think I'm crazy, but I swear it works 90% of the time. I have been busted by down wind deer, but those occurrences are far less than when I haven't. Normally what'll happen is I'll have a deer down wind, he/she will sniff the air a few times, look around, and go back to what they are doing.

I need to get a new bee smoker though. The baffle on mine tore. I taped it up, but when it's cold the tape comes off.

 

[jagermeister]

Pretty much same experience for me. Sometimes I wonder if I should go without it though. I've had deer come in and catch my smoke scent on my entrance trail and they stop to check things out. Most times they're not bothered but I've had a few change their course. Make me wonder if they wouldn't have stopped at all had I not smoked up.

 

[motorbreaker]

Works for us.

 

[Dannmann801]

I'm still doing it. My friends think I'm crazy, but I swear it works 90% of the time. I have been busted by down wind deer, but those occurrences are far less than when I haven't. Normally what'll happen is I'll have a deer down wind, he/she will sniff the air a few times, look around, and go back to what they are doing.

I need to get a new bee smoker though. The baffle on mine tore. I taped it up, but when it's cold the tape comes off.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016YJ986M/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[bowhunter1023]

I stopped pre-smoking my clothes this year because it was leaving them with an unnatural odor and I was getting winded. Going forward, I will only be lightly smoking up immediately before a hunt.

 

[jagermeister]

I stopped pre-smoking my clothes this year because it was leaving them with an unnatural odor and I was getting winded. Going forward, I will only be lightly smoking up immediately before a hunt.

For the last 3 or 4 years I have not been doing any pre-hunt smoking of gear. I wash my stuff in scent free soap, then hang everything in a ground blind and place the scentsmoker inside. Once it's done I put everything in a plastic tote where it stays until I hunt. I'll usually only take stuff out to wash and resmoke once or twice throughout the season, depending on how much I hunt. Even though I don't pre-smoke, I still have deer catch the scent. I've never had one spook as a result but I've had them change their path a few times. I don't bother to "play the wind" these days and I think the smoke has bailed me out many times. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't sometimes think about going without it for a few hunts.

 

[Buckmaster]

I stopped pre-smoking my clothes this year because it was leaving them with an unnatural odor and I was getting winded. Going forward, I will only be lightly smoking up immediately before a hunt.

If I smoke up in the morning, on occasion I spook a deer. I typically hunt until 10-11am and come back to the cabin for a break. I remove my clothes and hang outside. Around 3 pm I head back out with the same smoked clothing that I smoked up in the morning. I typically have better luck and get less winded on those evening hunts.

Perhaps the smoke is too bold in the mornings and needs a few hours to "air-out" to a mellower smoke smell. I use apple chips.

 

[bowhunter1023]

I'd be more inclined to point at apple as out of place since no one burns apple in the same quantities as hickory, which is my go to. But that's just speculation. That said, less is more is where I'm moving with all my hunting, smoke included.

 

[Bigslam51]

I smoke the chit out of my clothes before every hunt, never had a problem.

 

[Buckmaster]

I'd be more inclined to point at apple as out of place since no one burns apple in the same quantities as hickory, which is my go to. But that's just speculation.

My preference is oak but that's hard to find. Hickory gives me headaches with the pungent smell. I save that for the BBQ grill.

 

[Buckmaster]

I smoke the chit out of my clothes before every hunt, never had a problem.

I would too if I poop my pants. rotflmao

 

[Buckmaster]

...my findings...a little less smoke equals improved deer acceptance/behavior.

 

[Bigslam51]

I would too if I poop my pants. rotflmao

You bring up a good point!

 

[brock ratcliff]

I'll recommend what I always have... Do not smoke your clothing in a tote. It stinks to high heaven, smells stale. Smoke yourself and clothing prior to your hunt. You need a good thick smoke, the kind you can't see through, not a thin, barely visible smoke. Hickory, apple, mesquite, whatever...makes no difference.

For those thinking of going without, do it! I've gone a time or two without every season. It serves as a good reminder. Nothing better than seeing deer 300 yards away pick you off. I have no idea why we feel the need to alter methods, like pre-smoking in a tote, (I've tried it too), but the method described above works.

And as nasty as it is, I truthfully do not wash my external layers until they are blood-soaked. Perhaps a time or two a season.

 

[Buckmaster]

I'll recommend what I always have... Do not smoke your clothing in a tote. It stinks to high heaven, smells stale. Smoke yourself and clothing prior to your hunt. You need a good thick smoke, the kind you can't see through, not a thin, barely visible smoke. Hickory, apple, mesquite, whatever...makes no difference.

For those thinking of going without, do it! I've gone a time or two without every season. It serves as a good reminder. Nothing better than seeing deer 300 yards away pick you off. I have no idea why we feel the need to alter methods, like pre-smoking in a tote, (I've tried it too), but the method described above works.

And as nasty as it is, I truthfully do not wash my external layers until they are blood-soaked. Perhaps a time or two a season.

Same procedure I run with Brock. I just notice more favorability and tolerance for the 8 hour old smoke by the time the evening hunt roles around.

 

[Big_Holla]

I still pre-smoke everything. There are many times when I don't have the time to smoke up before heading out and I prefer to have stuff already ready. With that I do wash everything in unscented soap at the beginning of season and often if I have been wearing them a few days. I think the stale smell you get after it has sat a while is different than freshly smoked. I do prefer to add fresh smoke before heading to the woods if I can. All of our big bucks killed off the property had at some point been downwind of us before we killed them. My son's buck last winter was downwind with several other deer when he shot it. They were a little alert and could smell something but they didn't spook. The positive encounters far outweigh the negative ones for me.

 

[Joel]

Light smoke every time I go out and a little evercalm when I get there.

 

[cotty16]

I can honestly say, when I tried to do the scent free thing, I would hear deer snorting way off in the distance. Since I've started smoking up (about 7 years now... I think), I very rarely, if at all, hear a deer snorting unless I got nailed moving or something.

I do wonder at times, especially when I get skunked, if the smoke was a factor. Maybe they smelled it and didn't blow because it wasn't human, but still stayed away regardless. Just like we second guess which stand to go to, I second guess myself with the smoker.

BUT!!!! I've seen it work many times as well. I've seen the deer circle my stand or come in downwind and never bat an eye. I've never seen it not work. I've never seen a deer react negatively when they were in view and I've had many deer walk my trail toward my stand. If it doesn't work it is pure speculation on my end because I just didn't see anything that day.

My routine is to smoke up myself and my clothes before every hunt. Like Brock, I wash only a couple times a season and that's just when I know I did some sweating.

 

[MK111]

I'm like Brock and only wash my clothes when bloody. but I remove my outer clothes before field dressing.
I smoke up before each hunt. Don't pre-smoke after washing.
But I do hunt in a enclosed tower most of the time and I believe this helps.
I'll continue on this practice.

 

[Thunderflight]

I don't use a tote to pre-smoke my clothes. I have a much of those large vacuum seal bags that I'll stuff my clothes into. When I pre-smoke it is always within 12 hours of my next hunt. That said, IMO, a fresh smoke up before heading in the woods is always the best.