Smoking clothes

[Timo]

 I was reading about the home brew cover scents on in primitive skills. Never really tried that and don't use a lot of cover scents per say. Just always tried to hunt the wind and stay clean.

I have use white wood ashes with  good success (maybe be the charcoal in them)and also carry red cedar berries in my pockets,just smash them in my hands and wipe down with them.They seem to help alot.

Question......has anyone here ever did the "smoked clothes" thing? I've had a few hunting friends say it works. I've never tried it on purpose,but have had them smoked around hunting camps and such. Never noticed much difference.

[El Destructo]

No...I just keep mine in the Wife's Cedar Chest all Year Long...and since where I Hunt has Native Cedars....seems to work just Great....ain't never been winded yet!

[Justin Snyder]

No...I just keep mine in the Wife's Cedar Chest all Year Long...and since where I Hunt has Native Cedars....seems to work just Great....ain't never been winded yet!

Well, at least not that you are aware of. 

I like to keep odor to a minimum and use the wind in my favor. Skunk is as strong a cover scent as you can find. But you still smell like a hunter, just one that has been sprayed by a skunk. 

[Pat B]

Tim, I see smoke as a nature neutral scent and not alarming to animals...but that depends on the source of the smoke. If it is from a controlled fire with natural, local materials like wood and grasses it should not necessarily startle  animals but if you use the common campfire smoke you are probably getting beer and soda cans, plastic bottles, plates and cups, uneaten food, etc mixed in and this can be alarming to animals that are being hunted.
   That said, I think you hit the nail on the head when you said you hunt into the wind and go into the woods clean. Cover scents make us, the hunter, seem invisible but in fact, no matter what or how much cover scent one uses, if your scent stream hits an animal's nose, the game is over. The same goes with commercial camo. Is it necessary? Is it the pattern you wear or your actions(or inaction's) in the woods that makes you invisible?  

[FlintWalker]

I never use any cover scent. I try to smell as much like "nothing" as possible and don't think cover scent works.  I believe a deer's nose is so sensitive that he can still pick up human odor even if you soak down in cover scent.
  Smoking your clothes might work, but IMO that's just another odor to catch his attention.

[mullet]

 I'm with Shannon. I think scent cover is just another gadgit for people that like to collect hunting gadgits. I pay close attention to the wind and might walk 2 or 3 miles more than I wanted because the wind changed directions. And I hunt mostly from the ground.

[sailordad]

i dont use any sprays,anymore.
however i do keep all my hunting clothes and boots in HUNTER SPECIALTIES scent proof bags.
this keeps any odors during the year from getting on my gear,plus i like to put about 3-4 earth scent wafers in there
along with 3-4 acorn scent wafers.i also store my double bull blind this way.
when you open the bags,that all you smell is dirt and acorns.
i have had deer with in 1yd of my blind,they have even hung around for several hours.
i never shot any of them,they were always younger bucks and never felt like they were worthy.
this was when i hunted with my training wheels yet,now let one get that close and he will bleed reardless of the age

[JackCrafty]

I don't get to hunt very much but when I do I usually get pretty close to the wildlife...and I don't do anything to cover my scent.  I've tried staying upwind but it doesn't seem to make much difference.  I find that animals are curious of human smells and will actually come closer, in search of food scraps and such, if I'm hunting close to a city.  I think the further out you are from civilization, the more wary animals will be of your human scent.

The techniques that I've read about, among the Native Americans, seem to concentrate on silence, camouflage, decoys, and concealment.  If there is mention of covering scents, it is usually a scent of the prey (like the dung) that is applied to the hunter.  Also, I've heard that Indians would fast before hunting so that their breath would not stink and also so they would not pass gas during the hunt.   

[Timo]

All interesting stuff.

The reason I started useing white wood ashes was from a story I read once about a couple Indian brothers that had a game of who could touch a deer. Seems that they  bathed down in white wood ashes thus cleansing the outer skins.

 Interesting that JackCrafty brought up a good point about fasting.Fasting will also detox the body of any unnatural scents that permiate through the skin.I just get to hungry for that. We are what we eat. so many pores on our skin that release whats inside. I quit drinking coffee before a hunt because of this.

[FlintWalker]

"You are what you eat"  Huh!  I'm not a big beer drinker, but I hear it's made from grains and barley and stuff like that...deer like grain   Maybe if I drink more beer, the deer will like the way I smell and come closer

[jamie]

i use smoke but im with shannon. A buddy of mine smokes cigs in the stand and still kills deer. The wind is what matters

[sailordad]

i use smoke but im with shannon. A buddy of mine smokes cigs in the stand and still kills deer. The wind is what matters

my brother hubts with a dude that only smokes during deer season,big ol stogies
every year he gets one of the biggest deer that see killed during the season
personally i think its curiosity,they smell the smoke,they get curious if its a danger or not so they come to investigate
before they flee

maybe i should take up smoking again and quit drinking coffee
nah 28 yrs of it before i quit,damn sure not gonna start that again,even if it means killing deer       lol

[El Destructo]

I ain't smoked in over 20 years ...and there isn't a Deer Big enough to get Me to Start again.........

[DanaM]

What I get a kick out of is folks that pee in a bottle while 20 feet up in a tree, then carry their pee out with them

If I have to pee I just let er go off the stand and it never appears to have bothered the deer.

Can't see paying out my money for scentloc clothes, de-odorizing spray, cover scents etc etc etc or high dollar camo clothing, I have
some camo clothes but all of it was bought back in my wheelie days when I had to have the latest thingamajiggy every season

I also don't waste money on doe in heat lure most of it is way over priced and is pretty useless, at least I've never had a deer come in to it

[terence pinder]

i hang green apple car air freshners around my stands and then i put the same ones in my truck, that way i smell like green apples and the deer are used to that smell,has worked so far.