Smoking Clothes for Cover Scent ??

On/Scene Tactical · Post by **On/Scene Tactical** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 12:06 am

Hello All..

Been awhile since I have posted here...

If anyone hasn't noticed...

Black Bear in Ontario opens Sept 01/06..
It is Approaching at Light Speed...
So HeadZup Folks!!!

Ok,, so anyway,, I'm look for an alternative to commercial cover scents...

A couple of years ago I talked to a couple of hunters at our bear camp that hunted all over North america,, and they said that when they can't use Scent Lok suits,, they use Smoke as a cover scent...
Basically what they do is smoke their hunting clothing over a Very smokey campfire..

What I want to do is build a quick simple and portable clothes smoker out of 2X2's and a tarp..

I will use a simple propane burner to heat whatever I'm going to use..

I made an initial test of one T-shirt,, using Smoker chips from Canadian Tire,, and I was Fairly impressed with the odor on the shirt even a day afterwards..
This would also be followed up with Human Scent Killer...

The reason I guess I'm doing this is because my 13 year old is going to sit in the stand with me,, and I can't afford to buy yet Another Scent Lok suit...

Any thoughts,, or Ideas on this would be Very much appreciated...

Anyone ever done this ??

Thanks

Eric E. Noeldechen
On/Scene Tactical

bait pile willie · Post by **bait pile willie** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:45 am

agust issue field&stream page 37 there is arecipe for a simple homemade scent killer.whate you need is 3% hydrogen peroxide distilled water baking soda & unscented shampoo US $ cost 10. the describe how to mix it letting it set for 3 days,and to use in a spray bottle and to make scent killing wipes.but I wonder if the peroxide might act like a bleach on your clothes.any thoughts?bear season opens aug.15.in unit 40.I will be in my tree stand starting aug.26-sept.1.bear hunters remember the mandatory report on page77 of thehr summary.

wabi · Post by **wabi** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 9:02 am

We can't avoid scent, and cover scents don't eliminate our own scent. The smoking would add another scent for game to detect, and I'd just hope the bears didn't like "smoked human" for lunch.

Seriously, I don't worry too much about scent. It can't be eliminated, but we can minimize it somewhat by practicing good personal hygene with unscented products, and the old "playing the wind" game of trying to position ourselves where natural air currents will carry our scent away from game. I figure if a critter gets my scent and spooks it would have probably been spooked by a human smoke house, or a human pine tree, or a human (whatever cover scent you want to use) anyway.

crazyfarmer · Post by **crazyfarmer** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 10:28 am

Ive hunted for years without the scent suits and etc and never really had issues with scent and im usually only about 12ft up a tree. The key is wind. Suits help, but like said above, they dont get rid of all the scent. I'm gonna buy that new XLT road trips jacket for bow season mainly since its lightweight and does help with scent. I always just sprayed down with scent away and etc before going in the woods. I take a little small bottle of earth scent, or pine if im in pines and spray on me when im in the stand. With those and before the new hunting clothes scent blocking suits I never had issues with deer spoking. If they did, then they were under 20 yards and the wind was blowing at them. Now as for bear, i dunno how good they can smell so it might be different.

just hose him down in scent blocker or something in and out of the stand

as for smoke, i know a guy that smokes in the stand and never has issues with spoking deer. I dunno how or why because if I did it i probably wouldnt see a deer all year lol. To me, its just another smell that deer would notice and they would be looking for the source

On/Scene Tactical · Post by **On/Scene Tactical** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 11:33 am

Hey Guys..

Thanks very much for the replies....

I'm not worried really about the smoke alerting animals..
Smoke is something that all these animals have smelt before, and I doubt very much that they are bothered with it.

I have thought about the smoked human sausage though, and thought that if anything it would be an attractant..Especially when bears have become use to campgrounds, and see BBQ smoke as kind of a dinner bell of sorts...

We use Scent killer alot, I got through about a half to gallon a year depending on how much hunting I'm doing.. So maybe I'll just stick with that for now..

Thanks

Eric...

terry-1 · Post by **terry-1** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 12:06 pm

I usally just wash my cloths when they get dirty and rub real ceder branchs onto my cloths when entering the woods here. Lots of ceder around this area and it puts a good strong smelling ceder oil onto the cloths when rub onto them which last many hrs and can be refreshed if need. Best of all its free I and hardly ever get smelled by any game animal even ground hunting. I agree with what was said earlier the old you get the more smell you put off. As a kid I could run 3 miles in summer heat and not even smell bad. Not anymore!

buckbuster · Post by **buckbuster** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 12:10 pm

Never heard of smoking your clothes, figured the odor would scare the deer.
I wouldnt want to smoke my clothes, but im sure some of the Mexicans down the road would like to!!!!!!!!!

FredBear · Post by **FredBear** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 1:10 pm

I've heard of this from old timers. But they always smoked with hardwood leaves! Thats all the insite I can give you on that.

AIROHS · Post by **AIROHS** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 6:50 pm

MY 2 cents.

when baiting bears we would use spray bottles of diluted liquid smoke and mist the whole bait station, trail in , branches high and low, the treestand , our boots etc etc. and do this on baiting trips as well as when going in to sit, WORKED FOR US, Oh i smoked like a chimney lol.

Shakky · Post by **Shakky** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 9:41 pm

I think it is worth a try. I would try apple wood and use that to smoke it.

A.W · Post by **A.W** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:45 am

The last deer I got was during a major hangoverover and colder thatn heck. I managed to walk about 5 minutes into the bush from the boat and told my buddies that was as far as I was going.

I started a small fire to keep warm then opend my thermos of Coffeee Royale. After about 20 mins. the deer came by down wind of me about 70 feet or so.

It's my belief is that deer are used to smoke and it doesn't bother them but I wouldn't go to the expense of using 2x4's.

A.W · Post by **A.W** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 1:06 pm

bstout wrote:
A.W wrote: It's my belief is that deer are used to smoke and it doesn't bother them but I wouldn't go to the expense of using 2x4's.
I might have smoked a 2X4 back in the 70's but I really can't remember!

Not to smoke. To make a smoker.

Hi5 · Post by **Hi5** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 2:12 pm

Once upon a time at a place far, far away, I took my Black Lab with me on a fishing trip. We pulled out boat up to shore for a break and it turned out that it was the same spot where someone else had done the same thing the day before. Unlike us the earlier visitor had caught some fish. There were fish remains in a nice moving pile. The movement was caused by the maggots banqueting. The odour was almost overpowering.

My dog made a bee-line to that mess and before she could be stopped, rolled in it.

Swimming did absolutely no good in cleaning her. So she had to ride in the boat. She stood up in the bow, the wind in her hair while we had to endure being down wind of her no matter which direction we travelled. Or which way the wind blew, for that matter.

I think this could be a very effective cover scent for bear hunting. A bear would smell the human mixed in with fish, but likely wouldn't care.

For deer, I have my doubts. They don't like to eat fish and they sure don't like the smell of human. I wouldn't put on shaving lotion before hunting. That would be adding an unnatural smell to a smell that means danger. Either one would scare the deer, so adding the two together would be obviously a bad idea. Putting smoke or other cover scents on your clothes isn't going to fool the deer. It will smell human and smoke smells. It shouldn't hurt. However, I doubt that it will help if the deer gets down wind of you.

jmdavis · Post by **jmdavis** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 6:56 pm

Before scent lock, I always kept my clothes in a bag containing pine tags or fresh cedar (depended on where I was hunting). Those were the best cover scents I ever used.

Occasionally I used vanilla to good affect as an attractant/cover. But if other people were using it nearby and not being careful it became a warning rather than an attractant.

Scent-a-way and the other scent killers help, scentless shampoo helps, and scent-lok suits help. But I think that Crazy Farmer is right, the think that helps most is not being smelled in the first place.

Hoss · Post by **Hoss** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 8:39 am

Can you get a paper big enough to roll a 2x4 ??....play the wind