# Smoking clothes scent control/cover



## BuckINut (Jun 28, 2015)

I am planning on smoking my clothes this season for the first time and am looking for any advice or tips I can get. How often do you smoke our gear/ what type of wood chips etc thanks


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## EyeCatchEm (Jan 6, 2014)

I smoke my clothes really well at the beginning of the season and about once every other week, usually use hickory chips. I have a fire pit, a cheap ground blind, and wood chips. I start a little fire, let it burn, knock it down and get the wood chips smoking, the put the blind over the smoke put and hang my clothes inside.


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## BuckINut (Jun 28, 2015)

Thanks for the advice. The other reason I've been hesitant to start doing this is does the constant smell of smoke become annoying to you? I personally love that smell especially from my smoker but it seems it could be overwhelming while sitting in it for hours at a time


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## EyeCatchEm (Jan 6, 2014)

You won't even notice it after a while... It will no doubt be strong at first but will disappear after you get used to it


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

I heat with an outdoor boiler. My clothes hang in the barn till I fire the boiler up. Stepping in a cow paddy on the way to the stand is a great cover scent if there is cattle in your hunting area before it gets cold enough for people to start heating with wood.

When I first fire the boiler up I just leave the door cracked, hang my clothes in front of it and throw in some green wood. Doesn't really matter what kind of wood cause the deer around here are used to smelling all smoke. 
Have also smoked them while burning brush piles or burning bark around my wood splitting piles. If you want a lot of smoke out of a small fire, put some bark in it.


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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

I was looking into this a while ago, there are some hand held smokers online you might try too.


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

ezbite said:


> I was looking into this a while ago, there are some hand held smokers online you might try too.


..and they would probably work just fine. 

It doesn't take much smoke at all to do the job. 
Wash them in unscented detergent, hang dry and lightly smoke.


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## seang22 (Mar 3, 2014)

fastwater said:


> ..and they would probably work just fine.
> 
> It doesn't take much smoke at all to do the job.
> Wash them in unscented detergent, hang dry and lightly smoke.


I tried last year. Do u guys eliminate the cover spray or odor eliminator all together


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

seang22 said:


> Do u guys eliminate the cover spray or odor eliminator all together


I do. Haven't used store bought cover scent in many years. IMO, the trick is knowing what the deer in your hunting area are accustomed to smelling and smell as much as you can like that. There's a lot of cattle/livestock around here. Everyone around here has a wood burning stove. The deer are not alarmed by either smell. Sooo...the clothes get washed, hung on the line to dry and hung in the barn. I'll smoke them at the beginning of the year and when I come in off the stand, I walk straight to the outside boiler, open the door and stoke it up. Walk to the barn and leave the hunting clothes and boots. 
One thing that all places have in common are leaves on the ground. If nothing else, wash your clothes, let em dry and put them in a trash bag full of leaves. 
The biggest thing is keeping the clothes from having the smells of the inside of your house on them. Sausage,gravy,eggs and bisquits deer don't smell everyday. The scent your hunting boots get on them from walking through the house on the carpet aren't natural scents either. 

Obviously, when out in the woods there is just no substitute for playing the wind. Knowing things such as when hunting hilly country, hunting high in morning to mid afternoon, lower in early evening till dark helps. We all know that's sometimes very difficult to do so we have to do all we can to gain every advantage.


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## Redman1776 (Jul 14, 2014)

I tried this for the first time last year and am absolutely convinced it's the only way I will ever hunt again. I use a bee smoker with hickory chips. I hang all of my gear(clothes, boots, socks, undershirts, back pack, etc.) in my garage and smoke the day lights out of them. I smoke my body, hair, bow and gear while getting dressed before going into the woods. I also smoke my truck at the beginning of the season just to rid it of any left over scents. After every wash I re-smoke everything.
If you haven't looked up the science of smoke cover scent yet, I advise you to. There is a compound in smoke that is supposed to kill odor causing bacteria.
I know the deer smelled me last year but they weren't bothered by it. If you do it right you and your clothes will smell like fresh cut wood. I would usually spray some dead down wind on my boots just for good measure.
I tried different things like dried leaves and pine needles but hickory grill smoker chips worked the best for me.
Good luck, I also didn't mind smelling like a campfire.


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## Dan (Jul 16, 2007)

I bought a hand held smoker last year but just couldn't bring myself to try it. Maybe this year I will give it a go. I have a set of clothes that I could smoke and can keep my scent control clothes scent free.


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## BuckINut (Jun 28, 2015)

I agree nothing substitutes playing the wind but ill take every advantage I can get. Redman I was considering a bee smoker I think you've sold me with smoking the truck I've always changed in the field in the late season that's awful.


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## Ant (Mar 27, 2013)

The natives have smoked theyre clothes for ages.Why spend alot of money for something that you can get for free.Ive killed more than a few deer downwind of me while smoking a pall mall.Not that smoking is good.But it isnt bad in hunting deer.Deer get use to smelling certain things.Go with what they are used to.


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## Redman1776 (Jul 14, 2014)

Ant said:


> The natives have smoked theyre clothes for ages.Why spend alot of money for something that you can get for free.Ive killed more than a few deer downwind of me while smoking a pall mall.Not that smoking is good.But it isnt bad in hunting deer.Deer get use to smelling certain things.Go with what they are used to.


Cigarette smoke is not the same as hardwood smoke, not even close. Deer avoid cigarette smoke smell.


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## Ant (Mar 27, 2013)

No its not the same but my point is deer get used to certain smells.I hunt only public land that is run over with people all year and a lot of them smoke=Deer get used to smelling it.And they pay no attention.
Ive also peed in scrapes myself and watched deer stand there and smell the scrape alot longer than a normal visit.


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## Redman1776 (Jul 14, 2014)

Ant said:


> No its not the same but my point is deer get used to certain smells.I hunt only public land that is run over with people all year and a lot of them smoke=Deer get used to smelling it.And they pay no attention.
> Ive also peed in scrapes myself and watched deer stand there and smell the scrape alot longer than a normal visit.


I hunt on private land that's overrun with stupid and the deer never get used to it, so I'm not sure I can accept your cigarette idea. 

Do some research on the pee in scrapes, there's quite a few people who do that and have luck. Supposedly the human element of it evaporates leaving only a trace for a buck to smell something different invading his territory.


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## Pan Fisherman (May 15, 2014)

I have to second the cigarette thing I've killed more deer while I was smoking than if I wasn't. As I type this I realize I've had pretty bad luck since I quite smoking.


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## Redman1776 (Jul 14, 2014)

Pan Fisherman said:


> I have to second the cigarette thing I've killed more deer while I was smoking than if I wasn't. As I type this I realize I've had pretty bad luck since I quite smoking.


I don't doubt that you have but from personal experience I have seen deer avoid: people smoking, guys who hot-boxed before heading to stand- as much as the guy who washes his hunting clothes with snuggle.

I always avoid the Marlboro man when hunting, if I can tell the difference between wood smoke and cigarettes I know a deer can. 

Go with what works for you though, all deer herds are different.


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## The Outdoor Connection (Jan 21, 2012)

EyeCatchEm said:


> You won't even notice it after a while... It will no doubt be strong at first but will disappear after you get used to it


Same goes for people who live near a sewage treatment plant, or a farm that uses manure or in my case living near Cargill. When the wind is blowing right I get the sickeningly sweet aroma of corn syrup. Your nostrils get your brain to bypass it though. Skunks now that's another matter altogether.


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## Misdirection (Jul 16, 2012)

The Outdoor Connection said:


> Same goes for people who live near a sewage treatment plant, or a farm that uses manure or in my case living near Cargill. When the wind is blowing right I get the sickeningly sweet aroma of corn syrup. Your nostrils get your brain to bypass it though. Skunks now that's another matter altogether.


You can actually get burnt to the smell of skunk! I have an older neighbor whose dog somehow finds skunks while their out walking in the woods and she has been caught in the crossfire more than once! The last time she said she went to work after scrubbing it off and her coworkers complained of skunk smell, she couldn't smell a thing!!


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## Ant (Mar 27, 2013)

Ive been thinking about this subject alot since my last post.And as I was about to go to sleep something came to me which Ive always kept sticking to,But forgot the lesson.An old hunter told me when I was young that Deer need 2 alarms from there senses to make them skidadle.Like smell and movement,Or sound and movement.1 sense will put them on alert.2 Is a spooked deer.Just my thoughts and reflections


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

Ant said:


> Ive been thinking about this subject alot since my last post.And as I was about to go to sleep something came to me which Ive always kept sticking to,But forgot the lesson.An old hunter told me when I was young that Deer need 2 alarms from there senses to make them skidadle.Like smell and movement,Or sound and movement.1 sense will put them on alert.2 Is a spooked deer.Just my thoughts and reflections


Yep! 
And both instances will be something out of the norm for their everyday life. Deer relate to their core areas as we do to the inside of our house. If there's a strange smell, movement or something out of place in their living room(the woods) they know it just like we do in our house.


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## miked913 (Feb 29, 2008)

There is a huge difference in "deer" and a mature buck of 4 1/2 years or older and anyone can kill one once but to consistently kill them you are not sitting in your stand smoking!


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## Chillaxin1 (Jul 5, 2013)

Dang it mike . I thought smoking mine with Marlboro was working all these years!!!!!!


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

miked913 said:


> There is a huge difference in "deer" and a mature buck of 4 1/2 years or older and anyone can kill one once but to consistently kill them you are not sitting in your stand smoking!


Especially within bow range.


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## miked913 (Feb 29, 2008)

Sorry Larry. Before I quit for good I would quit for the month of November each year


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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

Ant said:


> Ive been thinking about this subject alot since my last post.And as I was about to go to sleep something came to me which Ive always kept sticking to,But forgot the lesson.An old hunter told me when I was young that Deer need 2 alarms from there senses to make them skidadle.Like smell and movement,Or sound and movement.1 sense will put them on alert.2 Is a spooked deer.Just my thoughts and reflections


That's a great point, Ant! I was told that you can fool a deer's eyes twice, it's ears once, and you can't fool it's nose at all. That may be true up to a point, but I had an encounter with a little fork horn buck a few years back that was interesting. I was sitting in a bow stand, wearing Scent Lok clothing, when I heard a small noise behind me. I was facing directly into the wind coming up a hollow. When I finally got my head cranked around enough to see, I observed this little forkie throwing his nose around in the breeze. It was obvous that he had smelled me, but he wasn't looking AT me. He was looking down the hollow. He obviously thought the source of the smell was a long way away.

He danced off to my right about 35 yds and continued to test the wind, then came up right behind my stand again! This happened two more times. I originally had no interest in shooting the little guy, but by the last time I was so aggravated I was ready to whack his ass! But he eventually moved off down the hollow.


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## Ant (Mar 27, 2013)

Well Ive killed one moore than once.But my question is who the heck whants a old nasty buck when they can have a nice yearling doe


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## miked913 (Feb 29, 2008)

Ant said:


> Well Ive killed one moore than once.But my question is who the heck whants a old nasty buck when they can have a nice yearling doe


Ahh everyone!


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## Redman1776 (Jul 14, 2014)

My hunting clothes and gear are hang drying and being smoked right now. Hardwood smoking everything is something I wish I would have done a long time ago. It takes a huge stress off hunting when you know you won't be stink busted.


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