Anybody use smoke as a cover scent?
07-08-2008, 09:08 AM
#11
Dominant Buck
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RE: Anybody use smoke as a cover scent?
but I think it is a fairly smart strategy… I still like the scent eliminating spray over that. (I’d rather not smell at all).
I think I read in a hunting magazine years ago that this is what the native americans used to do.
Ive never used it before but I bet it would work here. The places I hunt get burned often to keep the under growth down and so I think the deer are used to it.
We would hang ourclothes around the campfire when we where in Africa. Most of the animals are use to smelling the burning fires made by the natives and dont think anything of it.
07-08-2008, 09:13 AM
#12
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RE: Anybody use smoke as a cover scent?
I've not used it, but have given it consideration before. IMO, smoke isn't an odor that is going to spook deer. After all, in the winter, smoke is a common odor in the woods. I think it's almost a natural odor and doesn't cause them any alarm at all.
IMO though, to use it as a cover scent is futile. I say this because deer are able to smell different odors at once, and if they can smell the smoke you've used as a cover, they are gonna smell you too. If someone sets a big mac in front of us, we smell.....a big mac. Deer smell beef, lettuce, onion, poppy seed, sauce, and whatever else and can distinguish between them all. And for me, in my mind.....being as scent free as possible is the way to go.
IMO though, to use it as a cover scent is futile. I say this because deer are able to smell different odors at once, and if they can smell the smoke you've used as a cover, they are gonna smell you too. If someone sets a big mac in front of us, we smell.....a big mac. Deer smell beef, lettuce, onion, poppy seed, sauce, and whatever else and can distinguish between them all. And for me, in my mind.....being as scent free as possible is the way to go.
07-08-2008, 09:35 AM
#13
Dominant Buck
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RE: Anybody use smoke as a cover scent?
I guess I'd wonder then, Mo.....
How much of YOU are they smelling if you don't use a cover scent or a scent eliminator? I mean....if they'r egonna smell YOU, anyways.....why not make the YOU part of it as faint .....and the cover scent as STRONG as possible?
This deer dander has my attention, too. What could be better than smelling like a deer?
We'r enot gonna fool their noses completely. Rob said it best, once....in that it's kind of like us smelling a skunk. If the smell is strong....we assume the danger of being in his direct vicinity to be strong...and we go on high alert. If the smell of him is faint.....we likely don't give him too much credit as being a direct threat. What we try to do with whitetails (with ourscent control regimens)is make it seem like we're further away than we really are....so as NOT to put him on full alert.
I see the smoke smell masking us to that extent. No magic bullet.....just an interesting tactic.
How much of YOU are they smelling if you don't use a cover scent or a scent eliminator? I mean....if they'r egonna smell YOU, anyways.....why not make the YOU part of it as faint .....and the cover scent as STRONG as possible?
This deer dander has my attention, too. What could be better than smelling like a deer?
We'r enot gonna fool their noses completely. Rob said it best, once....in that it's kind of like us smelling a skunk. If the smell is strong....we assume the danger of being in his direct vicinity to be strong...and we go on high alert. If the smell of him is faint.....we likely don't give him too much credit as being a direct threat. What we try to do with whitetails (with ourscent control regimens)is make it seem like we're further away than we really are....so as NOT to put him on full alert.
I see the smoke smell masking us to that extent. No magic bullet.....just an interesting tactic.
07-08-2008, 09:37 AM
#14
Giant Nontypical
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RE: Anybody use smoke as a cover scent?
....in that it's kind of like us smelling a skunk. If the smell is strong....we assume the danger of being in his direct vicinity to be strong...and we go on high alert. If the smell of him is faint.....we likely don't give him too much credit as being a direct threat. What we try to do with whitetails (with ourscent control regimens)is make it seem like we're further away than we really are....so as NOT to put him on full alert.
07-08-2008, 09:40 AM
#15
Nontypical Buck
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RE: Anybody use smoke as a cover scent?
I am a firm believer in the deer dander - I have had nothing but positive results and will always try and have a bottle with me - I am going to start keeping a log this year, but believe my sighting have increased since I started using it 3 years ago
07-08-2008, 09:44 AM
#16
Dominant Buck
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RE: Anybody use smoke as a cover scent?
Are you assuming that a human nose smells,detects scents,and processes that information the same as a deer. [:-]
It's an analagous "assumption".....based on common freakin sense.
07-08-2008, 09:46 AM
#17
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RE: Anybody use smoke as a cover scent?
Jeff, i agree 100%, which is why I personally go through all of the scent elimination procedures I do. I'm borderline OCD when it comes to that. Which is why I stated "scent free"...I just think that "most" cover scents are cetainly not natural. They are formulated in a lab somewhere. Though smoke certainly wouldn't fall into that, and you may very well have a point.
07-08-2008, 09:49 AM
#18
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RE: Anybody use smoke as a cover scent?
I'm saying that a human can detect (in his own way) if a skunk is close by, or not. The stronger the scent.....the closer we "think" the danger (skunk) is. The more faint the smell.....the less we humans go on high alert.
And thanks for the shot..........
07-08-2008, 10:05 AM
#19
Giant Nontypical
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RE: Anybody use smoke as a cover scent?
Honestly anyone thinks that cover scent will work is more than likely just kidding themselves.
There is a bigger chance of alerting a Deer to a scent that is not normally there than actually masking human odor.
When you see a Bear with his Snout rammed into a rotting carcass and then see him wind a Hunter at 150 yards. It goes without saying that if he can smell a hunter under those conditions a little smoke won't make a difference.
I'll stick with smelling as much like nothing as possible and hunting the wind.
Dan
There is a bigger chance of alerting a Deer to a scent that is not normally there than actually masking human odor.
When you see a Bear with his Snout rammed into a rotting carcass and then see him wind a Hunter at 150 yards. It goes without saying that if he can smell a hunter under those conditions a little smoke won't make a difference.
I'll stick with smelling as much like nothing as possible and hunting the wind.
Dan
07-08-2008, 11:54 AM
#20
Fork Horn
Join Date: Oct 2006
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RE: Anybody use smoke as a cover scent?
I just remembered something that might come into play here. On an episode of Survivorman, Les said that if you burn the limbs of some sort of cedar tree or something along those lines, the smoke kills bacteria on your body. Perhaps smoke from other burning objects do the same? Bacteria is the cause of human odor and if smoke kills bacteria it would then kill and mask human odor. Maybe someone else on here saw that episode and could clear this up.
