Smokin in the deer stand????

[hunter322]

Yea or Nea?

[skee0025]

Your going to get a boatload of nays and in general probably not a good idea. Although I have had deer walk under my stand not long after lighting up a fat stogie as I prepared to leave for the day. Had I not made the decision to leave for the day I would not have fired one up.

[reinhard1]

ok, i dont smoke but guy that hunt with us do. last year a buck was taken while smoking by one of the guys. i was grilling some deer brats at noon one day by my camper with the guys standing around me and while talking i happen to notice a movement on my left side and here is a doe walking towards us in some pines not 30ft away. looks at us and runs away. go figure. isolated incidents? i dont know. good luck.

[mnhunter79]

YEA

[bassmann77]

My old man smokes like a chimney and he gets deer every year. We also have a guy in our camp that sits on a propane heater style bucket and gets the biggest bucks every year. This is all during rifle season, but the land we are on we don't get many shots greater than 50 yards. So I wouldn't be to worried about smoking as long as the "other" orders are cared for and the wind is in your favor.

[goblueM]

kinda makes you question the need for scent-lok, no?

[MN_Pilot]

Makes you wonder if it's curiosity that brings them in?

[shortfatguy]

Smoking anywhere is dumb. Sorry if it offends anyone but I just lost an uncle to lung cancer a week ago and my dad a couple of years ago. I think instead of the warnings on the pack they should put pictures of people on the verge of death from cancer.

[reinhard1]

these are all interesting things to talk about. i remember when i was a kid i sat on a log beetween two pines, pretty much just small brush around me and i hear a snap and i turned around and i startled three deer walking on the same trail i was sitting on not 10 ft from me. they satartled me as much as i them and i never got a shot off. the first deer i ever shot was a doe not 6 ft from me as i was sitting under a pine tree. scent, wind direction-never paid much attention to it then but it's got to play a role. to this day i hunt the same area the same stands, been logged a couple of time over the years. and sit there regardless of wind direction. so do you need scent loc and products like them? i dont think they hurt but i dont use them. good luck.

[Scoot]

I agree with the basic message of shortfatguy. I watched my grandmother die of lung cancer from smoking. Now I'm in the midst of watching the health of both of my parents go down the tubes from many years of smoking. It's a terrible habit and one that I strongly encourage anyone who does it to do their best to quit. If you try to quit and fail, try again. It's terribly tough to quit, but keep plugging away at it until you are successful. If you haven't started smoking, don't ever do it.

As for smoking in the stand- why? It makes no sense to smoke anywhere, but in a treestand while bowhunting deer is about the last place it makes any sense to do it.

[InTheNorthwoods]

shortfatguy - sorry to hear about your family members.

As to smoking in the stand, I don't smoke so I can't really comment with any accuracy. I would guess I'd be a "NAY" but there are always those that say they think the smoke may be a curiosity scent. I'm not going to start smoking to find out...

[walleyeking19]

We also have a guy in our camp that sits on a propane heater style bucket and gets the biggest bucks every year.

My dad and i have one of these heater bucket things and one of us usually manage to get a deer every year. we hunt public land so the deer are probably used to some weird smells around the woods.

[Bear55]

You can smoke and shoot deer, heck I could be soaked in gas and shoot a deer with my bow if the wind is in my favor although I wouldn't suggest that either. It seems most people don't know or care where the wind is coming from so if they shot a deer while smoking they don't know why they shot that deer. My dad shot the biggest buck of his life with his 4 wheeler parked under his stand, guess what the deer didn't know he or the wheeler was there because the wind was in his favor.

So you can have success while smoking if you play the wind but keep in mind your chances of seeing and shooting a deer go down with each day on the stand. Every day you are pouring more scent into the wood whether you smoke or not but smokers are obviously putting out more scent. Deer move through the area at night, smell you and stay away from that area. I hunt with two smokers, its funny watching them complain as the season goes on that they aren't seeing deer any more. Well they smoke and hunt the same stand day after day, they shoot deer but I wouldn't call them the world greatest hunters.

Remember that bucks during the rut can and do show up anywhere, they might even ignore the smoke scent if they have a hot doe up their nose and anything can and does happen.

[TruthWalleyes]

I smoke in the stand, and i believe it helps mask any human scent.

[mwal]

Former smoker. I think if you are using the wind to your advantage for scent control smoking does not matter. Deer are more likely to spot all the movement associated with smoking.

Mwal

[96trigger]

I don't believe a deer will associate smoking with human odor. Too many people kill deer while smoking. I don't, and won't, but I think deer know the smell of human and think danger, not necessarily smoking, still wouldn't do it though.

[Farley]

I dont, two of my hunting partners do, one has shot a deer every year except last year, one has yet to shoot one, another hunting partner does not smoke and has yet to shoot a deer. So does it make a difference, I dont know, could go either way. Deer hunting has helped me quit. I used to smoke a pack a day easy. I dont like to smoke on stand or have that cig on the way there so I quit. Also hunting season is hell (walking through swamps\snow, hanging stands, all that physical stuff) when you smoke. So last year I decided that by deer hunting 2010 I will not smoke and hopefully use hunting as a motivator to get into a little better shape all around.

[poorB]

i would say nay for sure. not just for the scent factor but for the quality of life factor i quit six years ago. and i am able to get deeper into the woods now and see and shoot many more deer now than i ever did before. On a side note my grandpa used to have a little wood stove on his stand and he has shot some beasts out of it while it was going. he also used to swear by his transistor radio playing old time country. said that they always came in with there ears perked trying to figure out what the noise was.

[bigbucks]

Quote:

You can smoke and shoot deer, heck I could be soaked in gas and shoot a deer with my bow if the wind is in my favor although I wouldn't suggest that either.

But not both at the same time I'd guess...

[hunter322]

shortfatguy, i totally agree. i would love to quit and have tried a couple of times, and i plan on trying again. but as to smokin in the stand my 2 cents are the same as many. i think its a curiousity thing. i have shot several deer just after smokin, heck, ive had to drop my smoke shoot the deer and then pick it back up and finish. then again i hunt in somewhat of a "suburban" area where the deer are used to such smells, i dont hunt big woods up north. just thought it would be an interesting topic to discuss.

[buckx37x]

Nea some deer it may not spook some it may.The longer i hunt and watch deer the more i have to say they are very individual i've seen so many deer spook to different things and then the next deer no bother. I guess what ever i can do to make things neutral the better,never no when mister boss of the woods may come by.

[nonteepical]

smoking in a deerstand hurting your chances are the same as a scent dripper helping your chances. it all depends on the deers mood.

[chris63]

Anything different from the "normal"scents in the deers habitat are going to cause the animal to be on alert. I agree different animals have different personalities.The least amount of disruption in the field equals the the most amount of hunting success.These are only opinions that definitely need more time to be substantiated.Good luck to all hunting this season and please don't get smokey the bear upset with burning down his woods!c63

[Meat-Run]

Heck I had a brush/fire pit going this August in the back yard and had three deer come up to the salt lick/stump not 20 yards away and it didn't bother them one bit I couldn't believe my eyes....stupid deer!

mr

[LightningBG]

I say, smoke away.

I dont normally smoke when I'm bow hunting for 2 reasons. 1. I'm normally only out there for an hour or two, so I can hold off. 2. My wife's parents can look out the windows of their house and see me out in the woods.

While rifle hunting... I wash my cloths in hunters detergent. Let them sit outside for a few days. Rub some leaves on them. Put them on after showing with scent free everything. Brush my teeth with straight water. Spray myself down with masking spray. Get out in the stand by 6 am while its pitch black. Wait a couple hours. Get bored start smoking.

Silly I know.

BUT... I haven't been skunked in 5 or 6 years and last year I got 4 deer, so I guess I'll keep doing what works.