Thermacell....yes or no?

[cat44]

Thursday is opening day to be sitting over baits.  The topic of thermacells has been discussed before with varying opinions.  Whose going to be using one, and whose going to try and make a go of it without one?  I have one, but I think I'm going to leave it behind.  Maybe it's just coincidence but I've never had a bear come in when I've been using one. I've shot several and seen others when I left it behind. But man the skeaters are absolutely unbelievable!!  Not sure if I'll be able to take it!  Good luck to those heading out, have a safe hunt.

[nofishfisherman]

I've thought about this before but not with bear hunting but instead early deer archery season. I've come to the conclusion that it probably doesn't really matter.  My reasoning is that they really only work if there is almost no breeze at all.  If thats the case the scent from the thermacell will linger in your area but so will your scent.  I'm not sure the thermacell scent is any worse than your scent.  If there is some breeze and you're playing the wind correctly the scent from the thermacell shouldn't be an issue for the hunt but the effectiveness of it is greatly diminished so probably no point in bringing an extra item that won't work very well. 

So if there is absolutely no wind you could probably bring it knowing that your scent and the scent of the thermacell will be lingering around.  You can't really play the wind either way in that case so it could be a tough sit with or without it.

Now I'm not sure how accurate all of this is in real life but its what seems to make sense for me.  Personally I've always opted to leave it at home since mosquitoes don't usually find me that appealing and I don't react much when they bite me.  So if I can tolerate the annoying buzzing I'll be fine.  Others that have huge reactions to bites and get swarmed more than the average person may make a different decision than me.

[Boar]

this year is an unbelieabley bad skeeter year. never seen them so thick. if one questions using it at all, it should be brought in and used during the regular ruotine of baiting, the 10-15 min. at the site is enough to leave.that scent in the site are, . that way its not an unfamiliar scent at the site. youger bears will have the tendency to not care, but the bigger mature bears will. if yu have used it atnthe site and ur hunt a mature bear, i wouldnt bring it. bundle up! 

[LindellProStaf]

Man I wouldn't go bear hunting without mine.  The wife bought it for me and I thought it was a little silly.  Well I love it now.  Yes in the wind it is probably worthless.  I wear a head net but they still bite my ears and spots where it touches.  When I used it I had it on my shirt under my chin between my buttons.  When I heard the squitos getting close I switched it on.  The sound of them faded away as they left the area of my head so I shut it off after a few minutes.  I was worried about the smell to the bear.  After 10 or 15 minutes they started getting louder so I turned it back on and they left again.  I did this the whole time and shot a nice bear with my crossbow.  Didn't seem to bother the bear.  Would have made a great commercial.  

And yes I did use it baiting too.

[smurfy]

we have 4 of them, well my wife does. I never used one for either deer or bear hunting. when baiting bear i'd spray with sqeeter repellent so the scent was there already for when I hunted.

not sure why you guys are saying the sqeeters are bad??????? I was up in Itasca county this past weekend and had no issues with them, however I really didn't venture far into the woods either!!!

[Cheetah]

I would use it if the mosquitoes are bad.   I've been reading about some guys having lots in their area this year, and others hardly any.

[fr0sty]

Skeeters were ferocious on a crow wing river camping trip a few weeks back.  Like crazy bad...

[Moon Lake Refuge]

Never even heard about these, until this post.  Just bought mine though so hopefully deer don't spook for early archery.

[nofishfisherman]

15 minutes ago, Moon Lake Refuge said:

Never even heard about these, until this post.  Just bought mine though so hopefully deer don't spook for early archery.

They do work really well if the wind isn't a factor.  I was up on the Gunflint doing some solo fishing out of a canoe a couple weeks back and the skeeters were brutal.  There was almost no wind to speak of which made for great canoe conditions but gave no relief from the skeeters. I fired up my thermacell and set it in the bottom of the canoe between my feet and the difference was remarkable.  A few hardy skeeters did still get through but it made fishing bearable where before it probably wasn't.  On the down side I didn't have any deer or bear swim up to my canoe while i was using my thermacell so its possible it deters them as well. 

[cat44]

After baiting one last time last night before I start hunting tomorrow I think I have no choice but to bring my Thermacell along and use it.  The skeets are absolutely unbelievable where I'm at.  If you're in an area where they're not bad consider yourself fortunate.  Good luck....can't wait to see some pics of some successful hunts!

[Archerysniper]

They were the only way we could hunt this spring in Ontario,the oufitter actually requiers you to bring 2 of them. Bears did not care about them one bit. 

[Boar]

having used one last night for the first time Ive come this conclusion. Yes there is a small emitting from it, and if you use it, and have done your home work on which direction the bear are coming from due to previous visits they make to the site, they generally always aprroach fro the same dirtection. so keeping that in mind, playing the wind, if the wind is taking that scent to the area the bear is hanging out in, your scr wed, cause your scent is heading that way to. so if they have the htermacell scent, they have your scent also. but scent by association playes a factor on the pluse side, but putting the two scents together, probably isnt good. need to use a thermacell, do your home work, play the wind.