smoking in the stand

[steve863]

I don't smoke, nor do I care if people do or not while they hunt. I however am not convinced that smoking or any other human scent will without a doubt send deer into the next county. Many times a foreign odor or something they catch site of will actually bring them in. Their curiosity can get the best of them, just as with humans. So what you guys think will definitely scare them off, may in fact help bring them in. All depends on what the deer has in mind at the moment. Knowing how to look for and find deer along with shooting ability with ones weapon is way more important than getting paranoid over trying to be scent free in my opinion.

[tughillhunter]

last i knew the smoke dissipates, it just doesnt linger and sit there the wholee time, and no, i dont think it alerts them in any way, but thats my general opinion. we can argue about it till the cows come home. I have smoked in the stand for nearly 12 years, and never not seen a deer split because of it. Call me crazy, call me silly, but it dont matter. As a matter of fact, i posted a reply back in late oct, early november about passing on an 8 point because of safety issues, and i was smoking then, and he paid no nevermind to it.

[RifleSharpShot]

My buddy smokes all the time he killed his biggest buck while smoking.And he doesn't use scent off idk he still gets deer!!

[WNYBuckHunter]

If youre playing the wind, what does it matter anyway?

[tughillhunter]

exactly. ty wny

[NFA-ADK]

I think it does affect deer sometimes,one way or another. The imature deer seem to not mind as much and yes I believe some will actually come in to investigate the smell. A mature deer that has smelled and associated this smell with people is another story, and those are the one's you don't see... Not realy sure it would affect someone's chances at taking a deer, but in my opinion it will not help... Both my ADK deer where taken after finishing a smoke or within 10 min... Again I do not think it helps, best bet up in stand is to bring a small container and place them in it when done to cut down on the smell... If you chew do the same thing. Any foriegn smell can cause a deer to shy away from a area, it's thier best defense, but deer are curious by nature and sometimes come in just to investigate... For me smoking is not a help, whenever I get onto a nice track and feel I have a great chance at a nice buck the patch goes on and I stop smoking in that area... I missed 2 nice deer doing this but that's another story... When I finally stop smoking I feel my chances will only impove... I have to quit...

[Fletch]

I smoked for 20 years and killed many deer while smoking. I have not smoked in 5 or 6 years now and I still shoot a lot of deer. I imagine it matters where you hunt. If you are way out where deer do not smell hundreds or thousands of odd man made scents all the time it may matter a lot. If you hunt where there are roads, houses, businesses.... Not far way I think deer rely less on some scents to alarm them. Crap they gotta smell human scents all day long every day in some suburb spots I hunt.

I also chewed for a couple years and that did not seem to show any change in my sightings either. Quit that as well months.

Now that said I would not pay 8000 dollars to go out to New Mexico to hunt elk and light up. If I was hunting deer out behind a housing development sure.

[Nomad]

Fletch that makes sense to me. Where I hunt I can hear and watch kids at the bus stop,joggers, dogs barking in yards, farmers working in fields,and in years past a large gun range blasting away.

There are all kinds of smells as well,this bow season i was on stand as this sprayer thing came and sprayed a white foam all over a winter wheat field,30 minutes later out came the deer.

most of the season 2 farms in 3 spots around me were burning logs and stumps day and night, at times you could watch the smoke bank through the woods.How the deer know oh this is logs vs. cigs idk

[Doc]

I think you have to be careful about coming up with hard and fast conclusions based on a few incidents experienced throughout a lifetime of hunting. Weird things do happen in the world of the whitetail. Such odd experiences happen just frequently enough to confuse people as to what the norm is. Also, it may not indicate what an experienced buck or doe with some age on it might do, when you see this year's fawn wandering up your smoke stream. We do tend to over generalize what we occasionally see while hunting. There are an awful lot of things that young deer will tolerate that older deer may not.

[Dad 6424]

I agree with tughillhunter to many now it alls I have been there and done that also and every year BUT this year I have filled the frezzer oooooooooo and by the way I did not smoke in the stand I am a quiter 4 years now

[Geno C]

I think you have to be careful about coming up with hard and fast conclusions based on a few incidents experienced throughout a lifetime of hunting. Weird things do happen in the world of the whitetail. Such odd experiences happen just frequently enough to confuse people as to what the norm is. Also, it may not indicate what an experienced buck or doe with some age on it might do, when you see this year's fawn wandering up your smoke stream. We do tend to over generalize what we occasionally see while hunting. There are an awful lot of things that young deer will tolerate that older deer may not.

well said Doc.

[Fletch]

Doc I would agree that a mature buck is a lot more wary and would be more apt to not investigate due to being inquisitive. Little ones do that.

That said my two biggest bucks, a 5.5 yr old non typical that dressed just under 190 and a big wide 7 both were shot while smoking, not them, me! Both were also during the rut when most of the bruisers make one of their few mistakes.

When on a doe I swear a buck would run into the butcher shop if the doe went first.

I by no means thinkn smoking or chewing improve your chances and I am sure it actually lowers them. I was just pointing out you can shoot deer doing either. As well as wearing regular clothes, your everyday boots, no cover scent, no calls.....like they used to years ago.

[Steve7]

I smoked for 20 years and killed many deer while smoking. I have not smoked in 5 or 6 years now and I still shoot a lot of deer. I imagine it matters where you hunt. If you are way out where deer do not smell hundreds or thousands of odd man made scents all the time it may matter a lot. If you hunt where there are roads, houses, businesses.... Not far way I think deer rely less on some scents to alarm them. Crap they gotta smell human scents all day long every day in some suburb spots I hunt.

I also chewed for a couple years and that did not seem to show any change in my sightings either. Quit that as well months.

Now that said I would not pay 8000 dollars to go out to New Mexico to hunt elk and light up. If I was hunting deer out behind a housing development sure.

I smoke and do play the wind. I've killed many very nice bucks even just after lighting up. I agree with Fletch as I hunt an area with odors that the deer are used to. I think it matters it an area more remote. Most deer that I see when smoking, even if the wind circles toward them, just don't give it another thought. That's my experience.

[Doc]

Doc I would agree that a mature buck is a lot more wary and would be more apt to not investigate due to being inquisitive. Little ones do that.

That said my two biggest bucks, a 5.5 yr old non typical that dressed just under 190 and a big wide 7 both were shot while smoking, not them, me! Both were also during the rut when most of the bruisers make one of their few mistakes.

I have to ask, was the wind in your favor or theirs. Sometimes you could be sitting there with with a pile of pastrami sandwiches and if the wind is right (and stays there), no deer will ever smell them, old or young.

I believe that smoking could only be a detriment if the smoke is going to the deer, or if it has periodically been dispersing into a direction that the deer walks through. That second scenario is a little more tricky as I have not run into too many people who are competent to discuss the nature of "broadcasted" scent, regarding the distance, duration,intensity and effects of weather conditions on scent particles that have been temporarily sent over grass, branches, weeds, dirt, etc. However, I do think there is some scent deposited when a wind does one of those famous back-drafts. How strong it is or how far out it goes is anybody's guess, but it would seem that the stronger the scent (such as cigarette smoke), the more damage that might be done by those occasional directional switches in terms of giving those deer an early warning.

I often wonder just how many deer I never got a chance to see back in my smoking years because of an invisible early warning system that may have drifted out through the woods.

[13BVET]

The biggest buck I ever got, was a 9, that dressed at 173.25 lbs. I actually arrowed him at 20 yards right after a thunderstorm, with swirling winds, and a cigarette hanging out of my mouth. No BS! I was hunting 35 acres of woods, that was literally surrounded by developments. I figure he was used to the scents, sounds, etc., of the area. Didn't phase him in the least when the wind circulated the smoke around to him. More rural areas, where human encroachment is non existent, however, may have had a different outcome. Where I hunt now, people are constantly burning leaves, etc., and it doesn't seem to phase them.

[Geno C]

Doc i wouldnt even bother... lol

i have often done things sometimes that would send deer run for the hills but i have still saw deer in those instances. Do i believe if i do that every sit i will continue to see deer? prob not.. is there a chance that while doing what i did i sent deer the other way? absolutely... Deer are simple creatures of habit and are very very intune with their habitat. I dont think what myself or Doc are stating is change what you do and do as we do, we are simply adding to thread as asked from the OP.... whoever smokes, smoke! lol i dont care what you do, as long as your safe doing.... if smoking works for you then by all means smoke away. just paint a picture in the back of your head and emagine what YOU ARE NOT seeing while smoking vs what your are. If you really think what you see is the only deer near, your crazy and if wind conditions are not JUST RIGHT at that critical moment in time when the few of you harvested a nice buck smoke in mouth then id say the odds are against you weather you want to admit it or not.

BTW, hey if i had an addictive habit i could not break then id come up with every positive possibility as to why its ok and doesnt phase deer also lol. but i dont and i will always maintain smoking in the woods will affect deer one way or another weather guys kill deer every season or not.... its just my .02 and im sticking to it fellas. but like i said do what works for you guys and who cares really

[Doc]

Some day I would really like to learn more about is the nature of scent dispersal whether that scent is smoke, or just simply any scent that might begenerated from a stand. Obviously, if the wind is blowing directly toward the deer, most likely the hunt will end badly. But my points of curiosity are relative to what happens when you get that occasional swirl or back-flow of the breezes. We know what will happen if the deer is standing there when it happens, but I have always been curious about scent molecules that may travel randomly around my stand into places where I would rather they didn't.

I know that scent molecules adhere to things. Just cross the deer trail on your way in and check out the reaction of an incoming deer when he crosses your scent trail. What I don't know is how much scent is deposited when that breeze takes a momentary turn. Does it make a difference whether the wind is quite calm vs. blowing strongly? How far out is scent deposited? How long does it stay there? What are the effects of weather on those scent molecules? What is the change in width of the scent stream as it gets farther away. What do we know about the changes in density of a scent stream as it goes farther away? In other words, when that errant blast of wind covers the area that we expect the deer to come from, what damage has been done?

We all devote a lot of time and research to our hunting, and yet we do not understand much about the effect of that occasional swirl of the wind. Probably we mostly assume that as long as the wind isn't pointed at the deer , all is well ...... but is it? I know it can't be reduced down to numbers, but it sure would be nice to know a little something about the properties and behavior of scent molecules. For something that is so darned important to us, there sure seems to be precious little discussion or literature about it. Maybe if we knew more about it, it would clarify this discussion on cigarette smoke.

[Lawdwaz]

I just noticed this picture from earlier this year on the October ML hunt in PA. At least I practice what I preach.........

[Lawdwaz]

Take THAT, Scent Lok!

I probably should have "sprayed down" before I went out with some of those goofy scent eliminating sprays?

[Nomad]

ok now I gotta figure how to make this manikin smoke.....

Edited December 18, 2011 by Larry302

[Paula]

lol

[WNYBuckHunter]

I often wonder just how many deer I never got a chance to see back in my smoking years because of an invisible early warning system that may have drifted out through the woods.

Doesnt your normal human scent drift out through the woods to the same places your cigarette smoke would have? You can dip yourself in scent killer everyday for a year, but you cant eliminate scent completely, and it does nothing for your breath.

What I have noticed in the same areas hunting before and after quitting smoking is that I see a few more deer, but believe it has more to do with the fact that I almost never have to cough or clear my throat, unlike before when I smoked. Ive gotten winded since I quit smoking, and thats with a pretty intensive scent elimination process. I do believe that scent elimination helps, and probably makes the deer think you are further away than you really are, but I know it doesnt completely eliminate my human odors.

[Doc]

Doesnt your normal human scent drift out through the woods to the same places your cigarette smoke would have? You can dip yourself in scent killer everyday for a year, but you cant eliminate scent completely, and it does nothing for your breath.

What I have noticed in the same areas hunting before and after quitting smoking is that I see a few more deer, but believe it has more to do with the fact that I almost never have to cough or clear my throat, unlike before when I smoked. Ive gotten winded since I quit smoking, and thats with a pretty intensive scent elimination process. I do believe that scent elimination helps, and probably makes the deer think you are further away than you really are, but I know it doesnt completely eliminate my human odors.

Here's my theory ...... and that's all it is. I believe that "stronger" scents stay more active (dense) farther and longer. To relate that to our level of sensitivity to odors, I can smell skunk urine a lot further away and for a lot longer of a time than I can other weaker scents. So yes, your natural human scents are heading for the deer, but the intensity and density of cigarette smoke is something that will make the scent stream hold together in a more detectable form for a lot further into the woods, and will remain in a lot more detectable form a lot longer than normal human scents.

The only thing that I have no way of knowing is what a deer thinks when they encounter the smell of cigarettes. Do they actually interpret that as a danger sign? Are they confused at all. We know there is nothing about human scent that confuses them ...... lol.

[WNYBuckHunter]

I agree, there are too many unknowns to be able to say for sure one way or the other.