We have added a total of 5 enclosed blinds to our property over the last couple years and dad gets cold pretty quick now so we have propane tanks in all of them with portable buddy heaters. The blinds are nice and toasty and make all day sits in even the coldest temps a breeze but I'm wondering what the scent consequences might be as a trade off. With the air coming from the blind being so much warmer then the outdoors I would assume thermodynamics would jet most of that air/scent in a pretty dramatic upward current but with strong cross winds who knows?? I know I can smell the propane every so often and certainly most at start up..........so if I can smell it common sense would lead me to believe the deer can smell it way more. I guess I'm wondering if you guys think the heater is sending the hunters scent out dramatically farther and potentially more potent and/or is propane a smell that would make a deer nervous?
I have been in a Ground blind and had deer walk right by me within a few yards and the heater was going full blast Wind blowing right towards them and they never flinched. I personally believe if your scent is concieled they are used to fuel smells if you hunt around farming. I cant speak for areas where there is no Agriculture it may be different.
I have always used some sort of propane fueled heater in my rifle stand and I don't feel the deer are affected by it. Never used one bow hunting being last year was my first bow season and I bow hunt from a hang on stand.
Doesn't seem to bother the deer at all. I setup a blind for Britney when it got cold this winter. We had 7 does and fawns directly down wind of us within 20 yards. They spent a good half hour milling around and had no idea we were there. I was pretty impressed to say the least being new to blinds and using a buddy heater. We had other deer downwind of us during other hunts out of it with the heater going. Never got busted. Had we been sitting out in a natural blind that I usually make for us... we would have froze and been busted multiple times. Like I said I was pretty impressed !! Tim
One other thing... No matter how scent free we try to be, when you go back to a spot you hunted using a natural blind... there are always deer tracks right in the spot we sat. I know they are smelling that we had been there. With the ground blind, no deer ever checked it out but continued to use the immediate area around it as they normally did. Since I hunt from the ground 99% of the time and there are two of us... I pay attention to how we affect the deer even when we aren't there to see how our lingering scent affects them. I usually will not setup in the same spot twice on account of it. With a ground blind, we hunted several spots multiple times. The deer never seemed to catch on that we were there. I had them brushed in really well. We will definitely be using ground blinds more often.
i disagree, i used a buddy propane and didnt see much deer with it. Also, it makes a little nose which i didnt like. However, if its super cold and you cant hunt without it use it.
I used to use a small sunflower type heater in the stand but I too noticed it made some noise. When I would see deer, I would try to reach down and shut it off if I felt I wouldn't be detected in the process. Switched to a nice catalytic type heater that is silent.
The specific one I use is a Coleman PerfecTemp BlackCat. The one I have has the 2 black folding legs on it, they also sell on with a single metal "stand" but it doesn't fold up as nice the the ones with the 2 plastic legs. If I remember right Mr. Heater makes a similar catalytic also.
Shouldn't smell anything (unless it is the gas itself. gas is naturally odorless the only smell is the ethyl mercaptan that is put in it so we know there is danger) because there is no co2, or anything else, emitted from these heaters. Now if it is causing you to sweat that is a different storyCatalytic heaters give off no signature or byproducts because they burn so hot. The only thing you need to watch for is airflow (oxygen levels) in confined spaces that is if your stand is enclosed. Many of the better heaters will cut off if oxygen in the room goes below a normal sustainable level.
they don't bother deer I've used them and had deer a few feet away hunting a ground blind and never spooked
I use a small bottle/reflector heater in a ground blind. It makes little noise and neither the deer nor turkey seem to mind. RC
I never used one and swore I wouldn't either figuring there was no chance using a heater would not alert a big buck. Well hunting with kids changed that and I did not have a choice it was use a heater and keep them out there longer and not complaining they are cold or use a heater. I was so surprised by what you could get away with, I use them when I am hunting alone and it is really cold out. The last 3 bucks I have shot I was using the heater each time.
While I sit in an unheated cold stand shivering, my Dad has a nice heated stand and he consistently gets big bucks year after year. Here is the buck he got this year. He said he had to open all the windows because it was getting to hot in the stand and about ten minutes later he shot the old bruiser.
Cool..........thanks guys. I'm not real crazy about the sputtering/farting noise the flame makes sometimes when the wind swirls but other then that I guess we need to brush in some of the houses a little more as we got some funny looks this year that left little doubt that they didn't like SOMETHING about a couple of the houses. Just trying to eliminate variables and I guess it isn't the heater which is good because dad isn't giving them up any time soon.
They don't care about the smell. We use them here in winter and it's actually almost a really good cover scent. I never have deer spook late season from the heater.
When it starts to sputter you have to turn it to high and it will eliminate that until it is almost time to change the tank.
