I'm doing it this year for the first time. I bought a bee keeper smoker and some hickory hardwood chips. I can't afford even a cheap ozone unit. Do yourself a favor and read this ENTIRE thread.....https://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=2075070&p=1067979285#post1067979285
Those oak chips will be hard to lite. I use the pine pet bedding and it light right up and smokes like hell.
the reason for using hardwood is because the smoke from hardwood such as hickory or oak, has anti bacterial chemical that kills bacteria like sweat creates and helps mask human odor. the wood chips aren’t supposed to be on fire or lit, they should smolder from the fire below from leaves and twigs...creating the smoke. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have never done it on purpose but I know guys who swear by it. I will say that I have hunted a camp where we kept a fire going and I could smell it on my clothes. I had deer in range who never reacted to the smell. We put it off as a normal smell b/c there are a bunch of camps in the area?? Sent from my XT1710-02 using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
I am going to try the ozonic route this year but in previous years I have smoked my clothing with a cheap little beehive smoker. The last three years I have taken it one step further, I bought two cotton linen bags with drawstrings that I store my outer layers in and I cinch the top and bury them under a Eastern Red Cedar skirt by where I park and change. I smoke the outer layers before putting them in the bag and then bury them. You still have to play the wind, nothing including ozonics is fool proof.
Why is a smoker needed, I used to just start a fire with kindling and oak bark and stand over the fire.
Come to Oklahoma in the fall when everything is dormant and you constantly have a 20mph wind. Campfires turn into wildfires quickly. Plus, the smoker is convenient and easy.
Im thinking of giving it another go this year. I tryed it for gun season last year and had several doe downwind of me 2 days in a row until I filed my tag, and they never spooked. Hell they just about ran me over the first day trotting by. Worse comes to worse I still have my scent free routine to fall back on.
So, the deer are OK with the smoke odor, are they equally OK with cigarette smoke? How would they know the difference, if there is any?
I was randomly thinking about this and looked into it a little. People swear by it. A lot of people even saying that it attracted the deer (something to do with them being curious about a potential forest fire? not sure if I buy that) and some saying their native ancestors used the method for scent control. We just don't hear enough on the topic cause sent control is such big $$$$$. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvkWR4uluuy89E-eXQWhzAQ This kid has a good video on it
I do it twice a year and let them hang outside during most days, that and alittle dead down wind here and there and im usually in the clear
