Gimme You .02 on this situation

[Buck-eye]

I have a good buddy who owns a deer camp with 400 plus acres. He invites me up to hunt it with him, but it is a solid 8 hour one way trip. So, I only get one chance a year to go.
Here is the issue. There are 4 others there besides me. 2 elders (both still hunt) and 2 guys my age. They all smoke like chimney's. I mean EVERYWHERE. Dinner table, breakfast, in the house, in the car. The most troubling of it to me is that they smke in the woods and in the stands. All of the stands smell like ashtrays. Most hunters try so hard to be scent free and even I can smell all the nicotene. It is bad. Do you not say anything? I mean, forget about the car sick feeling I get from the trip up from all the smoke (even when I drive), but when I was in the stands for 3 days, I didnt see one deer. I know they are there. They kill deer all the time. I just dont want to make that huge trip and be disappointed. It seems self-centered, but I cannot imagine what drives folks to chain smoke in a treestand.

[fritojay]

if its me i would go.smoke doesnt bother me much.some people can not take second hand smoke and if thats you i guess you have to pass.the key decision maker for me would be your statement
"they kill deer all the time".if you can,go shoot something.i have never smoked cigs but about two years ago took up cigars again.

[Speckmisser]

You're the guest in their hunting camp, Joe. It's really not your place to say anything, unfortunately. If it's good enough for them (smelling like smoke), then it has to be good enough for you. Or just don't go if it bothers you that bad.

You did say that "they kill deer all the time", so apparently the smoke smell isn't working against them... even if you didn't see any deer on your last visit.

All that said, I agree. Seems pretty self-defeating to smoke like a factory while deer hunting. But I've seen more than one old-time utterly defy the logic of scent control and whack his deer every season.

[BelchFire]

I have to agree. I was taught that as a guest, I'm just supposed to be thankful, and roll with the flow. If they're killing deer, it could be with the wind in their favor. I've been told that scent control is all about wind and not scent. If you're down wind of him, he can't smell you, and if you're up wind, it doesn't matter what scent control (or not) you practice, he'll bust you.

Now, that being said, can you take a climber with you? And leave your jumpsuit in your locker until you leave the cabin?

[tmoniz]

Unfortunately I smoke. But, my wife thinks it's strange when I travel I always book non smoking rooms. I hate the smell of a smoking hotel room.

That said as a guest I would just let it go. Is the hunt more important?

[Big_C]

An 8 hour drive is a pretty good hump. Do you have other hunting opportunities that are closer? If so, give your buddy your regrets and hunt elsewhere. If not, then go to camp, be a good guest, and make the best of it. We've got guys in camp who smoke in their blinds and they do about as well as everyone else. Hang your hunting clothes outside, or bag them with some pine or cedar boughs so they don't get smoky. If the stands all reek then try still hunting. Get your buck on day 1 then you won't have to worry about it!

[tmoniz]

You could spray the stand with Fabreeze.

[fossilman]

I would pass!!! I'm an exsmoker and hate being around smoke "Period"......I gave a woman up because she smoked,smelled like a ashtray!!! Nasty!!!

[One Track]

Bucky me Boy:

You're the most generous, selfless, accepting person I have ever known. Don't think your buddies are going to think less of you if you cancel. They won't. They'll love you just the same. If you're not excited about going, don't go. If you can't wait to get there, then go. If it's that bad, ride solo to the huntin' spot. If they're riding in your truck, tell them that there's No Smoking in your truck. I have to overcome some awful stench while hunting with SDHNTR. But, he's a good glasser, he always brings good food, and he skins all the hogs. So, the benefits outweight the odors, and I end up going.

[spectr17]

I'm an ex smoker (6 years) and hate being around the chain smokers in confined quarters. The one thing I notice now when go back to MO to hunt is everywhere you go there are rooms full of chain smokers. Eating out it's impossible to find a smoke free place. Some have the room divided with a small sign on a table but that is a joke. Since everyone is breathing the smoke I can't believe someone hasn't sued the state over the health issues. Dad said they've tried to make restaurants smoke free but the voters turned it down. To me it's hard to enjoy a good meal when you're gagging on the haze in the room.

No way I'd ride with a car full of chain smokers for 8 hours. It's your health you need to think about too Joe.

[Rancho Loco]

Personally i would pass- stud bucks or not...And not second-guess my decision.

I used to tend bar pre-ban days, and smoked for about 10 years too.
Every time I'm in Chicago (no ban) I can't believe how much I hate it in the bars, and can't imagine how I did it for those years.

[Buck-eye]

I agree that in someone else's place, you use extra manners and say nothing. And I understand smokingwhile not huntin, but if everyone uses the stands, it seems inappropriate to smoke in them. You all are right though, I make the decision who to hunt with, and then you give and take accordingly.
Last year I did offer my truck and they smoked NON stop. One would finish, the other would light up. And I know the intention is not malicious, but dadgum! 8 hours worth??
I appreciate the opinions. Thanks for all the incite.

[Zbearclaw]

I would pity a fool for lighting up in Ol' Blue, however I don't think smoking in the stands is all that bad, my uncle used it as a cover scent and has at least ten thousand inches of antler in the closet, and he has never had five minutes lapse in a stand without a cig burning.

Deer smell smoke in the heartland non stop from mama pearl burning the leaves, uncle fungus burning his dried out cheba plants, I hunted a WMA in central Georgia today and I swear I smelt smoke from every direction, the wind was light but varied from all directions, I know of two very successful hunters that don't smoke, but light up and leave the cig sitting on the stand at their foot when the wind is wrong for a certain stand, one of em brings home 130" plus bucks in Georgia every single year, argue that.

I say get yourself a personal air purifier and go huntin.

[S&P]

I threw a fit for a few years because of the chain smokers in our camp. They just couldn't sit there without lighting up, and like you say, every stand smelled like nothing but ciggy butts. Then one day I went into a store at noon after being at the hunting camp all morning. The guy behind the counter said, "you must have been at the hunting camp this morning because you smell like camp fire smoke". So I realized that my standing by a camp fire and having my clothes smell like smoke had never really kept me from seeing and killing deer. It's a different smell I know, but smoke is smoke and I wonder now if it really affects the hunt at all.


But, them lighting up in my truck and me having to drive with that for 8 hours? Ain't no way!

[spectr17]

WHen I smoked one day I had a cig going in the stand in MO and I watched a doe wind me out about 400 yards in a beanfield. She made a 90 and headed off the other way. Noting this I then used cigs to flush bedding areas. Light a smoke on one side of the swamp and stick it in a tree and then walk over the other side of swamp and wait for the sneaking deer to tip toe out. Cigs will burn for a long time so you have time to get into place. Just don't do it in an area where you can start a forest fire.

[DEERSLAM]

The first time you cancel will be the hardest. It'll get easier after that.
Don't know how you've lasted this long. Can't stand cigs

[Bullfrog 31581]

My brother and I actually had this conversation tonight while coyote hunting.

My opinion about smoking and hunting is this: I don't like the smell of cigarettes either. However, I don't think they really mess up hunting most of the time. In fact, I think deer like the smell of the burning tobacco. My Grandpa chain-smokes on the stand and he kills deer like crazy. Last year alone he killed 13 deer on three three-day hunts and I'm sure he couldn't keep the cigarettes lit fast enough.

When he was a young game warden he discovered via a captive deer that deer love the taste of tobacco. The GFC had a pen-raised deer on a state-ran youth ranch. Whenever Grandpa visted the ranch, he would split open some cigarettes and feed the deer the tobacco from inside. Ever since then, he never hesitated to smoke on the stand.

When I was younger, I would get extremely irritated with Grandpa every time he would smoke, pee, or anything else to "contaminate" my hunting area. My head was full of junk I read in hunting magazines about how the slightest bit of foriegn odor would totally ruin a spot for the rest of the season. After I got a little experience under my belt, I have come of the opinion that some of that is just superstition and propaganda made up by the hunting industry to get hunters to sink $$$ into scent control products.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Regardless as to the effect of cigarettes on deer, if the odor hangs around the stand for hours after the hunters leave, then the deer are probably used to it. No, I wouldn't like my stands smelling like ashtrays either just because it sounds nasty. But I think I would rather them smell the cigarettes that they may be used to instead of my actual human scent. Between the two, its the human scent that will probably spook them over the cigarettes. They're not much that can be done about that besides taking a good shower and playing the wind IMHO. On the other hand, I presume that those are midwest deer. I have a cousin that goes to the midwest a few times a year and he swears that the deer there are far more likely to wind you that the deer here. The trade off is that the deer there are far more active in the daytime than ours. Of course I have heard others say that southern deer are far more likely to wind hunters, so I don't really know how the deer where you are hunting compairs to those that I have experience with.

Assuming those deer are like ours in terms of how they relate to cigarettes, I wouldn't cancel for that reason alone if it was me. However, it can be miserable hunting when you feel like your best efforts are being thrawted. Its your call to make. If you have other reasons to cancel, then those might tip the balance. Whatever you decide, I agree that its wise to not mention anything to them about their smoking.

[jmabbott888]

Think of it this way, if the stands always smell of cig smoke, the scent isn't foreign anymore. Same as most smokers can't smell it on their cloths etc. just thinking, if you put any foriegn scent in an area how long till the wildlife returned? Never tried it but if you were REALLY bored it could be interesting.

[Arrowhead]

I guess it depends how bad you want to hunt. I couldn't take the drive up there with all that smoke. If I went once and it was like that I probably would not go back again. That smoking in the car kills me.

I might could take one guy doing it bu certainly not 4. The drive alone probably took 2 years off your life.......

Find a new place to hunt in Florida then invite me to join the club, I don't smoke and am looking for a club to join.......

[Buck-eye]

Amen Arrow....

I guess at the end of the day, it was the ride to and from that was the worst. 75% of the time, there was a window cracked, and a cig burnin. Anyone with kids knows that when another window is down, it messes with the driver a bit. Plus, I started to get carsick bigtime. At the camp, I dont get a hoot. Although the treestand smell bugs me a bit, it is only because it brings back the vertigo carsick thing. But, they are great homegrown folk. I guess I need to man up and say that smokin in the truck is okay in moderation. We aint sending smoke signals!
But, once there, I should concentrate on huntin. I get little time in the woods with work, so I should be thankful for any chance.

I appreciate all of you who have responded. We have a really good group of people on this site. I am thankful for that as well.

Merry Christmas!