Watching a story about hunting in Africa and it reminded me of the times I have sat in a blind, burning dried out dung. Did not seem to matter what animal dung was burned but never did get "smelled" when using it. Thought of trying it here but the problem is it has to be thoroughly dried to work and that is hard to find around here. Got a Wood smoke scented candle for my birthday and wondering if anyone had tried burning them in a blind or shoot house and what the result might be.

Better to smell like nothing.

Any scent not around when it should be or where it should be, spooks the hell out of animals.

We burned Cape buffalo dung in Africa as a cover scent. Did it work, who knows. We killed a number of animals but may have done so without the smoke.

No matter how much we clean ourselves, the animal's sense of smell is so superior, the best one can hope for is to minimize the odor. Masking is a tool, but in my opinion, wind and your own movement are more critical.

If YOU can smell it, you can be sure the animals do too.

I mostly agree with that.

For the most part, a "masking scent" is only fooling those rooked into buying into it.

To get into the the right thinking on that...

When a human walks into McDonalds, they smell hamburgers, fries, and coffee.

When a wild animal walks into McDonalds, they smell beef, lettuce, onions, sesame seeds, potatoes, mayo and can differentiate between each human based on individual scent of each one, and tell what that person has been doing the past 24 hours, and who they were doing it with.

It's pretty hard to fool an animal's nose.

About the only way to do so is by correctly hunting the wind.

Thanks for the thoughts from those who have not tried it but I was actually looking for info from anyone who had actual knowledge from using it. One person said they used and killed animals but did not know if it worked. He did not have anything bad to say but his input is valuable because he actually has used it. That is the type info I am looking for. And no, I am not looking for something that would allow me to be direct downwind of deer 20 yards away and not have them smell me. Just wondering if it appeared to help mask scent in South Africa, would it help here.

Nothing to stop you from drying out some "local" dung and trying that if it's hard to find dry stuff as you say.

Good luck with it if you do try it.

Was it possibly burned when you were in a blind in Africa to help keep the bugs away and not for scent hiding capabilities?

Geno

Why dry dung when you can buy it dried?



Do they work? I'm not gonna be the first in my group to try them. If nothing else I guess you could use them to light your firecrackers. Best part of the video was when the guy said it attracted about 40 mockingbirds. But I'm not sure if it was mocking birds or birds mocking.

My grandfather smoked Hand rolled and carried pine knots to
burn when he got cold. Killed a lot of deer like that. Year round, feeding
a family of five. But, just like people, deer were dumb back then!

Just to clarify, I do not think this will be some magic scent that will allow deer to walk directly downwind, 2 feet away and not smell me. Just as I believe most camo is WAY overrated, I do not go hunting in white shirts and bright yellow pants either. I think appropriate clothes (when it is not cold I wear old black or blue jeans and do perfectly well) like camo shirts or others with a broken pattern in a dull color "help" in making it just a little harder for deer to pick me out. Wondering if scent of smoke might do the same for masking my scent. Not all of it, not direct downwind, but just a tiny bit to "help" keep deer from detecting me as quickly. Many times, just a few seconds can make the difference. Candle I got was a gift, so it is going to cost me nothing to try. Will be doing so tomorrow afternoon, just for chits and giggles. Besides, it is going to be bloody cold tomorrow and even the little heat from a candle will be welcome under my chair.

Valsdad, I was told it was to help mask scent and it was always placed just downwind of me. Did help with insects some though. Of course we are not worried about the little buggers now. Supposed to be 18 in the morning.

The only way not to have a sent is to be down wind of the deer.

"Birds taking a hit off of Tink's Smoke Stick"

LOL

I burn dried cow cshit in my deer blind, they never smell me.


They won’t let me in the cook shack.

Honey burns work wonders on black bears...

My uncle cut down trees in northern Wisconsin, he and a buddy bought a small travel trailer to save on travel time. More likely a place to land away from the wife after closing the bars. Anyway they both smoked like chimneys and the butts got thrown out the window. Deer would come up to the trailer to eat the buts. So the cigarette brand du jour became the cover scent. Seemed to work too. But then when Frank would return to town after a week he smelled sorta like burning poop until he got hosed down.

The only way a deer will smell you OR the candle is if they ARE “directly downwind” or cross your path to the stand.

IIf I get a candle for my birthday, someone's gettin kicked in the nuts.

Unless it's planted into an ice cream cake.

Since this topic is already off the rails, I'll offer my .02.

When I bowhunted elk, rather seriously, I tried the strongest urine cover scents I could and found that on average, based on my many years of swirling mountain wind and blown stalks, the judicious use of cover scent applied liberally and often to my clothing (yeah, it sucked riding in the truck later) gained me another 1-2 seconds when a bull elk went downwind and caught my scent before he completely lost his mind with terror and left for the adjacent state.

Candles? No clue, fire season in the west every fall would preclude their use. But I hope it works out for you and look forward to a report.

Yep.

Off the rails.

Not many understand the sense of smell animals have.

If you are burning a turd or a candle, or using skunk scent, or rotten urine, or apple scent, or smoking a Cuban cigar while hunting.... the animals will smell all the above... PLUS YOU.

Watched one a them documentaries on one a them fancy nature channels and they was talking about polar bears smelling hot p u s s y for 40 miles. Reckon we don't have any chance of hiding our stink from em. If nothing else smells, which it does, how you gunna hide your breath?

*BTW, if we could smell it from 40 miles, I don't think we'd want any when we got there.