I agree, I don't think it's an issue, especially during the rifle seasons. Even during Archery, I have taken several bucks while smoking a cigarette (I know it's bad for me) with butts all over the ground below my stand. It doesn't bother them.

Also, there is a critter in the woods that eats or chews up my cigarette butts. When I return to my stand the next day many are gone, and the rest look chewed up. go figure..

When elk hunting with a muzzleloader in Colo we always leave our hunting clothes in big Rubbermaid tubs with a couple of pine and sage branches. We always change whenever coming in to camp or going out to hunt. As stated by others, campfire smoke does not seem to be a problem but cooking smells may be. Why take the chance?
Russ

I agree with Beeman and others. There is so much wood smoke in the air around here this time of year that close saturated in it MAY even help!

Other than that, I believe the most important factor for rifle or shotgun hunting is just simply be carefull walking in and hunt the wind. This has worked for me when I know I reeked of wood smoke and sweat.

The group of people I went hunting with this year, friends and family, did't worry too much about scent at all. For some strange reason, they have shot some of their biggest elk and deer when they had a campfire. The biggest elk taken between them walked right up to a fire were my uncle was trying to get warm. We even tried the campfire attractent method as well, we were getting desperate. I think a burnt tree is less alarming to the animals than us.

Sevens

Being a Southern hunter, one must be aware of their stinky underarms, beer breath, and Nascar Gasoline Hands.



Scent control is important more so for those who live in a mild high humidity climate like the South. Human Scent is disbursed on moisture molecules in the air. The milder the climate and the higher the humidity the greater the chance for the deer to detect you. Deer are quite use to smelling human scent down here, what alarm them is smell human scent in a place it shouldn�t be. They also have learned that some big blob sitting up a tree could be a sign of danger. Yes our deer have become tree Inspectors also.



Some things you learn over the ordinary downwind wind and in your face, is Thermal draft and Thermal currents.



Hot air rises so you setup on the ridges in the morning, and as the sun warms the air, your scent rises.



Cold air falls so you setup in the bottoms in the afternoon and as the air cools toward sundown your scent will fall.



This way in the morning your scent won�t rise up the ridges and alert the game in the morning or drift down the ridge in the afternoon to alert the game who may be traveling through to feed or bed.



Also take a bath, wash your hair, and brush your teeth and gargle. Wear clean underwear, socks, rubber boots and clean over garments and you have done about all you can do.