Hello, I am going on a coyote hunt soon and was debating whether or not to have a campfire the night before? The temps at night where i will be hunting will be below freezing, my question is would the smell of the campfire smoke spook the coyotes? Or will it be a natural scent blok? I don't want to risk losing out on some dogs but 28 degrees is nippy for this arizonan! Thank you in advance for any tips and info!!
Campfire Smoke Bad for Coyote Hunting?
- Thread starter IvanR87
- Start date
UP North18
New member
My opinion: the smell of the smoke will not act a cover scent and coyotes will be able to smell through it or recognize that it is unnatural. Will having the smell of smoke drift through the woods at night scare them away the next morning? In my experience no, the piece of land where I have seen the most coyotes has a ton of nearby deer camps and bon-fires are always occurring and I still see more coyotes than deer. Just be aware that I have smelled camp smoke on my clothes up to 2 weeks after having a fire if they are not washed, and I'm sure noticeable amounts still occur after that.
Arizona Bushman
New member
Being successful has nothing to do with what you smell like, but how stealthily you set up an ambush so that the coyote never gets a chance to cross your scent or see you move.
Ok sounds good, so let me ask you, do you not use scent blok? I've been on a almost 2 year dry spell so i am really trying to pay attention to detail to make sure this is a successful hunt. So you think i'll be ok to have the fire the night before? Thanks for your advice.
Originally Posted By: Arizona BushmanBeing successful has nothing to do with what you smell like, but how stealthily you set up an ambush so that the coyote never gets a chance to cross your scent or see you move.
Originally Posted By: Arizona BushmanBeing successful has nothing to do with what you smell like, but how stealthily you set up an ambush so that the coyote never gets a chance to cross your scent or see you move.
Predator257Roy
New member
Originally Posted By: IvanR87Ok sounds good, so let me ask you, do you not use scent blok? I've been on a almost 2 year dry spell so i am really trying to pay attention to detail to make sure this is a successful hunt. So you think i'll be ok to have the fire the night before? Thanks for your advice.
Originally Posted By: Arizona BushmanBeing successful has nothing to do with what you smell like, but how stealthily you set up an ambush so that the coyote never gets a chance to cross your scent or see you move.
Coming from my experience and offering my 2 cents here. I'm sure there will be those who disagree and say otherwise, and that's fine too.
It's my opinion and experience that a lot of these smells don't matter as much as how you approach your set up, how you do your stand and how you play the wind. I've hunted smelling like campfire smoke ( I definitely wouldn't recommend hunting and smoking cigarettes or cigars). I've hunted and seen and killed coyotes immediately after spraying my boots with Camp Dry (smelled enough to almost get high in the truck). I've called in and killed coyotes regularly while using a nice smelling Degree antiperspirant deodorant, wearing clean regularly laundered clothes ( no scent free stuff), and killed after working on the mower or tractor.
Yes, coyotes rely on their sense of smell. I don't think that means you have to be scent free in order to be successful. I think it is important to not smell like a person. What I mean by that is don't stink, don't have b.o.. Don't think you'll have a better hunt by going cave man style and not bathing for a few days. That's when the "human" smell hurts you the most.
I go hunting smelling clean. Regular deodorant, regular detergent. If convenient, I will rub up against the horses, grind some cedar onto my clothes, or sassafras, or rub one of the really strong smelling aromatic weeds that grow around here on my clothes. More often though, I don't do anything.
So, definitely don't get worked up about a little smoke. How you conduct the stand and your calling is more important.
Good luck to you, 2 years is a long time for a man to do without.
Originally Posted By: Arizona BushmanBeing successful has nothing to do with what you smell like, but how stealthily you set up an ambush so that the coyote never gets a chance to cross your scent or see you move.
Coming from my experience and offering my 2 cents here. I'm sure there will be those who disagree and say otherwise, and that's fine too.
It's my opinion and experience that a lot of these smells don't matter as much as how you approach your set up, how you do your stand and how you play the wind. I've hunted smelling like campfire smoke ( I definitely wouldn't recommend hunting and smoking cigarettes or cigars). I've hunted and seen and killed coyotes immediately after spraying my boots with Camp Dry (smelled enough to almost get high in the truck). I've called in and killed coyotes regularly while using a nice smelling Degree antiperspirant deodorant, wearing clean regularly laundered clothes ( no scent free stuff), and killed after working on the mower or tractor.
Yes, coyotes rely on their sense of smell. I don't think that means you have to be scent free in order to be successful. I think it is important to not smell like a person. What I mean by that is don't stink, don't have b.o.. Don't think you'll have a better hunt by going cave man style and not bathing for a few days. That's when the "human" smell hurts you the most.
I go hunting smelling clean. Regular deodorant, regular detergent. If convenient, I will rub up against the horses, grind some cedar onto my clothes, or sassafras, or rub one of the really strong smelling aromatic weeds that grow around here on my clothes. More often though, I don't do anything.
So, definitely don't get worked up about a little smoke. How you conduct the stand and your calling is more important.
Good luck to you, 2 years is a long time for a man to do without.
Arizona Bushman
New member
No scent block here, However a two year dry spell is something to be concerned about. Beyond building custom rifles, We offer Guided Predator Hunts, training and outfitting services throughout Arizona. So keep us in mind if you are looking to break that dry spell and take your game to the next level.
wind my friend,as long as a coyote does not get down wind who cares what you smell like. if he does get down wind he will know it is you no matter what you smell like. I don't even bother to hunt here if it is windy. when the wind blows here all 4 directions are down wind.
Spent a couple nights camping and calling recently. Four of us. We all stayed up Fri. night around a campfire, me smoking a cigar. Called in a bunch of coyotes on Sat. Then, stayed up really late that night, all around another, bigger campfire, all in the same clothes that we'd been wearing all day, me smoking another cigar. Hunted Sun. morning and called in coyotes on almost every stand we made. Including one stand I called in six coyotes and we killed four of them. Hunted again the morning after that, all four of us still in the same, unwashed, lived in for three days clothes, me smoking cigars between stands, and killed coyotes on the first three stands we made that morning.
As already said, your smell isn't relevant. "Being" smelled, is.
- DAA
As already said, your smell isn't relevant. "Being" smelled, is.
- DAA
dan brothers
New member
Cayenne pepper placed downwind from your set may help cover up your scent...and... you will hear them sneaking up on you from the rear, as they come in sneezing.
there is a lot of difference in how this year's yearlings act and a 3 year old coyotes, few remember this. About 60% of the coyotes you kill or call in are this year's yearlings, keep this in mind. They are dumb as a box of rocks, so it helps to look at a coyotes teeth when you kill one. Age may tell you how savy they maybe to you and your set up.
Older coyotes OR coyotes that have recently had their butts whooped in a fight may circle to see if they can smell who the other predator is. Dominant male coyotes are killers and love to fight other coyotes.
Point being, Many, many coyote circle before they ever come in. They often "hang up" around 250 yards in the direction of a down wind.
Hunting circumstances vary greatly also, some is open land while other is brushy and wooded heavily.
When hunting in Mexico, we never rented a motel to bathe, and some trips were two week trips which would yield over 200 predators per trip, the lowest three day trip was 13 animals, and average 3 day trip was in the thirties.
Needless to say, we were all pretty rank by the time we got home. Maybe we smelled like carion(something dead). The wife would not even let me kiss her until I had a shower.
Now having said the above, we did see coyotes circling us, made it a mission in life to kill them as we figured they were the dominant animals. WE had plenty of sardines in oil hung around us, along with testing the wind direction with rabbit urine. Needless to say, we were a nasty bunch.
US customs sent us to secondary inspection often which was a cake walk from the many inspections we went trough in Mexico where our truck was completely searched, with us being held at gun point by kids carrying M2 Carbines. We would show the US customs officials the tails that we had collected that had no meat attached. He would ask us what we used the tails for, and we told him for making flies used in fly fishing, which was the truth as I mailed them to a friend.
Now, I am sure that coyotes smelled us, and we confused them by putting out attractants, there was usually a smoker in the bunch which we raised Heck with if he ever lit up on a stand. I can remember a particular stand with my friend that was a smoker, Doug. We had not called a coyote in 4 stands, and was pretty tired. Doug told me that if he and I lit up a smoke that it would attract a a coyote to come in out of curiosity. I had not slept much for 3 days, and was giddy at the though of me even smoking a cigarette after quitting for 20 years, so I lit one a cigarette with Doug. Dang, we had coyotes come in from three different directions after being on that stand for 30 minutes. We killed 4, and I would have killed more if I had not jammed that cigarette into my face getting down on the gun when I saw two in a grey hound race coming in to the call. I had to wipe the hot cigarette ashes off my face and out of my nose before I could get my composure back together. I shot one coyote in the Azz as he was topping a rise about 200 yds out, but he spun out of sight.
In areas with high population, there is also very serious competition between coyotes of different territories, coyotes that cross into another's territory is a serious offense and can be killed by other coyotes. Often these coyotes that are concerned over territory issues ignore caution that may normally be used.
The most difficult hunting in this sport is in areas were coyotes grow up in close proximity to humans. In areas where the coyote population sparse, these coyotes are the smartest predators on the planet. With these ultra smart coyotes, you have to practice all the best hunting practices on controlling or masking your scent along with using attractants where legal.
A guy has to determine how much crap he is willing to do and still not kill the fun of the sport for him and his buddies because all of this scent control and the use of attractants is a "joy killer" for most.
Older coyotes OR coyotes that have recently had their butts whooped in a fight may circle to see if they can smell who the other predator is. Dominant male coyotes are killers and love to fight other coyotes.
Point being, Many, many coyote circle before they ever come in. They often "hang up" around 250 yards in the direction of a down wind.
Hunting circumstances vary greatly also, some is open land while other is brushy and wooded heavily.
When hunting in Mexico, we never rented a motel to bathe, and some trips were two week trips which would yield over 200 predators per trip, the lowest three day trip was 13 animals, and average 3 day trip was in the thirties.
Needless to say, we were all pretty rank by the time we got home. Maybe we smelled like carion(something dead). The wife would not even let me kiss her until I had a shower.
Now having said the above, we did see coyotes circling us, made it a mission in life to kill them as we figured they were the dominant animals. WE had plenty of sardines in oil hung around us, along with testing the wind direction with rabbit urine. Needless to say, we were a nasty bunch.
US customs sent us to secondary inspection often which was a cake walk from the many inspections we went trough in Mexico where our truck was completely searched, with us being held at gun point by kids carrying M2 Carbines. We would show the US customs officials the tails that we had collected that had no meat attached. He would ask us what we used the tails for, and we told him for making flies used in fly fishing, which was the truth as I mailed them to a friend.
Now, I am sure that coyotes smelled us, and we confused them by putting out attractants, there was usually a smoker in the bunch which we raised Heck with if he ever lit up on a stand. I can remember a particular stand with my friend that was a smoker, Doug. We had not called a coyote in 4 stands, and was pretty tired. Doug told me that if he and I lit up a smoke that it would attract a a coyote to come in out of curiosity. I had not slept much for 3 days, and was giddy at the though of me even smoking a cigarette after quitting for 20 years, so I lit one a cigarette with Doug. Dang, we had coyotes come in from three different directions after being on that stand for 30 minutes. We killed 4, and I would have killed more if I had not jammed that cigarette into my face getting down on the gun when I saw two in a grey hound race coming in to the call. I had to wipe the hot cigarette ashes off my face and out of my nose before I could get my composure back together. I shot one coyote in the Azz as he was topping a rise about 200 yds out, but he spun out of sight.
In areas with high population, there is also very serious competition between coyotes of different territories, coyotes that cross into another's territory is a serious offense and can be killed by other coyotes. Often these coyotes that are concerned over territory issues ignore caution that may normally be used.
The most difficult hunting in this sport is in areas were coyotes grow up in close proximity to humans. In areas where the coyote population sparse, these coyotes are the smartest predators on the planet. With these ultra smart coyotes, you have to practice all the best hunting practices on controlling or masking your scent along with using attractants where legal.
A guy has to determine how much crap he is willing to do and still not kill the fun of the sport for him and his buddies because all of this scent control and the use of attractants is a "joy killer" for most.
I'm all for doing everything a person can that's easy to do and within reason when it comes to hunting and scent (laundering hunting clothes in baking soda, practicing good personal hygiene, etc lol)
That being said, 2 of my last three coyotes I put on the ground showed up after I had paused the EC for a smoke break, crushed out the butt, and fired up the sound box again.
That being said, 2 of my last three coyotes I put on the ground showed up after I had paused the EC for a smoke break, crushed out the butt, and fired up the sound box again.
jerry malbeck
New member
What DAA said.