RE: Thermacell your opinions
 

Yes you can smell them, but one of the biggest deer I've ever seen was while I was smoking a cigarette. But the wind was right, so if you use a thermacell watch the wind like you normally do and you'll be fine. They definately work.No I don't smoke while bowhunting I gave up that nasty habit 14 years ago. Now I don't see any big deer though.:D

RE: Thermacell your opinions
 

You can get bit up if you want to, but I'm bringing my thermacell with me. Smacking skeeters off my neck would probably alarm more deer than the thermacell does. Besides, if they can smell the thermacell, they can probably smell you too. They'll only smell it if they're down wind. Also, the thermacell is heated, so any odor it gives off will rise, probably won't make a difference if you're hunting from a treestand. Also, after having numerous deer walk within yards during turkey season and not spook and never noticing a deer so much as flinch while walking past my stand during bow season, I'm convinced it is a useful tool during archery season.

RE: Thermacell your opinions
 

I like the thermacell, but for me it hasn't worked as good as others have advertised

RE: Thermacell your opinions
 

Yep they do give off a smell. Play the wind best you can if your going to use it.

RE: Thermacell your opinions
 

Should of had it while we were shooting. I think all that swatting at them caused me to shoot high.[8D]

RE: Thermacell your opinions
 

I bring one with me especially turkey hunting, camping, hanging out at cookouts etc. I have had good experiences with them. I also bring one early bow season and IF the skeeters/bugs are bad enough to the point where its uncomfortable and Im swatting and moving more than Im sitting still, then I fire it up but only as a last resort because I can smell it, however, I always hunt the wind so unless it changes direction Im not overly concerned. If I cant sit still because of bugs then I just gave +1 to the deer anyway. I am covered from head to toe also but somehow those little buggers find my eyes and any little thing to keep me moving.

RE: Thermacell your opinions
 

I just got a Thermacell; I'm glad to see they work.
As far as the odor, what about when the wind swirls or just isn't constant?Sometimes the windgets very still right before dark. That's why I'm wearing a carbon suit, taking a scent free shower, and storing my clothes in a bag with pine branches. I typically hunt from a blind, the deer will be close, and may approach from any direction.

RE: Thermacell your opinions
 

The Thermacell's come in two colors, camo and green. I have thecamo one, not that it matters.

RE: Thermacell your opinions
 

A friend let me borrow his for the last week of bear season when the skeeters were unbearable. I would now hunt the skeeter season w/out it especially for bear. They worked a little for marsh flies too.
To tell you the truth, if the darn things cost $100 I would buy one

RE: Thermacell your opinions
 

I just picked one up for 3-d shooting, fishing, camping, etc. However, I will not be using it for hunting. IMO anyone who is truly serious about killing a mature deer would never use something that knowingly gives off odor while they are hunting. Whether it's early season or not, whether you THINK you're going to see a big buck or not, putting additional odor into the woods and around your stands sites will do nothing but attract more attention to you and the fact that you're there, which is the last thing I want to do. Wind or not, mine will stay at home during the hunting season. I'll tough out a few mosquito bites if I have to.

RE: Thermacell your opinions
 

[blockquote]
I could not sit in my stands without my thermacell. Funny stories and true.
Story #1
I had a guy come from Michigan to go hunt with me just a few weeks ago and I went through my usual you need this and you need that speech. When I met him in Mayo to go after Wilbur the pig we got ready and drove to the gate. I fired up my thermacell in the car and told him to do likewise. He told me he forgot to buy one but he would be ok without it. RRRIIIGGGGGHHHHHTTTTTTTTT.....ok you get out and unlock the gate and I drive buy then lock it behind me I said. He got out and started to unlock the gate, I drove through reeaaallll slow to give them time to find his breath. I swear to God it looked like he was about to start break dancing in the rear view mirror and he almost ripped the car door off jumping in. Those squitos were tearing him apart in under a minute. He asked me what he was going to do and that there was no way he could take hours of that in the stand. I have 3 thermacells with me so I lent him one of mine.
Story #2
Sitting in my oak stand I was having a blast watching squirrels and deer fight over corn while the sun was setting. Everything was going fine until the first bite. Then about 5 seconds later bite number 2. Then all hell breaks loose and it feels as if I am in a schoolyard of country children with red ryder BB guns and I am the target. I even think they were trying to suck the fluid out of my eyeballs. My thermacell had run out of gas at the last ten minutes. I now carry several spares.
Story #3
I went down to Ona Florida to help a buddy thin the pork herd last August. I went down to the stand and just like every day in the summer around here it rains. It usually starts around 6:17p.m. and stops around around 6:43p.m. For those that live here you already know but for those that dont our rains look like the coming of the floods. They are a regular deluge of buckets falling from the sky. This does have one really nice effect other than freezing you for a little while. The mosquitoes dont like to fly in that crap. So no bugs. Then the rain stops and the steaming begins. It gets nice and muggy and really cleans the ole pores out but with one bad effect. Now you are a sweaty, juicy, meal for the mosquitoes. When it rains like that the thermacell was off. The mosquitoes were literally covering my skin in a black coat of the little bastards. I turn on the thermacell and 5 minutes later I am only in a living hell and needing an infusion because I am a few quarts low. 10 minutes later and the little bloodsuckers are starting to leave. 15 minutes later there was literally a dark cloud of mosquitoes 5 feet over my head but they would not enter the thermacell cloud of protection. Absolutely incredible.
I hope the guy who invented the thermacell is a billionaire and I would love to buy the guy a drink or ten. If I weren’t married to my wife I would probably marry my thermacell.


You just can NOT tough it out down here in Florida with the big black bastards with white stripes on their legs.
[/blockquote]

RE: Thermacell your opinions
 

i have been winded a few times with mine expecally when im hunting hogs

RE: Thermacell your opinions
 

I have been using them since they came out and I have killed deer with them while in the tree and on the ground. I think they are the best thing since slicest bread and I won't go into the woods in the fall ( I hunt river bottoms 95% of the time and the mosquiteos are horrible). I can't sit still when they are that bad (hard to see deer when you look like you are shadow boxing up in the tree)and I can't hear anything with them buzzing around my ears. I figure if they can smell the Thermocell then they can smell me to, so I will go with the additional comfort of the Thermocell. I certainly haven't seen my success suffer any for it.

RE: Thermacell your opinions
 

Here are your choices: 1--They MIGHT wind you from the Thermacell. (Wind direction and all)
2--They will probably wind you from the spray--again with the wind
3-You can sit and swat and not see anything because of the movement--and maybe wind
4-You can try to sit, get eaten up and be miserable.

RE: Thermacell your opinions
 

One of the best inventions for hunting in the past 50 years. If I forget it, I go back home. Here in SC its 100+ degrees on opening day of deer season. Hunting near the swamps is like being down in FL on the glades.

RE: Thermacell your opinions
 

not only for hunting works great fishing ,and hiking and shoot its kick a$$ for any outdoor activity.
I guarantee you have one allready since this was posted if not then i have no idea what you are waiting for.

RE: Thermacell your opinions
 

I've used it, it works I think, never took game while using it. If it's hot enough to need one maybe it's too hotto be hunting anyway. I mostly use one for the times I'm observing deer from a distance before the season starts. Doesn't do squat for bitting flies.[:@]

RE: Thermacell your opinions
 

There's a lot of talk about being winded while using one, but I've never KNOWINGLY been winded while using mine. I've hunted on the ground and had deer within 10yds of me and never knew I was there.

It takes care of pretty much everything here in SC. Including out state bird (mosquito), the no-see-ums, and so on.