Double Sided Sword "Therma cell"

I did it. I broke down and bought one to combat the HORRID swarms of "post-flood", Texas mosquitoes.
Pro's.... Thing worked AWESOME and I prolly woulda lasted 20 min without it.
Con's.... I got busted by a buck, down wind, at 7:45 Saturday morning.

They say it's scent free, but I could smell it, and If I can, I know for a fact the deer can.

If he’s downwind he was probably going to bust you anyway....I’ll take no skeeters

I just broke down yesterday and ordered one myself. I've always assumed they were just a gimmick, but after reading a lot of endorsements here I decided to try it. That many THF'ers couldn't be wrong, could they?

Agreed 8point.

Grizz, I'll never hunt without it until we get those temps in the 50's. I was very impressed.

I used one for the first time this weekend. I was impressed. Used it Friday night and had no bugs. Went back to the camp and everyone was complaining about the sketers and nats. Sat morning I forgot to turn it on and was swarmed at day break. Turned it on and a few mins later I was bug free.

Also bought my first one last week. I hunted one spot where the blind is surrounded on 3 sides by standing water and it just could not keep up. I've hunted two other blinds since then and it has worked great though! I wouldn't have an issue with mosquitos with it and both times as soon as I got out of the blind I was swarmed. I also have had 5 deer within 15 yards that did not seem to notice it in the past week. Though the blinds I am hunting are open air, they are also elevated about 10 feet so that could play a factor. Regardless I see myself buying a lot of replacement pads and butane in the future!!

Yep, I too broke down and bought one at Walmart Friday on my way to camp. I forgot to get it out of the truck for the afternoon hunt and fought skeeters the entire time. Got it going before Sat. morning hunt and was very pleased with the results for both the AM and PM hunts. I went to a different stand Sun. morning but fired up the thermocell while in the truck heading out so it had time to warm up. When I got in the stand, it sounded like a bee hive swarming around me in the dark for the first 10-15 minutes, then they had enough. I am now a believer in using them. I saw deer during each sit and none appeared to have paid any attention to the newly introduced possible odor, almost circled the stand and none spooked.

Bobcat, I am not picking on you directly, but what you describe is what I commonly see with hunters wanting to attribute failures and success. Success and failure get attributed to things that nobody can test for. You don't know what the buck smelled that caused you to be busted by him. As indicated, you probably would have been busted anyway. The wind was wrong. Maybe the buck didn't like YOUR smell, the smell of your clothing, the smell of your gear, etc. Maybe he heard you. Maybe he didn't like the thermacell. Who is to say?

I do wholeheartedly agree with you that the deer can smell it if the scent gets to them. I can't say that I have ever had deer or hogs appear to be bothered by a thermacell, scent or noise.

I’m not a gimmick guy, but they work.

Oh I agree and I will never know what spooked him. I do take great pride in doing everything possible to illuminate as many factors as I can. Like, washing and airing out my camos for a few days and keeping them in a container with natural cedar. This has worked great for me over the years, but who’s to say I didn’t step in something on my way in or whatever. I ageee, but I could smell the thermacell pretty easily when the wind blew it across my face. I’m going to put the majority of the blame there LOL. Reguardless, I won’t leave home without it!

If you were breathing you are making sent. I'm sure they can smell it but it doesn't smell like a person.

After last weekend hog hunting the creek bottoms I was about drained of blood, stopped at Walmart and got one i hope to use next weekend.

I used to question their value but I guess I wasn't using mine right. Had one on each end of pit blind teal hunting a couple of weeks ago and the results were awesome. That trip from the truck out to the blind was miserable until I could get it fired up and running. I didn't even try it while riding out there in the Ranger...figured it wouldn't work. Anyone ever attempted to run one while moving in a UTV or boat? Slow speeds of course...

They don't work well if there is too much of a breeze, so I wouldn't figure they would work well if moving either.

My wife even says they work and she’s skeeter sweet meat.

I actually have two of them, and use them in the boat all the time. If there's a breeze, I set them upwind. If theres a wind, well, I still set them up, but dont know if its the wind or the thermacells keeping them away. Normally one on each side of the boat works well. Mama is a magnet for skeeters

Love mine. Couldn't sit in a stand without one right now.

In deer hunting all the scent free crap is just that. Crap.

Either the wind is right or the wind is wrong. Period end of story. I do believe a pop up blind helps contain scent if used properly.
I believe the scent free stuff helps lower the amount of scent. But it's impossible to be scent free.

+1 for ThermaCell being a gamechanger

The scary thing about using thermacell is being able to see the swarm of mosquitoes outside of your personal cloud of defense. You know they are just waiting for an opportunity, LOL.

There waiting for the butane to run out.

I bought my Thermacell years ago, and it's become a ritual with me just before the season starts I go down to Academy and buy the refil butane and fresh pads.
If I use my Thermacell and the pad still shows a lot of blue, I take along a gallon zip lock baggy and put the whole thing into the ziplock and squeeze out all the air before I rezip the baggy. I guess you could do the same using a small ziplock by just removing the pad.
Either way, I would rather get knocked off by a deer downwind then sit there suffering swatting the mosquitoes.
Chances are they would have smelled you Thermacell or not.

Absolutely. I leave it, along with plenty of refills in my pick up almost year round.

hunting in the bottoms, you may die from mosquitos without one. Ive used one for several years and will not sit without one. Just make sure to turn it off or youll run out the whole bottle of fuel

In a blind with screens or windows with skeeters inside, have the windows or screens open, turn it on for a bit and it will run them all out, then you can close everything up and be skeeter free.

My units are probably 6 years old and still working fine. While at Walmart a few days ago I saw they look different now. Guessing just a makeover but wonder if the new ones are more efficient or work better.

Also, I see there is an "Earth scent" thermacell pad now. Anyone have any experience with these actually being better for hunting than the original pads?

These things are awesome. Can’t believe it took me so long to figure this out. I would think if anything it might even help cover your scent.

Okay, you guys have talked me into going and buying one today. I'm tired of giving blood every time I get in the stand. So, I'm guessing that I would need one new pad for every sitting if most of my siting are 3-4 hours. Is that right?

Sounds about right. You get 2-3 pads worth of use out of each fuel container

How do you know when a pad is used up, beside you start get bitten again.

When it turns white.

This ^ they start out blue.

Never in a stand without one. The smell is not nearly as noticeable as me swatting mosquitos.

I agree its the thermacell. I'm sure there's other scents as well that caused it, but when we can smell the thermacell, they definitely can, and it's not a natural smell, so bye bye.

we use ours everywhere...when we remember it and when we don't we wish we had it. this past hunt temps in the 80's and bugs everywhere i laid it down and i guess the fuel cartridge was a little low. after laying horizontal for several minutes it stopped and we could tell, mosquitoes everywhere. Checked it, relit it and kept it upright after that.

Thermacells are the best invention ever made!

I don't know about anyone else, but I tend to use more of the fuel cylinders than the pads so I always end up with lots of extra pads. Sometimes you can find the little fuel cylinders in the Walmart isle with all of the curling irons. They use the same fuel cylinders and they are much cheaper.

I am backwards, I use more pads than fuel. I rarely reuse a pad once it is lit even it it still is light blue.

I thought I read on the packaging that the pads should be good for up to 12 hours of use??? If that is not the case, I probably need to replace my pad before this weekend.

You can also order the propane bottles online. I use more bottles than pads too...but, if the pad is white when the hunt starts, I will replace it. If it turns to white mid-use and I only have an hour or so left on the hunt, in my expeience, it will still do the job.

If I remember correctly, mine says 4-5 hours... ALWAYS bring extra lol!

well ... I used it Sat. 6:00-10:30 am, 3:30-7:30 pm and Sun. 6:00-10:30 am ... and it was still keeping them away on single wafer & fuel cell. I will have to read the package on another wafer cause I sure don't want to run out mid hunt.

I ordered the Earth scent pads when I ordered my Thermacell. I will hopefully have some kind of review within the next week or so.

Standard pads last 4 hours, fuel lasts 12. I got some 12 hour pads on accident. They're just 3X longer than the standard ones. Haven't opened one yet to see how they work. Might just be 3 pads in one package.

I'm a gimmick guy. I bought a knockoff from Walmart for $8.99 that worked as well as my Thermacell (that I forgot to bring). Went back and bought 8 more when I had a major remodel at our home at Lake Travis and the power was down for over a week. The water in the pool was green after several days and infested with larvae but it the breeze and the view was preferable to a hotel so I sucked it up and slept on the deck in a pool chair. Thank the good Loord for insect repellent, make you wonder how the folks could handle it back in the days before AC.

Those thermawallycells worked fine for a couple days until the mosquito control company was able to come out and install their mosquito repellent system in the outdoor living and pool areas. Before, you'd last 5 minutes before the bites and intching became intolerable. Which sucks because it takes a he11 of a lot longer than that just to fire up the grill or the pizza oven. If you weren't in the pool or on the boat or PWC's, being outside was hell.

Now, sex on the trampoline is an option.

If you are buying a thermacell for scent cover you bought it for the wrong reason.
Use it for what it's made for and that's mosquito repellent.
Use the wind direction as your scent control and you'll be fine.

Who says you have to buy it or use it for what it is made for?? If it works as cover scent, more power to the hunter, plus it will repel mosquitoes. We all know to play the wind, but the animals and wind do not always cooperate.

I know some deer hunters that reuse the pads and pour deer estrus scent on them and heat them up to disperse the smell.

But since (pun intended) the topic is using what it is for, Thermacell also makes a scent dispenser kit to go on a Thermacell unit...
https://buckmasters.com/Store/Product-Viewer/ThermaScent-Platform-and-Refill-Kit

I only use earth scent and it works fantastically. I use more pads than bottles -- I put a new pad in every time I go out and my fuel bottles last 4-5 pads. Cheapest I've found it is on Amazon for the value pack.

Also, I highly suggest the holster since it has room for replacements and you don't have to hold it (i.e. you can walk with it on).

Thanks! This thread reminded me I had one of these, still in the box, in my nightstand for maybe...8 years. And your post helped me realize you can double with a scent cover. 'Appreciate it.

So I bought one, first time using it this morning. Going on a long creek bottom stalk, skeeters are bad, very humid out and can make it miserable at times. I clipped it to the back of my pants and I can say that at first i got a couple in the face area but soon after that, 2 hours in the wet brush and not 1 mosquito bite. Pretty cool!

I have had one for about 5 years and haven't ever been busted or bitten! Wouldn't go into the woods without one.

Got to have my thermocell every year. They work!!!!