A wind checker that releases a fine visible smoke rather than a powder. The smoke hangs in the air and drifts, so you can watch what the wind is actually doing over several seconds instead of getting a single instant of direction.
Mocassin Joe
Wind Checking
Ambush Smoke shows you the wind you cannot feel
Ambush Smoke in a Bottle releases a fine, visible smoke that hangs and drifts with the air, so you can see thermals, eddies and swirls that a powder puff or a wet finger will not show you.
Mocassin Joe's Ambush range does one job. We stock it because wind is the single thing that decides most stalks, and most people are guessing at it.
See the wind before it costs you the stalk
Why Advanced Outdoors
Why Advanced Outdoors stocks Ambush Products
Wind checking is the cheapest thing you can do to improve your success rate, and 'Ambush Smoke' shows you far more than powder does. Although Ambush Smoke is actually a powder, it's so fine, it behaves like smoke.
01
Shows thermals, not just direction
Smoke hangs long enough to reveal rising and falling air, which is what actually catches people out in steep country.
02
Works in still conditions
A powder puff tells you nothing when there is barely any air moving. Smoke still drifts.
03
Cheap next to the trip
The least expensive thing in the pack, and often the most decisive.
04
Pairs with scent control
Reading the wind and managing scent are the same problem approached from two directions.
Best Use Cases
When to use it
Three moments where a wind check changes the decision.
Before committing to a stalk
Check what the air is doing on the face you are about to cross.
Shop wind checkIn steep or broken country
Thermals reverse through the day and swirl around spurs and gullies.
Shop Mocassin JoeSetting up to wait
Choose where you sit based on what the air is doing, not where the view is.
Shop scent controlFeatured Gear
Ambush Products in stock now
Smoke in a Bottle and the Smoke Caddy that carries it.
What to Look For
Getting the most out of a wind checker
It only helps if you use it before the decision, not after it.
-
Check early and often
Wind on the ridge is not wind in the gully. Check again every time the terrain changes.
-
Remember thermals reverse
Air rises as the day warms and falls as it cools. Morning and evening stalks on the same face need opposite approaches.
-
Watch where the smoke goes, not where it starts
The first second tells you direction. The next ten tell you what the air is really doing.
Related Categories
Related gear
The rest of the wind and scent kit.
Why Buy Here
Buying Mocassin Joe from Advanced Outdoors
A specialist range, chosen and used in New Zealand conditions, with people on the end of the phone who can tell you what actually works.
Selected, not listed
We stock Mocassin Joe because it earns a place in a technical range.
Advice from field use
Ask us what suits your conditions, your activity level and the gear you already own.
Genuine stock, backed
Authorised stock with warranty support, dispatched from New Zealand.
Mocassin Joe FAQs
What is Ambush Smoke in a Bottle?
Why use smoke instead of powder?
Powder falls quickly and tells you direction at your feet. Smoke lingers and travels, which shows you thermals, swirls and eddies - the things that ruin stalks in steep country.
What is the Smoke Caddy for?
It carries and protects the bottle so it is accessible on your harness or belt rather than buried in a pack, which is the difference between checking the wind and meaning to.
Specialist Advice
Getting beaten by the wind?
Tell us the sort of country you hunt and we will point you at the wind and scent gear that makes the most difference in it.