When do you get dressed before your hunt and are you staying scent free?
Walking into the small town gas station early on a weekend morning this time of year and you will usually find a bunch of hunters running in and out getting their morning coffee and snacks to have in the stand. How do I know these are all hunters, well most of them are already wearing their clothes they will be heading the stand in. A line of camo wearing hunters at the coffee maker is always a dead giveaway. You should see what it looks like during our first 3 day gun season.
With the internet, TV and social media these days, we as hunters get exposed to all sorts of new products that are supposed to help us be a more successful hunter. But with all those fancy new gadgets and million dollar bows, it really comes down to three things; being prepared, being scent free and a little luck. Everyone gets prepared their own way and we all have our own luck, but being scent free is something a lot of focus enough attention on.
So going back to those hunters that are all dressed in their camo and hunting gear when they leave the house in the morning. Do they care about what they smell like in the woods? Do they realize what scents will get picked up by their clothes just from being inside their truck? Who knows, maybe they know something I don’t, but I doubt the 20 seconds they spend squirting some “scent eliminating” spray on them is going to get all those smells out of there clothes. Those sprays don’t work on the areas that don’t get wet from the spray and who wants to walk out to the stand in the morning or evening with completely wet clothing. As you can probably tell, I am not a true believer in those “scent eliminating” sprays but I will use them every once in awhile to soak down my boots or wipe down my face, head and hands when I get to the stand because of sweat. So for me, I like to go to the source and make sure my clothes are completely scent free and will never see anything but the woods. I don’t want to depend on some overhyped spray or dousing myself in some earthy scent to cover up my dirty clothes. I want clean scent free gear that is always ready for my hunt.
So at this point, you’re either saying I’m full of crap because I don’t think those scent killing sprays are all that or you’re actually interested in what I do with my clothes and gear. For the ones that are interested, here you go. From the beginning of the season, I will wash all my clothes in a scent free detergent or even just baking soda. There are a few name brand detergents out there that are scent free, so get whatever you want but make sure there’s no fabric softener or any of that stuff.. The washing is not the important part. The important part is your pre hunt routine. Once my clothes are clean, they all go right into a single storage container and never come out unless I really need to or until it’s time to put them on for the hunt. This year I started using the Scent Crusher Ozone Gear Bag and fell in love with it right away. It’s big enough to haul all my gear from by boots, backpack and my cold and warm weather gear plus it has a built in ozone unit that kills scent causing bacteria. I tested it with nasty gym clothes when I got it and it works. With the Scent Crusher Ozone Gear Bag, I can plug it into my truck and having it running while I drive to the hunting property and my clothes, boots and gear are refreshed and ready to go. Once I get to my hunting property, that is where I put on all the clothes that haven’t picked up random smells from the drive there.
There are many options you can use to pack your clothes in a scent free container, I just prefer the Scent Crusher Ozone Gear Bag because of the Ozone Generator and the bag is easy to travel with. I also have hard sided container that are great, but they are not as easy to transport as a bag. Scent Crusher also makes a handy little called the Ozone Go that plugs into your accessory port (cigarette lighter) to help remove additional smells from inside your whole car or truck for even more added support.
So what do I look like at that early morning visit to the gas stations, it depends on the weather, but usually it’s sweatpants, tennis shoes and a light jacket or shirt. More like I am going to the gym than I am to sit in a tree for hours on end. But when I get to those woods, I am confident that my clothes are scent free and that will only help while I am trying to fill that freezer.
If you’re interested in learning more about Scent Crusher, you can find them on the interweb at scentcrusher.com or look at your local Cabela’s store.
