Last Saturday marked the beginning of bow season in Mississippi. I know opening day could not come soon enough for most of you.
I hope that you had better luck than I did. Being back in the woods for the first time since last season was great, though. It was a perfect way of spending an afternoon trying to forget about the previous week’s tests and deadlines.
I have done a lot of hunting over the years. It always seems as if I can never get enough of it. So last week I jumped at the chance when I was told that there was an opening for an outdoor writer at The Reflector.
In this column I will talk about tactics that have helped me hunt, keep you up-to-date on topics that concern hunters and every once in while tell a funny story that happened to me while hunting.
I will start with controlling human scent because it is key to get deer into bow range.
One option hunters have is carbon-lined clothes. Although I believe it is an effective way of controlling human scent, I do not use it because it is rather expensive. If you can afford carbon-lined clothes, it would be a good investment.
A cheaper way of controlling human scent is by using scent killing clothing wash, shampoo, soap and deodorant.
Several companies make these products and they all seem to work well. I have found that Scent Killer products by Wildlife Research Center work the best. Getting winded by deer has not been a problem for me since I started using Scent Killer.
Last year I shot a nine-point that was only 40 feet down-wind of my tree stand.
However, scent-killing products are just half of the path to success on the hunt. You also need to use a scent that helps you blend.
I like to use Scent Killer’s autumn formula spray. It gives you the scent of the forest floor.
Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get to your stand. Wearing boots, carrying a bow and maybe a climbing stand is a lot of work. You do not want to hurry because you will start sweating and that will expose your human scent.
Also you need to keep in mind not to get human scent on your clothes between hunts. It is not a great idea just throw your camouflage on the floor or put them with your everyday clothes. It is very easy to contaminate them that way. I like to store my clothes in a sealed plastic bag between hunts.
Good luck to those of you who get a chance to go hunting this weekend.
In next week’s paper I plan to tell you the story about running dogs with Wild Bill and hand-to-hand combat with a five point.
Justin McGehee can be reached at [email protected].