What to do with clothes?

[charlie 01]

I'm sitting here, reading all this and laughing to myself. I cannot believe all the trouble people go thru with their hunting clothes. I started in the 70's, when the recurve was the new big thing. For many many years there was nothing about sent control. I never wash my outer clothes, unless bloody or absolutely dirt dirty. I go thru the whole season without washing my outer clothes. Your probably all laughing at me now. But this is true. Thru the years, I have put down somewhere between 50-60 deer with the bow. I hunt 8-10, and sometimes 15 ft. off the ground. I have shot bucks as close as 8ft. from me, with a straight down shot. Of course he knew I was there somewhere, but didn't know which way or wear to go. I also have 11 bucks listed in the Illinois Big Buck Recognition Program. Sent control is not an issue with me. I play the wind, and thermal currents, and have several stand sites in different areas. I had early-on, learned to do without. I'm not being critical, just imformative. You do whatever you think you have to do, and good luck.    

[mightyfofaad]

ORIGINAL: charlie 01

I'm sitting here, reading all this and laughing to myself. I cannot believe all the trouble people go thru with their hunting clothes. I started in the 70's, when the recurve was the new big thing. For many many years there was nothing about sent control.

I used to laugh, now I read these posts in stunned disbelief. Some of the younger hunters spend over $1,000 on clothing they think can hide their foul human scent & then go nuts washing & storing their clothes with a strict algorithm followed with cult like obedience.

For some reason the fact that up until say, 1900, farmers & ranchers who didn't bathe between late October, till springtime seemed to have no trouble feeding their families ... totally escapes folks today. The only technology those folks needed was to face the wind & sit still till the deer got close enough.

BTW: I got my 1st double recurve in the 60's & they weren't a new item even back then. After enduring 6 months of pain following my second torn rotator cuff, my bow is just wall decoration now. Too bad, cause in my neck of the woods, the biggest bucks are taken during the bow season. [:(]

[Gulfcapt]

Charlie 01 I always wanted to try that with my outer cloth! But leave em hung up on a branch not at my stand but lets say where i would park a truck in the woods,also somewhere they wouldn't get wet if it rained,BUT haven't given that one a go yet!!!

ORIGINAL: charlie 01

I'm sitting here, reading all this and laughing to myself. I cannot believe all the trouble people go thru with their hunting clothes. I started in the 70's, when the recurve was the new big thing. For many many years there was nothing about sent control. I never wash my outer clothes, unless bloody or absolutely dirt dirty. I go thru the whole season without washing my outer clothes. Your probably all laughing at me now. But this is true. Thru the years, I have put down somewhere between 50-60 deer with the bow. I hunt 8-10, and sometimes 15 ft. off the ground. I have shot bucks as close as 8ft. from me, with a straight down shot. Of course he knew I was there somewhere, but didn't know which way or wear to go. I also have 11 bucks listed in the Illinois Big Buck Recognition Program. Sent control is not an issue with me. I play the wind, and thermal currents, and have several stand sites in different areas. I had early-on, learned to do without. I'm not being critical, just imformative. You do whatever you think you have to do, and good luck.    

[JPH]

ORIGINAL: charlie 01

I'm sitting here, reading all this and laughing to myself. I cannot believe all the trouble people go thru with their hunting clothes. I started in the 70's, when the recurve was the new big thing. For many many years there was nothing about sent control. I never wash my outer clothes, unless bloody or absolutely dirt dirty. I go thru the whole season without washing my outer clothes. Your probably all laughing at me now. But this is true. Thru the years, I have put down somewhere between 50-60 deer with the bow. I hunt 8-10, and sometimes 15 ft. off the ground. I have shot bucks as close as 8ft. from me, with a straight down shot. Of course he knew I was there somewhere, but didn't know which way or wear to go. I also have 11 bucks listed in the Illinois Big Buck Recognition Program. Sent control is not an issue with me. I play the wind, and thermal currents, and have several stand sites in different areas. I had early-on, learned to do without. I'm not being critical, just imformative. You do whatever you think you have to do, and good luck.    

Posts like this always puzzle me. Nobody is saying that you cannot kill deer without scent control. Nobody is saying that you cannot kill a deer from 8 feet, or on the ground for that matter. Nobody is saying that you are not a great and successful hunter. Nobody is laughing at you. You, on the other hand, are laughing at us by your own admission. Why?

If I choose to spend a lot of time and a little money on scent control, what harm is in that? I have not been hunting since the 70's. I do not have 60 bow kills. I have a very limited time to hunt a couple of very small properties. I want to put a lot of meat in the freezer and I really enjoy hunting mature bucks.

While I do not possess your resume, I do have a little hunting under my belt. My experience has shown that careful scent control can tip the odds in my favor. If I had hundreds of acres to hunt or 40 years to do it, I might be less careful. But in the end I don't really care what you or any other hunter does on his/her own property. I wish you all the success in the world. I have myself to laugh at.

[Wolfman]

ORIGINAL: JPH

Posts like this always puzzle me. Nobody is saying that you cannot kill deer without scent control. Nobody is saying that you cannot kill a deer from 8 feet, or on the ground for that matter. Nobody is saying that you are not a great and successful hunter. Nobody is laughing at you. You, on the other hand, are laughing at us by your own admission. Why?

[font="Tahoma"]You're perfectly correct inasmuch as anything "extra" you can do to improve your hunting success makes sense. HOWEVER, the problem a lot of us old timers have is this growing "Myth" that one has to strictly adhere to scent control. Too many young & entry hunters are being bamboozled by all this scent control hype.

Just recently a new hunter related how he spent over $1000 on clothing, scent free soaps, sprays & the rest of the gooblygop. Fresh & scent free he spent an entire day in a tree stand without seeing a single deer. The next day his cigar smoking uncle took to the same stand in regular street clothes & landed a mature buck within 15 minutes.

He said he feels like a complete fool for spending all that money on all that scent free clothing. That's the real problem here. Too many young hunters think they have to invest in fancy clothing, soaps, sprays & the like. They buy into all the BS ads, the (paid) endorsements & then read about you experienced hunters explaining ad nauseum about how you spend more time prepping for the hunt, than actually hunting.

I've heard too many times young people expressing the feeling that they can't afford to take up hunting, when all they need is a license, a gun, a canteen & some Milky Ways stuffed in their pocket for nourishment.

Yes, if YOU want to go that extra mile to possibly improve your success rate; fine. But you guys, the professional endorsers & the clothing manufacturers come off sounding like a hunter must do these things if one is to ever have a successful hunt. That's what some of us old timers are laughing at ... and some of us don't think it's funny at all.[/font]

[Gulfcapt]

Has anyone ever rolled around on the ground( dirt/grass) to get their human scent off their clothes??? I use too, and sure seemed to work, you would get alittle dirty..

[Wolfman]

ORIGINAL: Gulfcapt

Has anyone ever rolled around on the ground( dirt/grass) to get their human scent off their clothes??? I use too, and sure seemed to work, you would get alittle dirty..

[font="Tahoma"]Actually, I find rolling around in dead fish to be more effective.[/font]

[JPH]

ORIGINAL: Wolfman[font="tahoma"][size="3"]

Yes, if YOU want to go that extra mile to possibly improve your success rate; fine. [color="#ff0000"]But you guys, the professional endorsers & the clothing manufacturers come off sounding like a hunter must do these things if one is to ever have a successful hunt.[/color] That's what some of us old timers are laughing at ... and some of us don't think it's funny at all.[/size][/font]

Oops! You had me right up to that part. ^

First off, when did I become a professional? Somebody has been withholding my endorsement checks, that's for sure! If you have to know, I am a professional firefighter with a side job. I have a son in college and a little girl in elementary. I freaking scrape by on army surplus and closeout clothing. I share my thoughts on this site for Jack Squat, just because I enjoy hunting so much. I resent the implication that I am somehow in bed with people making money off of scent control and duping my fellow hunters to line my pockets.

Secondly, I'd like you to please produce the post where I told someone that they can never be successful without my scent control regimen.

Finally, I'd like you to read my initial post in response to the OP. Better yet, I will quote myself so that you can look it over without having to scroll back.

Bottom line. Use scent control, or don't. I really don't care. But don't knock those of us who do just because you think it is unnecessary.

[JPH]

Emphasis added:

ORIGINAL: JPH

Well [color="#ff0000"]you may not want to go to the extremes I do[/color] but I'll tell you what I do with my clothes anyway:

-First of all, my deer hunting clothing is just that. I only use them for deer hunting and keep them sealed in the off season.
-I wash in a scent-free detergent and air dry every stitch of clothing.
-I have also adopted the use of "TruCarbon H2O" (an activated carbon dip) for all of my outer clothing.
-This gets a second air drying and then everything is packed into air-tight dive bags. 
- I wash a pair of sweats and a bath towel in scent-free detergent. These are for use after I take a scent free shower just as I leave to go hunting.
- I dress in the clean sweats and ride on plastic seat covers as i drive to my hunting spot.
- I change into my hunting clothes outside of my vehicle just before heading to the stand.

Now understand this is just my clothing. I haven't even started to bore you (or creep you out) with how I use non-latex gloves, trim my body hair and take chlorophyll for scent control.[color="#ff0000"] Is it necessary? I dunno. I think it offers an edge and given how much I dream about deer hunting all year, I'd rather not leave it up to chance.
[/color]
So, short answer. [color="#ff0000"]I suggest air drying.[/color]

[Gulfcapt]

I really think If Ben Sobiek or Dan Schmidt would organize a once a year huntoff (lets say) amoung forum users To see who is actually alttle more refind on their hunting skills/abilities.. I imagine it would cost some $$$$$ but IT would be good advertising,and give us a chance to meet one another.. Pick a state,area for week

See who's Arrow is the biggest then! lol