Avoid the Common Mistakes Bowhunters Make When Hunting Deer
Day 3: A Bowhunter Always Needs to Be Aware of His Human Odor When Hunting Deer
Editor’s Note: Bowhunting for deer already has begun in some states and starts in numerous states during October. Good bowhunters can be better hunters if they don’t commit sins that decrease their odds for bagging any deer, especially trophy deer. This week, we’ll look at five of the most-common mistakes even good bowhunters – sportsmen who have taken several deer and who have hunted for 4 or 5 years – make.
 You can’t eliminate body odor. Dead folks are the only people who don’t have body odor. However, the bowhunter can control how much odor he emits. Many hunters don’t pay enough attention to body-odor control, which begins with taking a shower each day with an odor-eliminating soap. Besides keeping the body clean, bowhunters must make every effort to have clean clothes. Having clean clothes doesn’t solely mean keeping the clothes dirt-free but more importantly odor-free. If you store your hunting clothes in your house, the clothes you hunt in will pick-up smells of deodorizers, food, cooking and pets. Store your clothes you’ll wear hunting in a plastic bag like the Scent-Safe ones made by Hunter’s Specialties in the vehicle you’ll use.  Then put your clothes on just before you hunt. Be sure not to store clothes at your hunting club, because the night before a hunt there probably will be woods smoke from the fireplace as well as tobacco smoke and food smells from breakfast cooking. Having those odors in your clothes can alarm the deer you’re hoping to take. One of the worse things you can do if you come in from hunting with wet clothes is to hang those clothes in front of an open fireplace to dry out and then plan to hunt in those same clothes that afternoon. Your hunting clothes may be dry, but they’re also full of every odor in the lodge. Deer can detect those odors. And, don’t forget the smell of dogs will spook deer. Be sure to leave your boots in your hunting vehicle too, not in the house. Hunting clothes are designed to wear in the woods, while a sportsman is hunting. Other clothes are made to wear in a house or a hunting lodge.
 The bowhunter has two problems with body odor and body heat as they relate to hunting. He must wear enough clothes to stay warm as he walks to his tree stand. But if he wears too-many clothes and perspires while he’s walking, then the clothes he’s used to keep himself warm have caused him to sweat. Also, the evaporation of moisture from the sweat actually makes him cold. If the bowhunter sweats heavily as he walks to his stand in his warm clothes, then he’s like a radiator, giving-off human odor in all directions along the path he walks. Many hunters overdress when walking to their stands. Bowhunters need two types of clothing – the clothing they wear when they walk to their stands and warmer, heavier clothing they carry in their packs and don’t actually put-on until they reach their stands. By using this system of dressing, the hunter won’t give off nearly as much human odor and will be able to hunt warmer and more comfortably than if he wears all that clothing into his tree stand. Even if you’re wearing a human scent cover-up but are sitting in a tree stand sweating, the best cover-up scents won’t be able to hide the human odor you’re giving off.
Tomorrow: Bowhunters Need to Know Where to Put Deer Lure and How to Use Deer Scents
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