John's Journal...

Bow Bucks When the Weather Sizzles

Day 3: Archery Champion Anna Reaves Explains the Importance of Odor Control when Deer Hunting

Editor’s Note: When temperatures range from 60 to 90 degrees, bagging a buck presents problems for most bowhunters. As we hear and read more about global warming, hunters throughout the nation will continue to face the problem of how to hunt bucks in very-warm weather. Let’s talk with some of the nation’s bowhunters, and learn the tactics they use to take bucks when the weather sizzles.

Click for Larger ViewArchery Champion Anna Reaves of Brookhaven, Mississippi, winner of Archery Shooter’s Association’s (ASA) championships and a number of Mississippi state tournaments, became the first woman ever selected as Mississippi’s Bowhunter of the Year. Each season, Reaves takes her legal limit of deer in her home state. “Controlling human odor remains one of the biggest problems with hunting in hot weather,” Reaves reports. “The whitetail’s number-one defense mechanism is his nose. Click for Larger ViewWhen the temperature gets hot, you perspire and release more odor than you do during cooler weather. When I prepare to go hunting, I bathe in unscented soap, wash my hunting clothes in unscented soap and use unscented deodorant. I carry my hunting clothes into the woods in a securely-closed plastic bag with baking soda in it to absorb any odors trapped in the bag. I even sprinkle baking soda in my hair. Because the body loses most of its heat from the head, and body heat carries odor, putting the soda in my hair helps to neutralize a tremendous amount of odor as heat escapes from my head. If I know I have a long walk to my stand, I’ll put an extra shirt in a plastic bag with baking soda. When I arrive at my stand, I take-off the shirt I’ve worn in to my hunting site, spray myself down with an odor neutralizer and change shirts. I attempt to neutralize any odor that may spook the deer.”

Click for Larger ViewOnce in her stand, Reaves sprays-down with an odor neutralizer. She also wears rubber boots instead of leather boots, because she believes that leather allows more odors to escape from her feet than rubber does. Because mosquitoes, ticks and redbugs constantly irritate the hot-weather hunter, Reaves uses earth-scented mosquito spray to solve the insect problem and mask the odor of the repellant. “But I don’t use any type of repellant unless I just can’t stand the buzzing of the mosquitoes,” Reaves explains. Since bow season doesn’t begin until October in her home state, Reaves sets-out her tree stands in August. “My husband and I try to have all our stands out by the first of September,” Reaves emphasizes. Click for Larger View“Then the woods have a month to settle-down before deer season starts. Also, our odor will dissipate from any of our stand-site regions before we hunt them. We make sure our stands face different directions. No matter which way the wind blows, we have a stand where we can hunt. We always let wind direction dictate our stand site.”

To learn more about bowhunting deer, see John E. Phillips’ book “The Master’s Secrets of Bowhunting Deer” at http://www.nighthawkpublications.com/hunting/mastersbow.htm.

Tomorrow: Archery Champion Anna Reaves Knows the Importance of Tree Stand Placement and Wind Conditions when Deer Hunting


Check back each day this week for more about "Bow Bucks When the Weather Sizzles "

Day 1: Former Major League Baseball Player Travis Fryman Hunts around Water in Hot-Weather Conditions
Day 2: Former Major League Baseball Player Travis Fryman Confronts Mosquitoes and Snakes While Deer Hunting
Day 3: Archery Champion Anna Reaves Explains the Importance of Odor Control when Deer Hunting
Day 4: Archery Champion Anna Reaves Knows the Importance of Tree Stand Placement and Wind Conditions when Deer Hunting
Day 5: Casey Blum Hunts Warm-Weather Bucks Away from Feeding and Bedding Areas

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Entry 630, Day 3