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How to Prepare Your Deer Hunting Clothes for Deer Hunting
Preparing your hunting clothes has been a heated topic of debate for many years.
Should a deer hunter wash his/her clothes in expensive UV inhibitor detergents and no scent soaps?
Does it matter if a deer hunter, after washing his/her clothes, dries the clothing in their home dryer or should you hang your deer hunting clothing outside to air dry?
Once dry, should you place your deer hunting clothes in a vacuum sealed bag?
In my never ending quest to find out what works best for every deer hunter I tested many different ways to clean my deer hunting clothes and store them for my next hunt.
I will share my tips for preparing your deer hunting clothes in an upcoming newsletter.
Here is what Fred Vorrasi of upstate New York does for his deer hunting clothes every year. It works for him. He always gets his deer.
Good Luck and Great Hunting!
Marty Prokop
Preparing Your Camouflage Deer Hunting Clothing by Fred Vorrasi
I personally get all my camo deer hunting clothes out around mid August and make sure it fits. I suggest you do the same. This will allow you enough time prior to your bow season opener to buy new clothes if need be.
Once you have determined your deer hunting clothes fit, here are 9 steps to prepare your clothes for deer hunting.
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Set your wash machine to its large load setting.
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Set wash cycle for COLD water wash and rinse.
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Fill wash machine with your deer hunting clothes.
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Add two cups of baking soda only and start wash cycle. Do not add any other detergents.
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When the wash cycle has completed, find a shaded area out side to hang a clothes line.
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Be careful that the area you hang the clothes is away from odors such as grills, car exhaust, pet odors, or chemical sprays.
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Hang your clothes outside, out of direct sunlight, for one to three weeks until dry.
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After your clothes have dried outside, place into a thick clear plastic bag containing one to two pine branches, or two apples cut in five to six pieces.
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Seal the bag with a twist tie or if the bag is so equipped, with its zip top type closure.
Placing pine branches or cut apples in the bag will omit a natural odor to your clothing. When you open the bag for the first time after sealing it you can smell that your clothing has been naturally scented.
Through out the season keep placing your clothing in the bag when not in use and place new pine branches or apples every other week. Changing the branches or apples regularly insures the scent on your clothing is strong.
This really works, I bow hunt in NY state hard woods and pine forests and have had great success.
Good luck hunting.
Frontier Fred.
Posted by Marty Prokop
Comments
Last week I put all of my hunting clothes into my huntng bag with cedar branches.
A friend told me that might not work if there are no cedar trees around the area that I hunt at.
There are a lot of oak trees at my hunting place.
So what do I do?
Marcel
Posted by: MARCEL MCLAUGHLIN at September 14, 2007 8:34 PM
Marcel,
Thanks for your question.
Your friend could be correct. If you do not have cedar trees in your hunting location, the unfamiliar scent of cedar branches could alert deer in your area.
Chances are, your deer hunting woods has cedar trees in it and it is a familiar scent to the deer in your area.
To be on the safe side, wash your clothes in pure baking soda. Here are some simple steps to follow:
1.) Make sure you run the washing machine for two complete cycles to clear any detergent residue. Do not add any detergent. Use plain hot water.
2.) Place your hunting clothes in the wash machine and add 1 small box of baking soda. Do not add any detergent.
3.) Set the wash cycle to cold water wash and cold water rinse.
4.) When the wash machine has finished, hang your clothes outside to dry. If you can, hang them in an oak tree.
5.) After your clothes have dried, place them back into your deer hunting bag with 5 to 6 cotton balls saturated with deer scent.
Make sure the deer scent you use matches the season you are hunting. For example, if you are hunting during pre-rut, you would use plain deer urine deer scent for the cotton balls.
If you are hunting during the rut, you may want to use doe-in-heat or dominant buck urine.
Good Luck and Great Hunting!
Marty Prokop
Posted by: Marty Prokop at September 15, 2007 12:19 AM
