Not Over Until it’s Over

I HAVE A QUESTION.

Is your freezer full yet? If not, there’s no reason to panic. You still have time to fill your tag. Not a lot of time, but enough.

This game we call hunting is still going on. You just have to change the way you have been playing if you want to win.

Any deer hunter worth his salt already knows that keeping your scent to a minimum is paramount. But sometimes, as the season progresses, hunters get a little lazy in that department.

Pre- season, you take the time needed to wash your clothes in a scent-free soap. You hang them on the line to air them out, keep them in a container until you get to your hunting location, and are very careful to pay attention to the wind direction.

However, after waking up at oh-dark-thirty for many mornings and putting long hours in your stand, you get weary and do not put as much effort in scent control. You are just hungry for that buck you saw in the beginning of the season.

That’s a huge mistake many hunters make. As the days roll on by, the hunting does not get any easier. As a matter of fact, it gets harder. The bucks have had an education.

Human scent has been in their living room. I would even go so far as to say some bucks have stood still in the shadows watching frustrated hunters as they leave the woods. Many times, after a long hunt with no deer sightings at all, a hunter will climb out of his stand and just head for the car not thinking about the noise they make or the wind direction.

One of the biggest mistakes a hunter can make is checking his trail cameras too many times. Again, early morning brings promise that a successful hunt will happen.

However, after the hunt, many will go to a camera or cameras to see what deer are in the area, leaving human scent everywhere. December is not the time to be doing that.

How many hunters hunt from the same couple of stands all season long? When you put them up, the area looked great, and it probably was. But after a few hunts the deer know where those stands are and make no mistake, deer DO look up.

As you made those mistakes I spoke of, the whitetails learned they are being hunted and are now avoiding the area where they know you are.

I have said before that the best time to score on a whitetail is the first time you hunt from a particular stand. That still holds true. That’s why you should find a new location in the lease you’re hunting.

The deer are still there. You just need to take the time to find them. Then place a stand in a brand new spot—one where the deer are not accustomed to seeing humans.

Obviously, you cannot put a ladder stand up because the bucks will spot that new furniture in their living room, but if you can hunt out of a hang-on stand, then I think it is VERY possible to score on an unsuspecting animal.

I was invited once on a bow hunt in Indiana with Nathan Jones. At that time, Nathan had an outdoor hunting television show called Wild Extremes.

The first few nights, we saw deer, but no slammers that he could use for his show. We talked about it over dinner and Nathan had the answer. He was planning on hanging two new stands in a different area that he scouted on the way back to our camp—one for me and one for the cameraman.

Sounded good to me, except he was going out at midnight to place the stands in the blanket of darkness. I thought we would spook all the deer in the woods, but Nathan assured me that the deer were not in the woods at that hour. Instead, they were in the fields, feeding and chasing does.

After just a few hours of sleep, I showered, got in my hunting gear that was in my container in the truck and headed for that stand. The cameraman was a little higher than I was and I followed him up the tree. Once settled in the stands, we waited for the approach of dawn.

At first light, an eight pointer and a 12-pointer jumped a fence and stood broadside. The eight-point did not offer a shot, but the 12 stood there in perfect position. He never knew he was about to have a bad day.

My point here is that the very first time you hunt a spot is your best chance of scoring on a nice deer—as long as you pay close attention to your scent control and the wind direction.

One thing that I have found that REALLY hides your scent is an Ozonics machine. I usually use the Ozonics garment bag the night before to hide any scent on my clothes. Then I charge the battery to full power for the morning hunt.

A full charge will last about seven hours if you choose to use the high mode. It will last a little longer on standard mode. Believe me, this works, and it works well.

When I tested it, I placed it so that the deer would be directly downwind of me. Four deer were in the field, and not one of them caught my scent. I even had one of them walk right under my stand.

I let a friend of mine borrow it for a hunt, and he told me a nice buck never caught his scent. Amazing.

I have had friends tell me that the Ozonics is a little pricey. All I can say is, you spend your good money on the best bow or gun, the best tree stands, the best camo, trail cameras and any other aid you may use while hunting. This is the one thing that you should always have when you hunt for deer.

Remember, it’s not over until it’s over. Stay focused and good luck.

Have fun and hunt safe.

 

Email Lou Marullo at ContactUs@fishgame.com

 

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