Scent Reduction

The first batch of clothes is out of the washer and out on the line. The timing was a bit off-- it's supposed to rain tonight and there's rain in the forecast until Thursday. However, I don't think I'll have too much of a problem.

Although I agree with those who say hunt the wind, and you won't need anything else, here's what I do additionally to cheat:

1) I wash all my clothes in nothing but baking soda. Nothing. Ever. When I'm washing, I run the washer once with nothing but baking soda to clean out whatever stink has accumulated in teh machine.
2) I wash the outer camo layer separate from the inner layers (underwear, etc.)
3) I air dry all my stuff-- almost always on a clothesline outside. Nothing ever sees the inside of a dryer.
4) I pack it all in a trash bag or plastic bin with a handful of baking soda thrown in. I do this sparingly, so there's not all that much to shake out. Inner and outer layers get packed seperately.
5) When I'm hunting, I shower before going out with baking soda. I also use an unscented deoderant.
6) I hunt with an outer layer of camo that never sees the inside of the house.
7) When I'm done hunting, my clothes go back in a separate bag for dirty clothes.
8) I never hunt in the same clothes two days in a row.
9) In warm weather I change the outer layer between the morning and afternoon hunts.

When I'm meticulous in this method, I can be within 20 yards upwind of a whitetail deer, and they won't bust me. If I screw up and wear the same shirt two days in a row, I can be busted from 70 yards down wind or 20 yards upwind of my stand. The deer always let me know when I've screwed up.

It is my belief that UV is a non-issue. A mammalian eyeball built to use the UV spectrum effectively would be useless at visible wavelengths. The UV hype of a few years ago was pure bunk.