Stand Still and Don’t Smell (Part One)

Whether you go into the woods with a gun or a camera, there are are two basic rules which cover the clandestine observation of wildlife: stand still and don’t smell.

Not smelling is the easier of the two.  The first thing is not to leave the house smelling like a cocktail of herbs, spices, and tropical fruit.  Use unscented soaps, shampoos, and antiperspirant-deodorants.  The second is to wash your hunting clothes in an odour removing, UV brightener free, detergent.  The third is to wear a scent eliminating base layer (tech speak for underwear).  The fourth is to spray your outer layer with scent eliminator, paying particular attention to usual places where the body tends to be warmer.  Spray scent eliminators come with or with out a covering scent.  I use one without a covering scent on my clothing and one with a scent on my boots and pack.

Of course, all of the above merely reduces and obscures the evidence of your presence carried on the zephyr.  It will not make you completely odourless; you still have to pay attention to wind direction.  However, on a still day or in a light breeze, it will make the difference between a deer stopping to nose the air and an erect white tail rapidly getting smaller as its owner bounds off into the distance.

About Tweed and Briar

I am the pastor of a rather conservative rural congregation. My interests alongside of work are hunting, fly fishing, cooking, and life in an agricultural community. By way of family, I have a wife and two children: a daughter and a son. I am of indeterminate age because my wife is a bit younger than I am and my son is ages with some of my friends’ grandchildren. However, to say that I slip smoothly among the generations would imply an agility which I no longer possess. I aspire to the genteel poverty of the country manse.
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