HOW TO TAKE HOT-WEATHER BUCKS

Solve Hot-Weather Hunting Problems

Editor's Note: Biologists know the old adage that bucks don't move in hot weather isn't true. Bucks have to feed, bed and get water, regardless of the temperature. Bucks just move very little in hot weather. As the world experiences global warming, we'll have to learn how to hunt for hot-weather bucks during bow season. You can bag bucks with your bow in hot weather. The sportsmen interviewed this week hunt primarily in the Deep South for at least three or four months under hot-weather conditions each year and consistently bag their bucks every season.

All hot-weather hunters have problems controlling their human odor. If they walk 50 yards in 80- to 90-degree weather and climb up a tree, they will perspire. Regardless of what substance they've bathed with or washed their clothes in, their perspiration more than likely will penetrate those odor barriers. Let's see how hunters solve these problems.

They.
* wash their clothes in unscented soap.
* hang their clothes on a line, and let rain water fall on them.
* powder their feet, their socks and the insides of their knee-high rubber boots with odor eliminators.
* put an odor-neutralizer powder in their gloves and hats;
* wear camouflage pants, shirt, hat, headnet and gloves to blend in with the terrain they'll hunt and shoot a camouflaged bow. I like to mix and match my camo surroundings. If I hunt flooded timber, I'll wear one type of camo. If I hunt high in a tree stand, I'll put on camo to match the green of the leaves in the tops of the trees.
* carry backpacks with large Ziploc bags holding extra shirts and hats into their tree stands.
* remove their shirts and hats before climbing into their tree stands.
* spray their entire bodies with an odor neutralizer.
* spray themselves again with a light coat of odor neutralizer once in their trees.
* wear full headnets and gloves rather than using insect spray which may spook deer, unless they've used an earth-scent spray.
* carry a pair of ratchet cutters to prune limbs to move through thick cover and try not to touch any limbs or bushes as they go from their vehicles to their stands.