Hunting season is upon us. That means its time to get your equipment ready for whatever game you hunt.
Depending on where you reside, some seasons are already open. For this area, the month-long nonmigratory Canada goose season is open through the end of September and a few wildlife management areas have a two week special deer season.
Let’s start with your hunting clothing. Hopefully, you washed it all at the end of last season and stored it away where it wouldn’t get moth eaten or whatever.
First things first, dig it all out and check to make sure it all still fits and serviceable. Now is the time to figure out if the zippers all still work and you can actually get it zipped up, not at 0430 on opening day as you’re heading to your stand or blind.
The next step is to launder it. I recommend you use a detergent with no added scents or UV brighteners. Most game animals see in the UV spectrum, and clothes washed in detergent with brighteners will stand out to them. I like Sport Wash, but there are many good detergents that don’t contain brighteners.
While we’re on the subject of detergents, at this stage I wouldn’t worry too much about cover scents. Just be sure there isn’t any fragrance in your detergent. You can worry about scents and such later. Like when your clothes are clean and dry.
I store my hunting gear in a dedicated tote with a sealing lid. After the preseason wash, it all goes back into that tote. I usually toss a couple of pine or spruce boughs in there with all my gear. The scent from the boughs is a good natural cover scent, though id you don’t hunt in an area with that kind of tree, it may not work for you.
As far as cover scents and odor eliminators go, I don’t use them besides the above. Do they work? I don’t know. I have seen evidence that they don’t, but, if it’s something you have confidence in go for it. They cant hurt.
I don’t use many attractant scents either. There was a time when I did a lot of bow hunting and I used a lot of different attractant scents then. However here in NY, the archery season for deer coincides with the rut generally, and the gun season, at least in the area I hunt, does not. So attractants aren’t nearly important or effective.
If you are a bow hunter, you should have been practicing all summer. If you haven’t, shame on you, archery is a highly perishable skill that requires constant honing. Anyway, get your bow tuned up well before the season. That gives you a bit of time to shoot it before the season both to fine tune your aim and to make sure everything still works the way it should. Be sure to shoot some of the broadheads you intend to hunt with. The may fly quite a bit differently than your field points. And don’t forget to sharpen the cutting edges on your broadheads. Dull ones don’t do the job the way sharp ones do.
Now for you gun hunters, and it doesn’t matter if you’re going after big game, small game or birds, pull out you gun and give it a good scrub and a once over for loose screws, broken parts and other deficencies. Just for reference, scope base screws should be loctited and torqued to 20-25 inch pounds and ring screws should be torqued to 18 inch pounds.
Hopefully you have the ammo you need. It looks like its going to be another tough season for hunting ammo, although supply seems to be loosening up some.
If you’re shotgunning, a simple function check should be all you need to do. Load up your magazine tube and let a few rounds fly just to make sure everything works as expected.
For you riflemen out there, it’s time for a trip to the range to check your zero. With the ammo situation being what it is, do not assume the (whatever caliber or manufacturer) ammo you find on the shelf will shoot to the same point of aim/point of impact the (whatever weight or manufacturer) ammo you used last year. It likely will not.
I can, and likely will, write an entire article on how to zero a rifle, but this isn’t the place for that.