Perhaps the hottest, wettest and most bug-infested place in the nation for an early season bowhunter to venture is a Florida swamp. Indeed the Sunshine State’s subtropical swamps are so miserable that many simply wait until the first cool fronts approach before venturing a field.

Shannon – Bug Tamer garments are designed to keep you cool and protect you from biting insects.

Being that I am a Florida bowhunter who has hunted these foreboding locations for over twenty years, I have learned to cope with temperatures that nearly blow the tops off thermometers. Yes, it's hot and, yes, the bugs are relentless, but this time of year is perhaps the most productive time to harvest whitetails in my state and in many other parts of the country. 

Highly preferred soft mast food sources are available for deer this time of year and in some locations, hard mast crops are also available. At no other time are deer less pressured and more predictable to pattern than during the early season. Combine this with the fact that you can take whitetails of either-sex in most states with archery equipment and it is not hard to see why diehard bowhunters venture from the comforts of their air-conditioned homes.

Staying cool and dry, and controlling your scent is a tall order this time of year. However, there are some tricks I have developed that will help you to better control your scent and increase your comfort level on even the hottest of days.

Walking, actual physical exertion is your worst enemy when hunting in hot temperatures. I recall one early season day sitting in my tree stand, after I had walked nearly half a mile to my stand location with a portable tree stand and bow in tow; I thought, “how nice it would be if I could simply magically materialize in my tree stand.” If I didn’t have to walk to get to my stand location, then I wouldn’t be dripping with sweat from head to toe when I arrived. Indeed, reducing the distance you walk from the truck to your stand will dramatically reduce how much you sweat.

Over the years I have recorded the locations of specific soft and hard mast food sources in my hand held GPS. Some are a bit far away but several locations are no more than one or two hundred yards from the truck. I still have to walk to get to these locations, but the distance is very short. Also, I am in no hurry when I walk to these locations. For many, their first instinct is to hurry up and get there before they get sweated up. Sprinting to your stand site is a sure fire way to get over heated. Keeping your heart rate low is paramount.

X Scent socks and boxer shorts will help to keep you cool and odor free on those extremely hot days.

I like to scout early season hunting grounds at least a week or two before the opener. I check out specific GPS recorded food source locations that were productive in past years. I trim low hanging branches off trees and clip small shrubs and other vegetation at ground level along the trail I plan to use to enter my chosen stand locations. I do this for several reasons. First of all, I am not walking far from the truck so it is not much work to do this. Trimming an easy access trail means I won’t have to bend, contort and step around obstacles on the way to my stand; this will get you overheated in a hurry. Thirdly, if I do sweat, I won’t be rubbing up against vegetation and leaving a stinky human scent trail all the way to my stand site. With some preplanning you should have several pegged food source locations that are a short distance from the truck and obstacle free access trails to reach them.

A magnified view of silver fibers contained in X-Static textile fabric.

To further reduce physical exertion and the sweat that comes with it, take with you only what is absolutely necessary. Ideally, if you can pre-hang a lock-on style tree stand, then you can dramatically reduce the weight you are carrying by twenty to thirty pounds or more. If theft is an issue and you must carry in a portable stand, then perhaps look into some of the lightweight models available that employ carbon construction technology, such as those produced by Ol’Man Tree Stands. Stand locations should be well thought out in advance. A shady spot is a must. Sitting in a direction that is facing the sun is a great way to burn up in a hurry. Even on extremely hot days, sitting motionless in the shade is tolerable. Also, be sure to take along a canteen of frozen water. Drinking cold fluids will help cool the body and keep you hydrated.

X Scent under garments (socks and boxers) are essential to control scent in the foot and groin areas of the body. These trouble spots harbor odor-causing bacteria due to the relatively moist environment that exists in these areas. When the pure silver fibers contained in and on the surface of the X Scent under garments come in contact with electrically charged salt-water on your skin, tiny trace amounts of silver are released; these “Silver Ions” in turn destroy odor-causing bacteria. Basically, the moment you don X Scent clothing, your skin is bathed with tiny particles of human safe pure silver, which effectively eliminates stinky gas producing anaerobic bacteria. Silver also binds with odor causing denatured proteins and ammonia (a stinky non-organic compound produced by bacteria) and effectively neutralizes them. Charged silver ions (Ag+) bind strongly to ammonia molecules (NH3) and forms “silver ammonia complex ions” (Ag(NH3)2+). The resulting complex ions are odorless.

How you dress on 90-degree plus days will greatly determine your comfort level. Because it is both hot and buggy where I hunt, I use Shannon – Bug Tamer camouflage clothing. The cool open-air construction and total bug protection afforded is second to none. I wear only boxer shorts under the Bug Tamer pants and I wear nothing under the long sleeve hooded jacket. The open-air construction of these garments allow the body’s perspiration to quickly evaporate and the slightest breeze can pass through the clothing and keep your skin feeling cool. I like to wear pant bottoms and boots and nothing else when I walk to my stand. This means no shirt. By not wearing a shirt on the way to your stand, you allow your skin to breathe and any perspiration produced can quickly evaporate. I carry or lash my Bug Tamer jacket to my portable stand in tow and put it on after I climb my tree. Bugs are generally not an issue on the way in because I am constantly in motion from the moment I leave the truck to the time I settle in to my stand site. My wife has scolded me about this technique for a number of years. She often says, “you are going to get poison ivy if you don’t wear a shirt when you walk through the woods.” This is not an issue though. Remember, you trimmed an entrance trail to your stand and therefore you should not touch a single branch of vegetation on your way in.

I also wear non-insulated knee-high rubber boots. Knee-high rubber boots are a bit warm but again, I am not walking very far in them and they are vital for controlling human odor. After I reach my stand and get settled in for the hunt, I remove my boots and hang them on the back of my stand. That’s right; I hunt in my socks with my boots off. You will be much more comfortable if you remove your boots on hot days. Your feet will be cool but what about your scent? The traditional thought is that wearing rubber boots helps to control your scent both on the way to your stand and while you are in your stand. I carry a tiny spray bottle of scent elimination spray with me. When I take off my boots, I douse my feet with the spray, which soon evaporates. This past year, I started using Arctic Shield’s new pure silver fiber containing X-Scent brand socks. Now I don’t have to spray down my feet with an odor eliminator spray. The boxer shorts that I wear under my Bug Tamer pants also carry the X-Scent brand name. The pure silver technology used in X Scent clothing works harmoniously with the salty moisture on your skin. In fact the more you sweat the better the technology works to destroy odor- causing bacteria. X Scent socks and boxer shorts also help to keep my feet and groin area cool since the silver contained in them conducts heat away from the surface of my skin. Now all I have to do is apply a small amount of scent free bug spray to my feet to keep the bugs from biting through the socks. Try this trick and you will never again wear your boots in your tree stand on those extremely hot days.

Although you will stay cooler by wearing a Shannon - Bug Tamer garment, the open-air construction does little to control your human scent. In fact, I admit the garment likely allows more scent to escape from the body than any other garment. I would wear a full X Scent suit if blood-sucking mosquitoes were not an issue. For me, my comfort and protection from bugs reins over odor-control. However, if you hunt in an area that is hot but lacks biting flies, then a full body X Scent suit should be your first choice.

Some scent control fanatics will bite the bullet and wear an activated carbon based garment in the early season. However, I advise you to forget this idea. These garments will make you sweat worse than anything, especially in hot weather conditions. You will be miserably wet and the activated carbon contained in these garments is rendered useless when exposed to moisture from perspiration anyway. Activated carbon adsorbs many different compounds and one of them is water. Both liquid and gaseous forms of water are adsorbed by activated carbon. The moment you don an activated carbon garment, the activated carbon not only starts adsorbing stinky gasses, it also starts adsorbing water vapor (gas) that is constantly being released through your skin. To demonstrate this, take a plastic bag and wrap it tightly around your hand and walk around with it for about ten minutes. Water vapor released from your skin on your hand has nowhere to go and soon you will have a hand that is soaking wet. It is astonishing how much moisture escapes through the skin even when you are not engaged in physical exercise. If you out-right sweat liquid water (perspiration) and the garment with activated carbon contained within becomes wet, then the adsorption effectiveness of the activated carbon is rendered utterly useless. Surface tension and capillary action principles will cause the entire activated carbon particle to become totally encapsulated by liquid water droplets, which creates a liquid barrier to stinky gasses. Unless stinky gasses can come in contact with activated carbon particles, adsorption will not occur. It is as simple as that.

By the way, this is a scientific fact. Regardless what the marketing ploy of activated carbon based garments indicate, activated carbon will not effectively adsorb stinky gasses when it is wet. In fact, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers activated carbon related document titled “Adsorption Design Guide, Design Guide No. DG1110-1-2”, states that, “Relative humidity above 50 percent may result in adsorbed and condensed water vapor blocking the pores of the particles and interfering with the diffusion of the contaminants to the adsorption pores”. So if you wear this specialty clothing in the field where relative humidity conditions are above 50%, or if you sweat, then watch out. Additionally, no matter what the relative humidity conditions are on the day of your hunt, if you don this special clothing and start walking to your stand, this mild physical exertion will cause your body to release a copious amount of water vapor resulting in, or exceeding a relative humidity condition of 50% between your skin and the garment. By the time you reach your stand it is likely the activated carbon contained in the garment will be saturated with water vapor and thus rendered useless.

Human odor control starts at home before the hunt. Xtreme Scents offer a full line of odor free personal hygiene products. Wash hunting clothes and rubber boots in scent free soap and store them in an odor proof bag or container. Showering with scent free soap will substantially reduce the population of odor causing bacteria on the surface of your skin. Also, be sure to apply scent free deodorant under the arms.

Here is what I do to increase my comfort level and further control my scent on extremely hot days: The night before my hunt, I take a dark green or brown colored hand towel, the kind you use in a kitchen or a bathroom and I soak it in a bowl of water with a tablespoon of Arm & Hammer baking soda mixed in. I gently ring out the wet hand towel - not completely - and then fold it up into a little square. Next, I place the damp baking soda containing towel into a zip-lock bag and place it in my freezer. When it is time to go hunting, I remove it from the freezer and place it in my fanny pack. This is the last thing I do before I leave the house.

By the time I reach my stand location my frozen hand towel is partially thawed. After I climb my tree and before I don my Bug Tamer jacket, I drop my Bug Tamer trousers and even my boxer shorts to my ankles, and thoroughly wipe down my entire body from head to toe with my cold, frosty wet hand towel. Don’t try this trick at work! Also, check the hunting regulations in your area to ensure this technique is legal. Seriously, as “fanatical” as this may sound, don’t knock it until you try it. Instantly, your skin surface is cooled and you will feel shower fresh.

The local diner is a great place to eat and socialize with friends but should be avoided before the hunt. Eat breakfast at home before you bathe. Also, take your hunting clothes and boots with you and dress in the field. This preventative odor control step is very important. You don’t want your clothes and boots to smell like the inside of a pick-up truck.

Any odors generated on the surface of your skin are either wiped away or they are controlled by the wet baking soda that is applied. Baking soda, also known as Sodium Bicarbonate, neutralizes odors chemically. Most unpleasant odors come from compounds that are either strong acids or strong bases, both of which are affected by baking soda. Baking soda deodorizes by bringing both acidic and alkaline odor molecules into a neutral pH, odor-free state. After I wipe down with my cold, wet hand towel, I seal it back into my zip-lock bag and stow it in my fanny pack. Once I pull up my Bug Tamer trousers and don my Bug Tamer jacket, I settle into my shady spot and the hunt begins. Within minutes after wiping down and dressing, the cool moisture on my skin evaporates and I am left feeling dry and comfortable. On extremely hot days I may take two frozen hand towels with me. Halfway through my hunt I will take a two-minute break and use the second towel to freshen up and further control odor. These towels weigh almost nothing and will greatly enhance your comfort level.

Employ these keep cool scent control tricks this season. With a little planning, you can stay dry, comfortable and relatively scent free during those early season bowhunts. Good Hunting.

Biologist and environmentalist Michael Corrigan is an avid bow hunter and enjoys educating other bow hunters.