1.) Swamp Fox - 07/23/2017

Take a listen to a recent interview with John Eberhart, who some of you might know from books, articles and DVDs. A lot of his hunting style won't be for everyone, but there is enough good info here that is transferable to make it worth some time. It's a bit long, so settle in. You should take it to the end. The guy's impressive.

I've listened to Episode 159, which is # 167 on the scroll for some reason, and will get to Episode 62 (#62) shortly. That one was done a while back. I've read one or possibly two of his books, and they're worthwhile if you're looking for reading material and have an open mind.

[url]http://wiredtohunt.com/[/url]

2.) luv2bowhunt - 07/25/2017

Lots of good info in there, but yes, very long Chris. I'm talking directly to you because no one else will be reading this.


But a couple things jumped out at me. One, he never plays the wind, doesn't worry about it. Because "he never gets busted by deer". I find that very hard to believe. Even Carbon suits have a limit to how much they can adsorb until they get "clogged" or "filled up". It's not a bottomless pit of carbon with an unlimited reservoir for human scent. You would have to have new carbon every year or even twice a year depending on how much you hunted.

And he said he knows how to take care of carbon clothes unlike everyone else. LOL, wonder what break through technology he's invented for taking care of the clothes.



But, he has a ton of useful info for us poor souls who are hunting public land.

3.) Swamp Fox - 07/25/2017

I'm not sure it came through that well in the podcast, but he's usually hunting 25-30 up. That's the impression I get, anyway. That helps a whole lot, LOL

And I, too, would like to know what the secret is to taking care of the ScentLok. I haven't poked around on this very much, but I'll bet good money he relies heavily on an ozone cleaner. If I get a chance I'll flip through the book(s) I have. Ozone became a "thing" after publication, I'm pretty sure, but it's worth a peek.

He also takes very close shots, so maybe I'll find whatever he has to say about shot angles.

4.) luv2bowhunt - 07/25/2017

He touched on one thing that I'm learning more and more. Stay out of the best spots near bedding areas, until late Oct. It really does no good to educate doe to where you're hunting, before the bucks are even moving around during daylight.

My early season strategy now is to sit in an observation stand that is designed more for learning how deer use the land than anything else. No sense ruining the precious few good stands near doe bedding areas that I've found, when there are so many other hunters just waiting to ruin them for you.

This is nice, having a quiet place where 2 friends can talk, not worrying about being bothered by others. Like a hidden bench in the corner of the municipal park no one ever goes to.

5.) bluecat - 07/25/2017

[QUOTE=luv2bowhunt;50330]Lots of good info in there, but yes, very long Chris. I'm talking directly to you because no one else will be reading this. [/QUOTE]


:tap:

6.) Swamp Fox - 07/25/2017

LOL... That's a little pervy...

7.) Swamp Fox - 07/25/2017

[QUOTE=luv2bowhunt;50332]

This is nice, having a quiet place where 2 friends can talk, not worrying about being bothered by others. Like a hidden bench in the corner of the municipal park no one ever goes to.[/QUOTE]


LOL...That's a little pervy...

8.) Swamp Fox - 07/25/2017

[QUOTE=luv2bowhunt;50332]He touched on one thing that I'm learning more and more. Stay out of the best spots near bedding areas, until late Oct. It really does no good to educate doe to where you're hunting, before the bucks are even moving around during daylight.

[/QUOTE]





I think I have to learn that lesson as well. And hunt more edges and fewer deep holes.

9.) Swamp Fox - 07/25/2017

The observation stand thing is a good point. Like hunting "from the outside in."

10.) Swamp Fox - 07/25/2017

This reminds me to call the WRC and see if they're going to close some gates that were always closed before, except that I found that they had opened them this past turkey season. I don't know what they've been doing during the last few deer seasons since I haven't set foot over there in quite a while. It was a decent place and close to home, but it went downhill some time ago for a variety of reasons. Past time to try to replace it, I think.

11.) Swamp Fox - 07/26/2017

I got out my Eberhart books this evening and skimmed the relevant chapters and read the section on Activated Carbon Clothing in the "Scent Control" chapter of [I]Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails[/I] (2003). There's no mention of ozone machines, particularly not for cleaning the clothes. Just the normal advice about using a clothes dryer, following manufacturers' directions, storing in airtight containers, not wearing the clothes unless you're hunting, etc. There's not much about this type of thing in [I]Precision Bowhunting[/I] (2005) at all.

12.) luv2bowhunt - 07/26/2017

No big news there. If you listened close to the podcast, he said he never reads anyone else's articles and he never watches hunting shows. So how does he know he does the carbon clothes different than everyone else??

:cf:

13.) Jon - 07/26/2017

Always mister negative, no wonder only Swampy has time for you.......Maybe you ought to get a few dozen cats

14.) Swamp Fox - 07/26/2017

Yeah, I picked up on the "Cone of Isolation" thing, too. I'm sure he has *some* idea of what other people are saying and doing. For instance, he seems to know enough about TV hunting to know it's not done in pressured areas, LOL. He's into the "Drury Challenge" type thing, by the way, LOL. In fact, he's a potential sponsor. :wink

I can give some examples of how reading certain things back in my salad days gave me a false sense of how things might unfold.

15.) Swamp Fox - 07/26/2017

I listened to Episode 62 of the podcast last night, BTW. I'd say equally as worthwhile as the other one.

16.) luv2bowhunt - 07/26/2017

I'll check it out. Thanks.

17.) luv2bowhunt - 07/27/2017

OK, just read an article in Aug. D&DH by Eberhart. He's not doing anything different with the carbon clothes from what I read. He states that an independent study was done during the ScentLok lawsuit in 2012 and that provided evidence that carbon clothes work and they CAN be regenerated in your home dryer.

He says that he takes care of his clothes, keeps them locked away in a scent proof container, wearing them only when he hunts. Also he does all the usual stuff with the rest of your gear, spraying down, washing everything you can in scent free wash etc.

But he said places on your body with hair can be a breeding ground for your scent. So you should shave your beard and your armpits. He didn't mention your head or your..........um......you know where. Not sure I'm going to take the plunge and get waxed and look like Mr. Clean to go bowhunting.

You can't argue with his success though.

18.) Jon - 07/27/2017

Luv2, imagine the photo op if you just came clean....so to speak :wink

19.) Swamp Fox - 07/27/2017

LOL...

I'm flipping back and forth between his two books mentioned above, and also doing some reading on the blog he's been writing for ScentLok lately, which he claims he's not being paid to do. (I'm not trying to insinuate anything there, just sayin'.)

Contrary to what I said previously, I did find some discussion of ScentLok care in [I]Precision Bowhunting[/I] hidden away in the chapter on his game plan for June, July and August. The book is laid out as a year-long look at his preparations and his hunting strategies and tactics. This period is grouped together, whereas the rest of the book is month-to-month.

Apparently, summer is the time to take care of your ScentLok, if you didn't do it right after the season ended. This is because Eberhart is getting ready to "speed tour" some of his areas in late August, to make minor final preparations like trimming summer growth and checking for fruit and mast, and he does this in full scent-control mode.

He goes out in the middle of the day rather than in the cooler mornings, so as to avoid deer moving early and late. I'd burn up just standing in the shade if I were wearing ScentLok in August, forget about doing any work-- even in the mornings--but God bless him.

No earth-shattering clothing care notes in this section either, but I think it's worth mentioning that in this book I picked up that he feels if you're not in "full ScentLok" you're doing it wrong. This means the gloves and head cover, in addition to the outer layers. I'm not sure ScentLok makes underwear, but if they do, he's wearing it. I haven't seen him mention it, but I believe SL also offers a mouth cover. He uses a ScentLok backpack for hunting, and his son mentions going back to his car to change into his "hunting ScentLok" from his "scouting ScentLok" when he got the feeling he should be hunting a particular property right then, when he had gone out merely to check a place he hadn't been in a while. (It was September and the original plan was to prep for early-to-mid November.)

20.) luv2bowhunt - 07/27/2017

That's my take too, he's covered up with the stuff whenever he's hunting or prepping, except during Winter scouting.

I can't see me wearing it in Aug. or Sept. when I'm hanging stands or checking cameras. 90+ deg. and 75 deg. dewpoint, I can barely handle it in shorts and tee shirt.

I guess that's why he has all those p & y bucks from public land and I only have 2.

21.) Swamp Fox - 07/27/2017

Well, to be fair to you, he does hunt a lot of private land. I don't know the ratios, but I suspect it's a bit more private than public. He spends a lot of time talking about how to get permission and maintain relationships, and he's been doing it a long time.

Also, I suspect his dedication (including entry and exit strategies, getting in early and staying late), the way he works to pick the right time to hunt the right way, and what I take as his reluctance (at a minimum) to hunt somewhere he can walk to without boating, wading or crawling are more important than the ScentLok. I mentioned he hunts high, 25-30 feet. He actually mentions that 35 is fairly routine. You can get away with a lot up there, especially since he's setting up for close shots.

22.) luv2bowhunt - 07/27/2017

8 yd shot is tough because of the angle from 20' up. Can't imagine trying it from 35 ft.

23.) Swamp Fox - 07/27/2017

Yeah, and I haven't seen him go into that anywhere.

24.) DParker - 07/27/2017

[QUOTE=luv2bowhunt;50433]8 yd shot is tough because of the angle from 20' up. Can't imagine trying it from 35 ft.[/QUOTE]

I don't do tree stands, and I don't think I'd like an 8 yd shot from even 20' up...but I don't know if the difference between that and 35' up is as dramatic as it sounds at first. At 20' elevation you're shooting ~10.4 yds at an angle of ~40° below horizontal. Even at that close distance the margin for error is significantly smaller than with a more-or-less horizontal shot. At 35' up your angle is ~56° and the distance increases to ~14 yds. A worse shot, to be sure. But the shot at 20' up is already bad enough that I don't know that the situation at 35' is is so much worse that it would significantly alter my shoot/no shoot decision.

But I hunt from the ground, so I'm viewing this from a purely theoretical perspective and could be way off on my assessment of the difference between those shots, even if just from a psychological perspective.

25.) luv2bowhunt - 07/27/2017

My big problem with the close shots is making sure you don't drop your bow arm. An 8 yd shot at 20' has you bent quite a bit at the waist. That same shot at 35' would have me bent in half, something would probably snap.

I'll take your word that it's a 56 deg. angle. That would probably feel like 90 deg. to me at this age.

26.) Swamp Fox - 07/27/2017

No, I agree with your point. Minimum height for 90% of my hunting is an estimated 24.5 feet to the platform, and it's more likely to be at least 25. Even with a "low stand" (20 feet) I don't want my anticipated shot 10 yards from the tree. One thing is the kill angle, and the other is shooting looking almost straight down to the ground.

Homey has enough problems shooting from a standing position on a small platform without also bending toward the ground and leaning out while looking through a small peep from two and a half or three storeys up.

27.) Wild Bob - 07/27/2017

I hate to admit this, but since I'm among us fence posts - the biggest buck (whitetail) I've ever had a chance to kill with bow, I missed on a close shot like that. :re:

It's not an easy shot IMHO.

28.) Swamp Fox - 07/27/2017

Hell, I missed a shot like that with a RIFLE...LOL

29.) DParker - 07/27/2017

[QUOTE=Swamp Fox;50448]Hell, I missed a shot like that with a RIFLE...LOL[/QUOTE]

Maybe you didn't throw it hard enough?

30.) Swamp Fox - 07/27/2017

That's an explanation I hadn't thought of!

Thanks!

:p