# Washing your gear



## olibooger (Feb 13, 2019)

Technical clothing isnt cheap and needs special care beyond day to day clothes. Even if hunt clothing comes from Wal-Mart or passed down from uncle Billy, it needs to not smell.
I bought a dead down wind kit that came with dryer sheets, wash solution, in field scent away spray, an "aftermath" kit for cleaning an animal and a few other things. The price for the mix of contents to try was good enough for me to do just that, try it. I have since ran out and KUIU suggests Grangers at $20 a bottle. I'm all for the best stuff I can afford but I have a feeling there are a few cheap tricks to getting clothes cleaned and scent free at a more economical price point for the average hunter.

How do the manliest of men care for their clothes?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

I try to keep myself and my clothes downwind of the critters.


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## KalebReese (Sep 5, 2016)

Before the hunt wash clothes with any fragrance free detergent (check in baby aisle) then store in vacuum bags with baking soda and evergreen leaves and suck all the air out. While on the hunt put your clothes in a large trash bag with baking soda and shake around for a couple minutes then hang above a low fire and smother the fire with evergreen leaves to make a thick smoke. I’ve did this my whole life and it works great on whitetails.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

wyogoob said:


> I try to keep myself and my clothes downwind of the critters.


This. Smells shouldn't matter, generally.

-DallanC


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## olibooger (Feb 13, 2019)

I fell upon the baking soda thing last night. Didnt even think of it until then. It works on so much other stuff it makes sense it would wash well. Putting it in with a travel tote or trash bag is a good idea.

And yeah, paying attention to the wind staying downwind on the hunt is the best protocol. Maybe I'll take KUIU up on the Grangers to keep the product healthy and just focus on being a better hunter downwind of the target.


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## Airborne (May 29, 2009)

Ya might be overthinking this one. 

I generally hate the smell of any perfumes, scents, really anything. I use Tide free and gentle soap for my clothes, dial unscented bar soap for body washing, and arm&hammer unscented deodorant. Not sure if any of this helps in the big game hunting department but none of it smells and it won't break the bank anymore than regular hygiene items.

When I was younger and liked to fuss about stuff more than I do now I would take chlorophyll tablet supplements before and during the bowhunt and also cut down my meat intake as I wanted to smell like a herbivore. I'm not sure it helped much.

Focus on the important stuff: Time afield, physical fitness, weapons proficiency, good gear, and a positive attitude and you will do fine. Not to say that fussing about small stuff isn't fun because it can be :grin:


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

I'm a duck hunter, the only thing I keep clean is my gun.....:smile:


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

olibooger said:


> Technical clothing isnt cheap and needs special care beyond day to day clothes. Even if hunt clothing comes from Wal-Mart or passed down from uncle Billy, it needs to not smell.
> I bought a dead down wind kit that came with dryer sheets, wash solution, in field scent away spray, an "aftermath" kit for cleaning an animal and a few other things. The price for the mix of contents to try was good enough for me to do just that, try it. I have since ran out and KUIU suggests Grangers at $20 a bottle. I'm all for the best stuff I can afford but I have a feeling there are a few cheap tricks to getting clothes cleaned and scent free at a more economical price point for the average hunter.
> 
> How do the manliest of men care for their clothes?


The biggest thing to remember with the Grangers stuff is that it isn't so much about smell/odor/cleanliness as it is about restoring the waterproofing/resistance.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

KalebReese said:


> Before the hunt wash clothes with any fragrance free detergent (check in baby aisle) then store in vacuum bags with baking soda and evergreen leaves and suck all the air out. While on the hunt put your clothes in a large trash bag with baking soda and shake around for a couple minutes then hang above a low fire and smother the fire with evergreen leaves to make a thick smoke. I've did this my whole life and it works great on whitetails.


What if you aren't hunting in an area with little to no evergreens? Then you just smell like something that is out of place again, right? If I do the same thing with sage brush, then head into the high country, I'm just another out of place smelly bush again.

I am in the camp of those that think some of this is waaaaaaaaay overthinking the situation. I use the same detergent for my hunting gear as I do for everything else. I assure you that no matter what I do, I will have odors that are not "natural" for a deer or elk. So I believe the in the field techniques of utilizing the wind to your advantage will have much more effect than the detergent you use or what you spray on your body and clothes before you leave the trail head will ever have.


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## Kwalk3 (Jun 21, 2012)

For mountain hunting, I think paying attention to scent-free stuff is a losing battle. 

But the Granger stuff, or other performance detergents are worth it for restoring the DWR treatment and breathability of technical fabrics, as Johnnycake made mention of.

I've used some Nikwax Wool Wash for my merino base layers and generally use a granger type wash for any of my DWR treated technical clothing.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

There are times that I wonder how we killed anything out in the wilds years ago. Way before all this fancy camo, scent free, no UV stuff. The closest that I have ever been to a elk was a arm length away. It had no idea that I was there, that is until I reached out and touched her. (do not do this) And as for deer I have crawled to within 5' of one just watching what I was doing and coming in from down wind. 

When I was bow hunting I would just wash my clothes in ordinary laundry detergent, but I will let it hand outside to get all those BBQ, smoke, neighbors dog and whatever else smells on it and have no problems getting close to animals.


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## Jedidiah (Oct 10, 2014)

With all due respect, while technically it was before the no-UV stuff it was also before the UV stuff. While there isn't full definitive proof that deer and elk can see UV brighteners there sure have been a lot of studies on it, which says to me that there is something to the idea.

You're certainly better at it than some of us who have only been doing it a couple years, we need all the help we can get.


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## Aznative (May 25, 2018)

Ive recently just been using the dead down wind. Washing before a hunt then tossing the clothes in a air tight dry bag. And the non scent dial soap is good as well. I only do those things to ease my mind of anything however as others said you gotta play the wind. For example I chew tobacco. Guarantee I can de scent any and everything but animals would smell that anyways. So ive personally taken the extra hour even a couple miles out of way to just get the wind right on bull hunts.


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## Jedidiah (Oct 10, 2014)

I use that too but I also smoke pipe tobacco and it is amazing how many animals seem to actually be drawn by the scent. Maybe it's the Cavendish. It turns out UV brighteners have been in use since the sixties, I kinda wonder how individual uses and practices might affect them though. Do some guys wash at the beginning of the season and then just do a baking soda treatment after? Maybe the baking soda affects the ability of the fluorescing agents to convert UV light to visible light. Some fabrics don't work as efficiently with UV brighteners as others also. I'm just saying there might be some not uncommon cases where they are actually affecting your visibility.


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

I use whatever detergent the wife has procured. I don’t use the fabric softener sheets when washing my hunting clothes and I select the extra rinse cycle on the machine to be sure I got the soap out.

That’s all. Usually I’ll take them off when I return to camp for the night to lessen the food/fire smells.


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## olibooger (Feb 13, 2019)

I'm literally literally laughing MbO. I love you guys right now. 
So to sum it up if I'm hunting at a bbq with a dog and want my clothes scent free I need to start a fire with my wife's detergent and some pine needles to make a smoke to slather my gear in and to wash my clothes free of scents but be sure to use the scent free kind with DWR technical stuff (granger) just in case of rain. But. Be sure to be downwind.

Hehehe. I'll utilize the grangers to bring back the DWR on my kuiu pants and jackets because they need it. And everything else will get Dead Down or baking soda because it is seriously cheap and I can scrub the hed with it too. 

Beyond that I keep hearing a familiar tone to be sure to stay down wind. Which means to me to know what the wind will be an hour or even two from beginning a stalk and make an approach based on those calculations regardless of garment treatment. 

I wanna get one so bad you guys. Thanks for your input


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## Aznative (May 25, 2018)

Kinda important to play the wind. Im not a huge deer hunter but have had to work my way up on some bulls during muzzleload hunts. That why it at time can take a couple hours. Wind does swirl and understanding thermals and the weather where your hunting does pay off. I have been with plenty of guys who say screw it the wind will change anyways and go trotting right towards an animal just to have the animal snort and gone. Imi believe most on here who spoke about wind didnt mention fires and detergeants etc except me mentioning dead down wind but thats just for peace of mind. But if anyone was to mention hex gear I might have laughed.


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

Sport Wash from Sportsmans. Its a sent killer and supposed to restore the DWR treatment thats in the higher end clothing.

I use the Sports Wash BUT, I think once a year or so its a good idea to use the recommended chemicals that are specifically for restoring any particular fabric for its own specific reason.


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## 2full (Apr 8, 2010)

I keep my camo in a garbage bag that I cut fresh young sage growth to put in the bag. It has worked well for me for years. I have had does come up to me and sniff my knee when I sit still. It's fun to watch them when u softly say....BOO. 
I have boiled new sage growth and scooped the oil off the top of the water to use as scent. 
That works even better. 
Of course I wash the camo every now and then.


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## Jedidiah (Oct 10, 2014)

That's the best idea I've heard. I'm going to try that.


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## AF CYN (Mar 19, 2009)

I wash my clothes with baking soda as detergent, and hang dry. I used to put them in a big tote with sage brush, but I believe more and more in just staying downwind.


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## KalebReese (Sep 5, 2016)

Vanilla said:


> KalebReese said:
> 
> 
> > Before the hunt wash clothes with any fragrance free detergent (check in baby aisle) then store in vacuum bags with baking soda and evergreen leaves and suck all the air out. While on the hunt put your clothes in a large trash bag with baking soda and shake around for a couple minutes then hang above a low fire and smother the fire with evergreen leaves to make a thick smoke. I've did this my whole life and it works great on whitetails.
> ...


I'm 100% on team play the wind, I just do the rest because I figure it can't hurt anything. If there wasn't evergreen around you could basically do the same thing with only baking soda and be fine even though I've hunted where no evergreens are and the whitetails don't seem to care that I smelled that way. I've had several experiences similar to 2full and do pretty much the same process. At the end of the day though most important thing is: PLAY THE WIND!!!!


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