Hunting clothes are like the warrior regalias, perfect protection for whatever hunting has ready to throw at us. But once hunting season is over, they become quite idle. To ensure that they are in the best shape and condition when the hunting season resumes again, you have here a few tips on the best way to store hunting clothes.
Why Store Hunting Clothes?
As a professional and seasoned hunter, you would know that wild animals, especially the likes of deers and co, easily pick up on foreign scent the moment they get a whiff of it, and this can very well ruin your chances of making a good hunt.
Storing your hunting clothes carelessly in a closet or somewhere else around the house has the high risk of exposing the clothes to household odors that are easily detectable and foreign to wild game.
Storing your hunting clothes appropriately, therefore, not only elongates the shelf-life of the hunting regalia but also serves as a great hunting strategy of odor-less free vestments for your next hunting expedition, all of course in a bid to ensure that your hunting expedition is successful.
How Then do you Go About It?
If you are considering all that has been said above and are wondering how to store hunting clothes, then these few tips on the best way to store and protect your hunting clothes would make more sense to you.
Wash and clean your hunting clothes
Before you can store anything, you need to first and foremost make sure that what you want to store is clean in every sense of the word.
Considering the little detail on the scent and odor tracking capacity of wild game, if you are considering washing your hunting clothes, it is best you wash them with a scent-free detergent as opposed to the usual daily wear detergent.
While the scent-free detergent is designed, of course, to not only rid your clothing of any scent and dirt, it also does so without leaving any scent traces. And on the plus side, it does not brighten the color of your hunting clothes, something that many normal detergents do, as some contain UV brighteners or bleachers that make the clothing look brighter after every wash.
Storing
Once your hunting garments are conveniently cleaned out, scent-free, and dried, the next phase you have to consider is storage. And when it comes to storing hunting clothes, there are a variety of ways for you to do so, as well as a variety of hunting storage units that you can make use of to ensure proper protection and longevity of your hunting clothes.
1. Open-air storage
An open-air storage method is not only practical but, of course, quite economical, too, as you need almost nothing to get the storage done.
The storage method, in plain words, involves you draping the clothing over a rail or a clothesline in the open air. The plus to this method is its effectiveness in isolating the clothes from human odor, allowing them to soak in the scent from the outdoors.
Pros
- Cost-effective method
- Frees the clothing from household odor
- Allows clothes to absorb natural outdoor scents
Cons
- Best for short term storage
- Outdoor weather can be damaging to the clothes
2. Plastic storage tote
These serve as a layer of coating and protection from the outside world and its damages to the hunting clothing.
Since the plastic totes come in a variety of sizes, you can comfortably store your clothing without forcing them into a confined space, and this allows them to breathe and stay protected from whatever might be outside. You can also store the plastic totes in closets for added protection.
The plastic totes can also go for protecting your other hunting gears like binoculars, flashlights, amongst others, making it perfect for all safety methods.
Pros
- It can be easily stored and stacked up
- Serves as a long-term means of storage
- Makes carriage easy
- Reduces exposure to outside odor and contamination
Cons
- The material adds extra weight
- There is a plastic odor from the totes that can attach to the clothes
3. Oversized Zip-locks
Ziplocks are also great choices and quite similar to plastic totes. They come in a variety of sizes with a bigger depth that has more room for you to store safely.
Unlike plastic bags, excess air can be expelled for some sort of sealed-in effect keeping the clothes safe. Also, they are cheap and can be easily purchased from any hunting store.
Pros
- Space-saving
- Offer an airtight seal means of protection
- Lightweight compared to the totes
- It can serve as a long term means of protection
Cons
- Might not be strong enough to hold heavier hunting clothes
- Can be easily ripped or punctured
4. Ozone generating bags and closets
To better protect your hunting clothes from unwanted scents, the ozone generating bags and or closets have taken the lead as a secure way to eliminate any form of odor attaching to your garments.
The science behind the Ozone generating bags is that ozone molecules cling to other molecules around, making them undetectable to wild animals. They also eliminate any form of bacteria, mildew, fungus, and other microorganisms that could lead to or cause the growth of scent on the hunting clothes.
These bags and closets also come in different ways, with some being in the duffle variety and large-sized closets that have ample space for you to fold them in and turn on the generator.
The closets offer more ample space with more drawers and compartments for other clothing items like shoes, jackets, and other pieces of clothing.
Pros
- It is the ultimate scent protection means
- Protects the clothes from any outside exposure
- Perfect long term storage
- The bags are easy to transport
- Offer large storage space
Cons
- Relatively more expensive than other means of storage
- It might require batteries to keep the generator-powered
FAQs
Should hunting clothes be stored with normal wear?
No, avoid storing your hunting clothes directly with your normal daily wears to prevent the scents from the everyday wear from rubbing off on your hunting ones. If there is any need to store both clothes within the same compartment, you can store the hunting clothes in a ziplock bag or plastic tote first before placing them in the same storage compartment.
Is there any other way to create the natural scent on the hunting clothes?
Yes, to add a little dash of nature to your stored hunting clothes, before securing them tightly into ziplock bags or tote bags, or other means of storage, you can place a natural scent wafer into the clothes or use strongly scented wood parts like cedar chips, pine needles or any part from any tree around and store alongside the clothing.
Parting Thoughts
When you consider the best way to store hunting clothes, you’ll find that there are quite a lot of practical ways that are easy to carry out and won’t cost you much depending on what you prefer. Invariably, after going through this piece, we are sure you’ll find the most remarkable method that best suits you to store your hunting clothes and make them ready for another great hunt without fail.
