Early Season Strategies - by Dan Young

Every year opening day seems to take forever to get here. Once it hits, I can’t wait to get into the stand in Iowa or Kansas. Early season is one of my favorite times to hunt, due to the chance you can still catch bucks in bachelor groups and find them leaving the bedding area heading to the food source pretty early in the evening.

Before I go hunting I always make sure to do what I can to reduce my scent in the stand. I always make sure to take a shower with Scent-A-Way Liquid Soap before every hunt. I feel this is really important to help with my success of seeing game. Another must in my system is to wash all my hunting and travel clothes before every hunt, then store them in a scent-free bag so they do not get contaminated before I need them.

I wear just my base layer and socks while I am driving to the stand. This way my outer hunting clothes are protected from any cross contamination from food, gas or other scents that might be lurking in my truck. Once I get to my hunting area, I take my clothes and gear and spray them with Scent-A-Way Spray and then get dressed to hunt! I know this seem’s like a lot, but I have seen more game in the field since I have started this strategy.

Hunting early season I try to focus hunting around a food source that I can access by walking down funnels or pinch points that are on the outside fringes of the timber. This gives me easy access to my stands without penetrating the main body of the timber. By doing this I am less likely to jump any game walking in to stand, yet still far enough off the food source to catch deer staging and feeding early in the evening on the way to the main food source. I try to get into the stand by 3:30 and strap in for rest of the day. I always pack Scent-A-Way Field Wipes in with me, so I can wipe down when I get in my stand. This really helps once I am in the stand to reduce any sweat and bacteria on me I accumulated walking in.

I hope these tips help you, and have a great 2016 hunting season! Here is a pic of a great Kansas buck that I took early season off of a funnel using these tips!