Trad Gang

I always see posts about things people really like and want to recomend to others but I figured I'd start one on what you DON'T need to buy.  Or even things to flat out avoid.  Might be to save a few bucks.  Might be because something doesn't really work.  Or maybe because you can make your own.... Here are a couple.

1.  "Hunter" type soaps/laundry detergent.   Just buy the sensitive skin laundry soaps made by almost every company who makes laundry soap.  Costs a LOT less and works better.  Same goes for bath soap.  

2. Fur string silencers  (the little two packs).  Look for an old fur coat or collar at antique stores or yard sales and cut your own.  You can also use yarn, old rubber bass plug skirts, a piece of flannel etc.

3.   True Center Taper Tool.   This one falls partly into the things to avoid category.  I wasn't impressed at all and most other people I know weren't either.  Some really like them though and a hand tool has it's place but a sanding disc on your table saw with a simple jig out does them all.

Well, I'll keep it short for now and see what you all come up with.  Have fun.  But please don't turn this into a gripe session.  Feel free to say what you don't like but keep it polite.  :)

I quit buying those little green bow holders that screw into the tree. The threads were too blunt and hard to screw in...I just take an extra Amerstep tree step and duck tape the foot part ( to protects my bow finish and string). it goes in quick...can hold more and be used as a hand hold

The Butt-out tool...

thanks Blake....  I have been waiting for someone to show up with one of those......too funny!!!

A tree stand...natural ground blinds work well and it's more of a rush when a deer comes in close.

Scent killer spray.   Cheap and easy to make at home.

a bow

How about those fake leafy branches to put around your treestand?  I mean, won't real ones work?

Most of what you see in the catalogs are not necessary...unless you are the manufacturer. Pat

Double jointed tree steps.  The single joints are a joy, but I'm positive the doubles were put on the market by PETA.

I don't think Spiderman could hang on the side of a tree and get one of those things in.   :help:

MI_bowhunter,

How do you make your own scent ellimination spray?

-Charlie

Spring operated retractable treestand gear retriever?

I second the Butt Out tool!

Scent dispersal heating units?

Anything that claims to take the "arch" out of archery!!!!

Electronic mosquito repellers.

Machines with wheels for launching arrows!

16 oz. hydrogen peroxide
2 tsp. baking soda

I like to cut mine with a little filtered water. Mix in a glass jar or bowl...gently stirred, not shaken, Mr. Bond.

You can use the same formula plus 2 small drops of dish soap (I like the green deer hunters liquid soap) on pet odor spots on carpets and furniture. Works great. There's your home owners and deer hunters tip of the day.

I should add don't keep this in a tightly sealed container but a spary bottle will work just fine. I have a gallon batch in a plastic garden sprayer and the seal leaks just enough that pressure build up is not a problem.

I thought that stuuf was made from alcohol?

home made scent elliminator:
16oz. of distilled water
16oz. of hydrogen perxide
.25 cup of baking soda
1oz. of unscented soap
the soap is just where the spray will stick to your clothes better. thats it.

I've gotten to where I take nothing but my bow, two or three arrows, a knife, and a Bic lighter.  I do use my Shaggy Suit.

I don't use the scent cover/killer sprays, soaps, etc., I was taught to use the wind to my advantage.
I quit using tree stands......more fun to me to hunt from the ground.
My pop-up blind bit the dust this past winter and I just don't have the desire to replace it yet.
The timber I hunt is thick enough that I don't see the need to carry binoculars and have never considered buying a rangefinder.  Usually I can hear the deer before I can see them.

I guess after traipsing through the woods for around forty years I have gone from needing a pack train to just the essentials.

Dennis

These recipes for scent killer that contain peroxide, baking soda, and soap are what I use to kill skunk scent after I have killed one in the yard. My question is: Doesn't the peroxide bleach your clothes? Gary

buckeye_hunter, I use the same recipe posted above by mojo2004.

It leaves a slight coating of white dust on stuff; prob residue from the baking soda but I have not noticed any bleaching of my clothes.

i have never had a problem with it bleaching out my clothes, but if you get to much baking soda
in the mix it will leave residue. oh, does it kill the scent of the skunk? it will kill the scent off of me so that they will let me back in camp.

Takin anything to the field other than a sharp knife and loin cloth is for city slickers.   :bigsmyl:  

Oh, and if your huntin in the SC lowcountry Jan thru December, a thermacel is allowed.  I'm a believer. Sorry.   :thumbsup:

buck lure inscents,  I just pee in scrapes.  200$ camo. ec. I ran into a wheelie guy hunting once. He looked like a walking takle box that was open. Sounded like one too.    :bigsmyl:

Zilla you are killing me !!!!!!!!!!

A rangefinder

Scentlock anything

Gum-o-flage

ATVs!!!

Talondale, I forgot about the Gum-o-flage. If I hadn't seen the scent killin gum with my own eyes on a hightech huntin show I'd never'd believed it.

Tom, how'r you gonna get a spot on "Dream Season" if you don't use Scentblocker products.  

Heres a couple: Bait Feeders, Deer-cane, C'mere Deer.

Two seater treestand

I second the C'mere deer!

QuoteOriginally posted by Dave Bulla:


1.  "Hunter" type soaps/laundry detergent.   Just buy the sensitive skin laundry soaps made by almost every company who makes laundry soap.  Costs a LOT less and works better.  Same goes for bath soap.  

 

But..........do these laundry detergents contain UV Brighteners ??

QuoteOriginally posted by GR:
Two seater treestand

I am not putting my kids on my lap all day

carbon arrows...(.This ought to start something)

Engagement rings...

"Back-up" firearms. Is you bow hunting, or gun hunting?

Poly "rope" This crap stretches, and stretches some more. Ain't worth its weight to carry. Useless for trying tie meat onto a pack frame.

Them HUGE "SURVIVAL" knives. Going to a sword fight?

I swear I saw "unscented chapstick" at walmart the other night! I don't recall the catchy name they had on the package, but I'm sure it was real stupid!

Here is the best article on scent eliminator sprays I have found.
http://www.fastestbows.com/articles/corrigan/scent_elimination_sprays.html
Got a batch brewing as I type.

I second ATV's.  (I'm utterly boggled as to why some of the local yoohoos fire up their ATV's to hunt the back 40's.  Just turning the key alerts every deer on the farm.)

Nylon leaves to stick on your clothes and treestand.  (People buy these?!)

Backpacks and slings to carry your bow, and as I've seen, to carry other packs.  (Again...?)

"Still Steamin' Buck...Ummmm, yeah.  (As if buck urine isn't disgusting enough.)

Deer calls I saw mentioned on another post, called a buck "growl" and buck "roar".  (I suppose a buck bugle, buck belch, and buck trumpet will follow.  I envision the buck trumpet as an 8-foot tube of 6-inch plastic to replicate an elephant's instrument, with an air horn to blast into it.  Mark my words, look for it next year.)

The current rage of tent blinds.  (I admit, they sure look pretty all camoed up and shiny with their broad flat surfaces.  Though I can't help but notice their catchy, light reflective nylon gleaming across vast fields, I still have a funny preference for unassuming, natural brush and log blinds.)

I Vote For the Waste of an Engagement Ring TOO!! There Wont Be Nothin' But Trouble After That!!  :readit:  
 Now, before the "Happily Married Couples" Jump on Me, if You Can  FIND  that  "Special Somone" , that can Put Up with YOUR Garbage, and YOU Can Put Up With Hers, MORE POWER to You, and CONGRATS!!   :archer:    :goldtooth:

you can buy bass plug skirting by the roll. makes lots of string silencers, in colors if you want.

what nobody mentioned the deer view mirror? or cough muffler? Or those camoed sunglasses so the game won't see your eyes?

Some of these are absolutely hysterical especially the But out tool, Gum -o-flage and camo glasses, I will admit I take alot on a hunt with me But I hate to say I need alot I hunt these High colorado Mountains. I only take essentials though, Rain gear, thermals, food, water, shelter, fire, elbow length rubber gloves GPS, knife set (3), cow call. No gimmics for me...

A person doesn't really "need" to buy anything to go bowhuntin, except (of course)a license.

Some of the huntin stuff for sale these days only convinces me more that  P.T. Barnum was right.  

That being said, I did try deer co-caine once. Only, I didn't inhale.     :smileystooges:

BTW nobody mentioned the game tracker string thing, or the infrared game finder. lol

Apex predator "Anything that claims to take the "arch" out of archery" I have to totaly disagree on that one I love my archless archery gear .    :thumbsup:  

my list is

pentax products

deer blocks

most hunting magazines

blood hound deer tracking spray .its a joke you know the kind thats supposed to iluminate any speck of blood well shoot i sprayed that stuff on the ground and it lit up the whole ground everywhere i sprayed it .

quote:

---

Originally posted by Shakes.602:
I Vote For the Waste of an Engagement Ring TOO!! There Wont Be Nothin' But Trouble After That!!   :readit:  
 Now, before the "Happily Married Couples" Jump on Me, if You Can  FIND  that  "Special Somone" , that can Put Up with YOUR Garbage, and YOU Can Put Up With Hers, MORE POWER to You, and CONGRATS!!    :bigsmyl: