Thursday, September 28, 2006
No New Hunting Clothes For me
My wife has been looking at my hunting coveralls, and I know what she is thinking. She thinks I need new togs for the hunting season.
Naw, not me. Never have been a clothes horse, and at my age, it’s too late to start something new. Besides, what I wear is good enough for me. It fools the deer, and that too is good enough for me.
So what if there are a few tears from climbing over a barbed wire fence? Who cares if the coveralls aren’t in the latest and greatest camo pattern? Being all tricked out in new hunting duds doesn’t do anything for me.
It takes, according to my theory, about 10 or 12 years for clothing to get well broke in. That means it has finally lost its “new” look and is just starting to loosened up and comfortable.
New stuff is too stiff for my tastes. Much of it also is too noisy. When I draw down on a nice buck, I don’t want my right arm brushing my chest during the draw and making a sharp and unnatural scratchy sound.
I have a test, and it’s freebie to anyone who wants to try it. I go into a sporting goods store, and when I look at some new duds, I run my hand or fingers across the fabric. If I can hear any noise, it’s too noisy for my tastes.
It’s such a simple test, and I use a gentle touch. Think of what that would sound like if I were sitting in a cedar, oak or pine tree, and had to move just a fraction of an inch to take a shot or move my back away from the tree bark. A raspy sound will spook deer every time.
My coveralls have been washed frequently, and are clean but a bit worn around the edges. I’ve compared some of my hunting stuff with some of the things my friends wear, and I’m convinced mine is better than theirs, even though mine is plenty well wore.
I don’t believe in fancy. I am a believer in function and personal appeal. My clothing is wore well, nice and comfy, and the deer aren’t offended by my less than form-fitting outer wear. By the time they get close enough to me to see my clothing, they are in serious trouble if I decide to shoot the animal.
So neat and tidy new clothes may make the man, as the old saying goes, but they don’t make the man a better hunter. That comes only from experience, and lots of it, and the clothes successful and unsuccessful hunters wear, has little bearing on the final outcome.
Having said that, come opening day on Sunday, I’ll be greeting my stand in my old reliable coveralls. They may be a bit tattered and torn, about like the guy wearing them, but between me and the duds I wear in the woods, we are a fine pair.
And, when we are of a mind to do so, we can do very well with the whitetail bucks. Dead deer could care less what the hunter was wearing when he got shot, and that’s an undeniable fact.—The Whitetail Wizard