Once again I am thrilled to share with you a guest post from acclaimed deer hunting expert, John Eberhart. As I mentioned in John’s previous post on hunting pressured whitetails, John has a wealth of experience and knowledge to share with us all.  He has taken 23 bucks that have been entered into the Commemorative Bucks of Michigan and he has been published in magazines such as Deer & Deer Hunting and Petersen’s Bowhunting. In addition he has wrote several books, including “Precision Bowhunting”, and has produced multiple instructional DVDs for hunters. So without further ado, John Eberhart’s guest post on Wired To Hunt…

10 Points on Proper Care for Activated Carbon Suits

1. All Scent Lok branded garments use carbon derived from charred coconut shells. Coconut carbon has smaller pores than most other carbons making it one of the best available carbons for adsorbing small molecules associated with human odors.

2. To reactivate carbon garments, put them in a household or commercial dryer for 30 to 40 minutes on a high heat setting. The heat makes the bonded human molecules move rapidly (become more energetic) and the motion breaks a percentage of the molecules free from the carbon (carbon is not affected by the heat) and allows them to escape out the dryer vent. The energetic molecular motion is very similar to why there are expansion joints in highways and steel bridges. Without expansion joints our highways and bridges would buckle from energetic molecular motion or expansion when temperatures exceed a mere 90 or so degrees. The reactivation process should be repeated every 4 to 6 hunts. Due to the extreme amount of odor coming out of your hair follicles, mouth, nose, and hands, head covers and gloves should be reactivated more frequently than the jacket and pants. New carbon garments should always be reactivated prior to use in the field, because they are loading up as they hang in the store.

3. All carbon garments should go directly from the dryer into an air-tight storage container (garbage bag, carbon bag, or a Scent Tote) that allows no outside odors (air) inside. Never put scent wafers, pine boughs, dirt, or any foreign items in the container with your suit because their odor molecules will prematurely load up the carbon, requiring more frequent reactivations, and shortening the life expectancy of the suit. Carbon suits have a life expectancy of about 8 years with average use and proper care before they can no longer be effectively re-activated.

4. Carbon lined garments must be kept in their container until used in the field (not even to be wore in the vehicle). When finished hunting the suit goes back into the storage container prior to getting back into the vehicle or walking into the house. Do not wear carbon garments in the house, car, getting gas, in restaurants, etc., just hunting.

5. It is advised to wash all undergarments in a non-scent detergent and taken care of them (storage unit) in the same manner as the carbon clothing.

6. Scent-Lok branded garments can be washed periodically (once or twice per season) if they have physical dirt or blood on them. This can be done in a washing machine using a small amount of scent free detergent for carbon clothing (preferably Scent Lok’s or Scent Blocker’s). Suits should be air-dried in the dryer first to assure there is no shrinkage. Once air-dried, reactivate them with heat as described in section two.

7. There is no need to spray scent inhibitors over your suit.

8. It is advised to shower and shampoo with non-scent soap, and use a non-scent
anti-perspirant prior to going hunting.

9. Always wear clean knee high rubber boots in conjunction with your suit, and wear your pants outside of the boots instead of tucking them in. Every time you take a step a puff of air comes out of your boots and the carbon in the pant legs will adsorb it.

10. Keep your fanny pack or backpack scent free by frequently washing it in scent free detergent, and keep your loaded pack in its own air-tight container. Nearly every hunter gets into his or her pack every day they hunt to reload or reorganize it before or after each hunt, and they never wash their packs. Hunting with an unwashed pack is like taking a large human scent wick in the tree with you. So, if you don’t keep your pack clean and get winded, don’t blame it on your carbon suit.

An activated carbon suit will only take care of you if you take proper care of it and everything else you take hunting with you. A properly cared for suit wore in conjunction with scent free accessories will make a huge difference in the amount of deer you get close to.

-John Eberhart

For more information about John Eberhart visit http://www.deer-john.net and to pick up one of his DVDs or books, follow the links below.

John Eberhart DVDs (Check out my review of John’s “Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails Volume III”

John Eberhart Books

If you hunt in states such as Pennsylvania or Michigan, you know what it means to hunt pressured deer. You know that deer act differently when they’ve been chased willy nilly around the woods by stinking, loud, orange clad hunters. You definitely know atleast one thing about hunting big deer in one of these high pressure areas. It’s not easy! But there are certain things you can do to increase your chances of success.

This is where John Eberhart’s “Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails” DVD’s come in to play. John Eberhart is an expert hunter and outdoors writer who has been published in Deer & Deer Hunting, Petersen’s Bowhunting, Bowhunter Magazine and Bow and Arrow Hunting. He and his son have also wrote several books and published a series of hunting DVD’s. I was fortunate enough to have a couple of these DVD’s sent to me by John and boy am I glad he did. These are some seriously information packed DVD’s.

“Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails” is a three part series covering post-season scouting and tree preparation, pre-season and in-season scouting and hunting tactics. Volume III covers “Hunting Tactics and In-Season Scouting”, and this being the most relevant topic this time of year, I will review this DVD now.

John Eberhart’s DVDs are incredibly unique because they are purely instructional. There are no kills on these DVDs at all. But in my eyes, this is can be a good thing. The bulk of the video is John walking you through each step of the hunting process and demonstrating different set-ups, techniques and strategies that will help you bag more deer. The focus of the DVD is not on monster bucks killed on preserves, it’s all about hunting mature bucks on highly pressured private and public land. This DVD is full of straight forward, no nonsense advice about how to prepare for and effectively execute a first class hunting strategy in tough situations.

Volume III of the series covers many important tactics and strategies to take into consideration during the season. Here is a selection of topics covered in the video.

• Getting to where other hunters aren’t
• Scent control measures
• Stand placement and timing
• Calling techniques and demonstrations
• How to hunt different types of terrain

One thing that really stuck with me from the DVD was the importance of timing your stand locations for different parts of the season and then only hunting them during the appropriate time. It’s easy to get sucked into hunting your “best spot” early and often, but typically this is not a good idea.  John really emphasized this and offered more successful alternative strategies.

Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails is full of great information, but it isn’t something to watch if you are looking for a thrill. For someone who is honestly interested in learning, it is great, but if you are a casual watcher you probably won’t be too excited. Although there are no actual kills shown, there are plenty of videos of bucks in the wild that keep your eyes occupied while information is being laid out for you. Another possible qualm is that the overall film quality is not the highest, but it is adequate.

What I like most about this video is it’s focus on providing deep and relevant information. These aren’t DVDs full of fluff, rather it is a crash course on what you need to do to get a buck in pressured areas. If you are truly interested in learning more about the tricks of this trade, this DVD is for you. But if you’re looking for a beautiful hunting video with lots of gnarly bucks getting stuck, this is going to disappoint. Overall I’d say that Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails is a tremendously informational resource that would be great for any beginner hunter looking to learn everything they need to know for the hunt but also a good watch for the old veteran who just wants to pick up a few new pointers.

For more information on John Eberhart and his works, check out Deer-John.net . Click here to pick up a copy of Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails Volume III.