The last thing you want on your clothes is the scent of conventional detergent, so the first thing you want to do is decontaminate your washing machine. This is accomplished by running an empty load with a cup of baking soda in the water, which will absorb the scent of the detergent in the machine. Once the machine is clean, I load my camouflage, underwear, socks, hats and gloves, add about 1/8-cup of scent-eliminator body soap and a cup of baking soda, run the load, and allow it to rinse twice.

Clothes dryers contain nearly as much negative odor as washers, but they're a lot more difficult to decontaminate. My advice: Avoid them. Hang your hunting clothes outside to dry. After the clothes have dried and aired out, it's time to store them. While there are commercial storage bags on the market designed to keep clothing from picking up foreign odors, I prefer to use ordinary clear trash bags. They are less expensive and work just as well.

When storing my clothes I like to add some natural cover scent to them. Where I hunt there are a lot of ponderosa pines, so I add some fresh pine needles and twigs with the bark peeled away to the bag. At times I've added manzanita berries and even deer droppings. I then knot the bag shut and set it in the sun. This heats the bag and draws moisture and scent out of the pine material and deposits it in the clothing.

The most important thing to remember when adding cover scents is to use something that is common to the area you plan to hunt. Most commercial cover scents on the market are intended for use by East Coast whitetail hunters and are out of place here in the West. That's why I prefer to make my own out of natural materials.

PREPPING YOURSELF
With your field clothes cleaned and stored, the next step comes in the form of body preparation. For this step you'll need scent-eliminating soap, scent-free deodorant, baking soda and spray-on scent eliminator.

Before leaving home, shampoo and shower thoroughly with scent-eliminating body soap. After drying, liberally apply a scent-free deodorant and spray your body with scent eliminator.

Proper oral hygiene is easily overlooked. Avoid using peppermint or similarly scented toothpaste. Instead, brush your teeth with baking soda and rinse with plain water. For a day or two before the hunt avoid spicy aromatic foods, since these can linger in the mouth and can also be expelled through the skin.

For the drive to the hunting area don't wear your hunting clothes, since you don't want them picking up odors from the inside of a vehicle. Don your field clothes only after arriving at the hunting area. With each successive layer of clothing, spray yourself with scent eliminator, paying special attention to the underarms and groin. Before putting on your boots be sure to spray them inside and out with scent eliminator. Spray your socks as well. After dressing, spray all the gear you will be carrying into the field, including your pack and firearm or bow.

If you return home after each day's hunt, simply repeat this process. If you will be staying in the field for multiple days, you'll have to clean your body at the end of each day's hunt. This can be done using a wet cloth and scent-eliminating soap. Once you're clean and dry, apply scent-eliminator spray and deodorant. The clothing you wore while hunting should be sprayed and then hung up to air out overnight and through the next day, while you're wearing your second set of clothes. Alternating your clothing ensures you'll always have an odor-free set ready to go. Hunting clothing should never be worn while doing camp chores or cooking.