Get Out Your Ghillie Suit, Huntin Season is Coming

This time of the year, two groups of people start getting restless. That would be football fans and hunters. The football fans start trying to figure new and more outrageous ways to get other folks to notice them. Hunters are just the opposite. They look for subtle ways to disappear from view altogether.

Blinds are being taken out and checked for gaps and any necessary repairs to frame or fabric. Or do we need a new one this year? The gun is in good shape because it has been cleaned regularly throughout the year. You might get one more season out of those old boots, but we'll keep an eye out for sales on new ones. Definitely a new set of BDUs unless you opt for one of the synthetic ghillie suits built on a set of BDUs. Great idea! Kill two birds with one rock as they say.

A well equipped hunter will have himself a ghillie blind, a ghillie suit, face paint, scent neutralizer, boonie hood, maybe a face veil, camo BDUs, a hydration pack, a set of knives for butchering (or killing in a pinch), blood light for tracking wounded game, gun with rifle wrap, boots, maybe a plug of chaw, camo tent for overnighters, a couple of candy bars, and a cell phone to call your neighbor and ask him to come help count the points on this huge buck you just killed!

Is the hunting license up to date? Have any rules or regulations for your hunting area changed while you were watching golf on TV? You have opening day flagged on the calendar for sure. Has it changed? Not the calendar, opening day!

Bowhunters have even more to fuss over to get ready. The modern bow is a really complex machine. Neglecting any part of it could render it useless. Its time to go over it with a fine tooth comb as the saying goes, though a good magnifying glass seems more useful. Some bowhunters avoid the ghillie suit for fear of getting tangled up in it. Some suits are made without the ghillie material on either left or right arm. You can use any ghillie suit the same way. Just remove the ghillie material from the places you need free. Scissors work great for this task, just don't run with them. Also, the sniper ghillie suits come without the ghillie material on the front.

Gun or Bow, you need to be as comfortable as possible out there. If somethings too tight or binds in the wrong places, it can make a good time bad. Pay attention as you get dressed and layer your stuff on. If you get hot later you can shed some stuff. When shopping for a ghillie suit, remember, it has to go on last over all the rest. Be sure to get one big enough. You can work with too big. To little just ruins the party.

You don't have to wait for opening day to put on your ghillie suit, find a few trails worth investigating, hunker down and wait. You'll find out what's available this year. Sort of like your wife going to the mall, just more fun. Deer shopping! Take a young hunter with you. Put him in a kids ghillie suit and teach him the right moves.