By Stan Muse, Lawrenceville, GA

I am 56 years old and usually hunt from a ground blind since giving my climbing tree stand to my son a couple of years ago. I am a traditional bow hunter and need to get within 30 yards my target to take a shot. So, I must be very careful to cover my scent in order to be successful. I have found a simple, inexpensive, solution which has worked for me and will for you too.

To cover my scent I take an old pillow case, fill it about 1/3 full with red cedar pet bedding, available at Wal-Mart or any pet store, and tie a tight knot in the end to secure it. I wash and dry my clothes completely, throw the cedar bag in the dryer, and dry them for another 20 minutes. The clothes come out with a light scent of fresh cedar.

This is the only cover-scent I use. The cedar completely covers my scent, and I get an added bonus of very few bug bites since cedar repels insects. It also covers the washer and dryer scents which are there even if you use scent-free detergent. Plus, when hunting I smell like a rubbed cedar tree, which seems to attract deer, instead of smelling like a human.

In the blind, I often have bucks feeding within 10 feet of me for 30 minutes or more. Once I even had a doe bed down about 12 feet away. As long as I stay hidden the deer never know I am there. I also put cedar bags in my hunting clothes box, in my sleeping bag during the day, and always leave one in my truck. The multi-million dollar cover scent industry will hate this article, but this is one of the best deer and turkey hunting tips I have ever found.

Picture note: The bow in the picture is a Bear Takedown I bought in 1971. It is the only bow I have ever hunted with, and is the same bow Burt Reynolds carried in the movie 'Deliverance'.