Texas archery hunters got a bad break with the weather last weekend. Following an unusually comfortable September, hot weather raised its sweaty head again, just in time to make opening weekend of archery season uncomfortable.
Hot weather causes three problems for bowhunters. The most dangerous and most annoying is mosquitoes.
In much of the state, September rains created just enough moisture for mosquitoes to breed. Mosquitoes swarm bowhunters, who have no choice but to sit still and feed the pesky bloodsuckers.
Even if you're 20 feet up a tree, swatting mosquitoes is not good bowhunting strategy. Most insect repellents have way too much odor for an archery hunter who hopes to be within 30 yards of a whitetail's keen nose.
One of the hottest repellent products for archery hunters, or anyone sitting still, is called ThermaCell. It uses a butane cartridge to heat a repellent mat and release allethrin. Allethrin is a chemical copy of pyrethrin, a naturally occurring insecticide found in the pyrethrum flower.
Richard McCarty owns an archery pro shop near Lake Fork and is skeptical of new products. McCarty's wife, Lindy, was the first in their family to try ThermaCell, and she raved about it. This was two seasons ago, when rainy weather created a bumper mosquito population in East Texas.
"I went into the woods behind our house one afternoon and the mosquitoes were wearing me out," McCarty recalled. "I remembered what Lindy said about ThermaCell, so I went back to the house and got hers. It was amazing. It really did create a chemical barrier that the mosquitoes would not penetrate. I was sold."
The portable ThermaCell favored by hunters costs $22. A holster that hangs the device on your belt costs $10. The device comes with one fuel cartridge and three insect repellent mats. A refill pack with butane cartridges and repellent mats good for 48 hours of protection costs $20. According to the company, ThermaCell protects everyone in a 15-by-15-foot area.
McCarty said the allethrin has no odor that he can detect, and he's never seen a deer that appeared to be spooked by the insect repellent. It works best on a calm day, but that's when mosquitoes are at their worst.
ThermaCell also sells larger lanterns ($25) intended for use on a patio or around a tent or picnic table. A U.S. Army test found ThermaCell 98 percent effective against mosquitoes and other biting insects.
When the weather is hot, archery hunters sweat and create more scent for a deer to detect. Camouflage companies are offering clothing that features scent-lock linings to absorb human scent, but the scent-lock suits are too hot for warm weather.
The solution is to wash clothing in scent-free soaps designed for hunters and use spray-on scent killers to mask human odor. Some hunters go so far as to remove their hunting clothes as soon as they leave the stand and store them in a sealable plastic bag with a fresh pine bough or other aromatic vegetation from their hunting area.
McCarty tries to hide his scent from wary deer by hunting at least 20 feet above ground in tree stands. He also selects his stand location so he's downwind from where he expects to see a deer.
It's easier to put up with uncomfortable temperatures and aggravating insects when you're seeing a lot of game. Hot weather, however, bothers deer as much as it bothers deer hunters. When the temperature is hot, daytime deer movement is restricted to very early and very late in the day.
E-mail rsasser@dallasnews.com
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