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Hunting Gear Maintenance for the Off-Season

When the hunting season ends, hunters across the country confront another task: storing away all of their hunting gear until the next season.

Your gear, equipment, and safety are essential to a good hunt. After all, it protects you from unnecessary risks. While it may be tempting to toss everything away into storage out of sight and out of mind, neglecting to do aftercare for your gear will lead to some unwanted and preventable consequences.

Hunters are not strangers to dust, dirt, grime, and stench; however, it would be a shame for expensive gear such as your lures, clothing, scents, and other hunting accessories to get ruined by improper handling and storage.

Preparation for the next season shouldn’t have to wait for the onset of the season because the gear requires various treatment methods. Though before we get to the treatment methods, let’s go over the basics.

First, prepare an inventory of the hunting gear, equipment, and accessories that you have. Second, assess each gear and equipment for damage, rips, or tears. Make sure that all zippers, buttons, and other features of your items are still in good condition.

Last, decide if you want to fix or upgrade your things for the next season. If you require some upgrades on some firearms, scopes, and optics, the guys over at Shooting Mystery have some pretty solid recommendations for you. But, if your gear is still intact,  follow these next few tips, you will be able to begin the next season organized, prepared, and ready to hunt.

Clean Your Gear Using the Correct Method

Hunting Clothes

Clothes are usually the ones that suffer the most damage during the hunting season. That is why it is necessary to prepare for such an event. 

 After making sure that all damage to the clothes has been accounted for, consider the proper detergent to use for your jackets, shirts, pants, face masks, and other additional gear, you might have used.  You’d want a good detergent that would take away any unwanted scent and residue that would potentially ruin the fabric of your gear as it’s being put away. 

Baking soda can be a cheap alternative for absorbing all the odors that you may have picked up during the season. If you want to go the extra mile, putting some cedar chips, pine needles, or any natural scent wafer in with your clothing and footwear can help them pick up the scent of the outdoors before the next season hits.

Remember, keeping our hunting clothes scent-free is not just a seasonal commitment but an all-year-round one. You may not be able to detect any foreign smell on your clothing, but animal noses are better than ours.

Footwear

As always, make sure to thoroughly clean all footwear of any dirt and debris and dry them thoroughly before storage. Give them water-proofing treatment to keep them water-repellent and keep your feet dry.

Like your clothing, make sure to store them in a seal-tight bag and secure them away. Spiders, snakes, and other insects love to make their homes in dark places that haven’t been disturbed in a while.

Firearms

Make sure to disassemble and clean your firearms after every hunt. They should be cleaned and oiled according to the manufacturer’s specifications and stored facing up in a non-airtight place. Not only will this promote safety, but it will also make sure that it’s in good condition.  Clean firearms are safer, more accurate, and more reliable.

Store Them in the Proper Containers and Location

Once they’ve been cleaned, and the odor is neutralized, store them by the stages of the season when you would use them and label them accordingly. You’ll thank me for the next time you don’t have to search through multiple gears and clothing to find the appropriate ones.

Proper handling and storage mean that your hunting gear and clothing shouldn’t be placed into the garage or shed like an afterthought until the next season. Because mold, mildew, and odors may develop in cool environments that encourage moisture absorption, it would be ideal to have a climate-controlled environment or storage space. Otherwise, have a dedicated airtight closet for storage.

Make sure that the gear is thoroughly dry before storing them in seal-tight containers and scent-free bags. A good tip would be to place desiccants or a moisture collector that may absorb moisture and prevent odors.

Hunting accessories

Other types of equipment that require some TLC during the offseason are your scents, optics, game cameras, as well as a firearm, and/or archery accessories. Put them in small plastic storage containers that are easy to label after cleaning them with some scent-free wipes and place them in a climate-controlled environment. This reduces the risk of odor-, mildew-, and mold development.

Remove batteries from your electronics and ammunition from your firearms to prevent corrosion and permanent damage from occurring. They must be appropriately stored in a dry place to avoid the risk of moisture that may render specific equipment unusable or dangerous if damaged.

Don’t forget to take extra precautions in making sure that your hunting gear and accessories are inaccessible to anyone but you. Equipment like your firearms can be dangerous to the untrained individual. This is also to prevent possible damage from ill-handling.

Conclusion

Hunting season is over. We’ve got stocks of venison to last us till the next one. As satisfying as it is to fill up our freezers with our hard work, it’s essential to take care of the nitty-gritty things that occur after the hunt. Knowing that you’ve cleaned up and stored your gear makes the anticipation of waiting for the next season much more manageable. Now, you’ll have more time focusing on other aspects of the hunt in your off-season. Damage to your gear can be a costly yet preventable mistake yet taking the time to do proper storage and handling during the off-season will not only help you with being organized and prolong your gears’ usability, but it will also make sure that you are at the top of your game.

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