By Jason Herbert
The African sun beating down on us, swirling winds, and a half day of hunting under our belts, and most wouldn’t be betting on me in this situation. At least a half mile away, if not more, one lone Springbok ram stepped out of the bush and angled slightly into the sunlit valley. Continuing his fateful quest in my direction, I had confidence where most would not. With the swirling winds creating a tunnel of our scent funneling toward the animal, the chances of him winding us were rather decent. Especially since I was nowhere near home, and my complete scent control arsenal. But he kept coming, and within ten minutes, my broadhead ripped through his chest. Effortlessly, the animal bounded off and fell to the ground not far away. All in all my first African kill was an amazing hunt! And one that statistically should never have happened. But I was with president Scott Shultz who has been around the world hunting a time or two. I learned a lot about scent control on the road from Scott. When traveling, space and weight are always an issue, but Scott had a few tricks up his sleeve. The following is at a bare minimum what we at ScentBlocker recommend for a scent-free road trip.
First and foremost, scent control starts on the inside. All of us at ScentBlocker regularly take the Internal Deodorant pills and Sportsman’s Edge vitamins daily in the weeks leading up to and throughout the season. I personally take them all year long because I love the extra chlorophyll and vitamins I am putting into my body. Vitamins are light and can easily travel anywhere, be sure to get some.
Next, we made sure to take scent free showers every day followed by a layer of hair and skin conditioner. This in itself is also a staple in my scent free program at home, and it really wasn’t difficult to check my ScentBlocker body wash and skin conditioner in my extra bags at the airport. When traveling, we all need soap and shampoo, so it might as well be scent free.
I have grown to love my merino wool baselayers from ScentBlocker. The merino wool is soft and naturally antimicrobial. Paired with S3 Silver technology, and these babys will stop stink right at the source, for days on end. Unknown to most, Africa is cold while on safari, which takes place during their winter. I have never seen such temperature discrepancies as I did in Africa. In the mornings and evenings our temperatures would be in the 20’s, but during the day, we’d often hit 60+ degrees. I literally wore these baselayers for two weeks straight in Africa with only having them washed one time. And to be honest, I could have gotten away without washing them at all, but the laundry service at our lodge accidentally grabbed them one afternoon while I was eating lunch. Once again, when traveling to hunt, if insulated long underwear is necessary you might as well make them as scent free as possible.
On my outer layer in Africa I wore my Trinity 1.5 shirt, my Trinity prototype hoodie, and Recon S3 pants. Ironically when I shot my Springbok I took my hoodie off because we had been hunting all day and we were rather warm by this point. The hoodie would always get slipped back on as the temperatures dropped with the sun. The Recon S3 pants are a must in thick, nasty hunting conditions. Being scent free and thorn-proof, they served a dual purpose and saved my skin from many scars and infections.
Due to the ultra thin Trinity technology, all of my outer clothes were super thin as well, and easy to pack for traveling. And once again, I only had them washed one time the entire trip. That maid really took advantage of my long lunch one day and washed all she could! We made did however make they were using our ScentBlocker Trinity laundry detergent, so we were safe anyway.
When traveling to and from Africa, or when we were not hunting, all of my gear was stored in my Trinity Duffle Bag. Mine was a prototype, and became an instant “must have” in my arsenal. With my clothing being so thin, I had a lot of room to put other items like my socks and underwear into the bag as well. Not only is the bag a scent free storage and travel system, it also adsorbed any rogue odors each day and night when we weren’t hunting while clothes were stored in it.
To top it all off, Scott brought a bunch of Trinity spray power packs. I had never heard of these, so this was new to me. For ease of travel and transport the company made small dry packs of the Trinity compound. All we had to do was pour one into an empty spray bottle and add the prescribed amount of water and “Voila!” 32 oz Trinity Blast spray that came from a packet that could have fit into someone’s wallet. As with any hunting scenario, we used this stuff religiously and sprayed it on everything! Including our PHs (Professional Hunters) who probably needed it the most.
The proof of our efforts were in our results. All in all, we killed a record number of animals the two weeks we were hunting with Johnny Vivier Wintershoek Safaris. God was with us, and our trip was safely blessed with many laughs and high fives. But I do think much of our success vs. other clients and camps is due to our creative scent control efforts abroad.
So on your next road trip, plan and pack smart to continue your scent free hunting regardless of your location.
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