2015 hunting gear preview of popular items

Deer feeders, cold weather wear and scent cover are just a few of the items on local hunters’ wish lists this fall.
Here, staff from local stores Double Action Outdoor Sports, Eunice Archery Range and Sportsman’s Corner at Craig’s Automotive dish on what’s hot this year.
Mike Hebert with Eunice Archery Range and Gear
Hot Items: Hunters Edge scent cover and eliminator products, Matthews bows
“I have a customer who has killed about 300 deer with his bow while using this stuff,” Hebert said of the Hunters Edge scent cover and eliminator products.
“It’s different than any other spray and cover scent I’ve tried. I started using it 15 years ago, and I’ve killed 80 deer.”
“A commercial cleaning company was using it to clean, and one of their customers asked if he could use some for hunting. Hunters (in other states) started using this stuff, too, and they were having encounters with mountain lions, which they had never had before.”
The Hunters Edge products Hebert keeps stocked are a clothes spray, a mouth wash, powder to wash clothes or powder the body and clothing with and lava rocks that absorb odor and are to be put in with hunting clothes while not being worn.
“You can leave the rocks out in the sun, heat them up and reuse them, too,” Hebert said. “
It kills odor. We have tried everything else on the market, and this is the best stuff we have tried.
“No one else in town stocks Hunters Edge.”
Eunice Archery Range and Gear also has the new Matthews No-Cam compound bow which features round instead of oblong cams.

Heather Brown with Sportsman’s Closet at Craig’s Automotive
Hot Items: Under Armor UA Base 4.0 and duck decoys

“I call them long johns with a kick,” Brown said of Under Armor’s UA Base 4.0 leggings and shirts. “Lots of guys who work offshore wear them during the winter.
“They are really, really great, and they last forever. They are a huge seller.”
According to Brown, the undergarments provide both cold and wind protection for the wearer, which is important to both deer and waterfowl hunters.
This year is also the first year Sportsman’s Closet will also stock ladies UA base sets.
Duck decoys are also a popular item at the shop, and hunters can find stationary and moving decoys from brands like Greenhead, Mojo and Flambeau.
“We sell out of decoys every year, so we doubled our order for this year,” Brown said.

Guy Fontenot at Double Action Outdoor Sports
Hot Items: One and Done Game Feeders and Hard Core decoys

“We had some hunters come in and preorder the One and Done Game Feeders,” Fontenot said. “We will be getting some (to stock at the store), and we can order some more.”
“We are the only place in south Louisiana to carry this feeder.”
The feeders are made by Jeff Christie of Deville and some of the more popular features of the deer feeder are that it is welded, holds up to 250 pounds of corn, is predator — raccoon, hog and bear — resistant and is made of 18 gauge steel.
 Double Action Outdoor Sports also has Hard Core Decoys in stock this hunting season.
“They are good looking, very realistic,” Fontenot said. “The are also very durable, which is one of the biggest things about Hard Core Decoys. Lots of other decoy brands chip.”