It’s been nearly 10 years since I watched a 150-class 10-pointer sniff the air before turning tail and slinking away from me on Maryland’s bow season opener. But the sting is as fresh today as it was on that sultry, late-summer evening.

I had this buck’s evening pattern nailed. He would leave a bedding thicket every night about an hour before dark and follow four younger bucks out to what was then a soybean field. The group of bucks always meandered down the same trail, over which I hung a stand in a tulip poplar.

The 10-pointer was clearly the leader of the pack, but he always brought up the rear heading out to the field. He had tall tines, sweeping beams and good mass and I wanted that rack for my wall. I was so confident he’d maintain his daily pattern on opening day, I mentally eyed a few places around the house where I’d like to hang that buck’s antlers before I ever hunted him.

Big mistake.

Opening day arrived and I arrived at the farm a good four hours before I expected the buck to make his appearance. It was hot and muggy as it always is in mid September in Maryland. There was a slight breeze out of the East and the stand I wanted to hunt was set up for a West wind.

I didn’t care. Nothing was going to keep me out of that stand. I figured I’d suit up in my Scentblocker gear, spray everything liberally and hope for the best. Digging around in my pack, I realized my head cover was nowhere in sight. That worried me, but it didn’t keep me from climbing into my stand.

Like clockwork, the parade of bucks began around 6:30 p.m. Each of the four young bucks walked right under my perch without ever showing any concern for danger. I glued my eyes to the thicket and, sure enough, Mr. Big stepped out.

He took a few steps through the brush to get on the trail, directly downwind from me and then my heart sank. He stopped dead in his tracks, tilted his head back and started licking the air to scoop unseen particles into his nose. Game over. Typical of a mature 4.5-year-old buck, I never saw that deer again until February, when the season was closed.

Clearly, the wind was wrong and I shouldn't have ignored that fact. Not having my head cover sealed my fate. With upwards of 50% of scent coming from above my shoulders, the buck's nose was sure to find me.

Whether you smell like perfume, cologne or sweat, people stink. That’s a fact. And nothing on a person is capable of giving off more stink than your head, hands and feet.

Humans have as many as five million secretary glands in their skin. Eccrine glands are found throughout the body, with the greatest concentrations in the head, feet and hands. Eccrine glands are capable of secreting as much as four liters of sweat in one hour. Yes, most of that sweat is water, but it also contains odor-producing organic and inorganic substances – including ammonia and several acids - that you can deposit on everything you touch, and the odor of which can be whisked through the air by the slightest breeze.

Cover up! And pay particular attention to your feet, hands and head. Wear boots, such as the Scentblocker Dream Season Pro Knee Boot, and gloves, such as the XLTs, that will lock in your scent and not transmit those or other odors to the trail you take to your stand.

Any by all means, wear a carbon-lined head cover. As much as 50 percent of all human body odor comes from the head. Trust me, being a little warm is a far easier thing to deal with than watching the buck of your dreams walk out of your life after he gets a whiff of you.