Think scent control isn’t important? Well, it’s what helped me fill my Pennsylvania buck tag Nov. 1.

Under the glow of a quarter moon that morning, I liberally sprayed my Dream Season suit, tree stand, backpack and everything else I planned to carry into the woods with me with Scent Shield Ti4 Titanium. Across the open grass field I trudged, stopping at the woods edge to prepare a scent drag.

I poured some doe-in-heat scent on a cotton wick, clipped the wick to my haul line and dragged it behind me as I walked to my stand site. On the way in, my clothes brushed against twigs and limbs. If not for the carbon lining and the Ti4 spray, I certainly would have been depositing my own scent on the very trail I hoped a buck would follow to my stand.

By 6:30 a.m., I was in my stand ready to go. Daylight seeped into the woods slowly on this frosty morning. By 7:15, I figured it was light enough to shoot, so I prepared to do my first calling sequence of the morning.

Before I made a peep, however, I looked behind me and saw a deer standing in the field at the spot where I had entered the woods. I grabbed my binoculars and pasted them to my face.

Antlers!

Decent ones, too.

My heart started thumping loudly when I realized this was a buck I’d like to take.

I thought about calling to the deer, but when he started to make his way into the woods, it was clear he was on my scent trail.

"As long as he doesn’t pick up my scent, he’s going to come right to my tree," I told myself.

So I kept quiet.

Slowly but surely the buck followed the scent trail I’d laid. He sniffed the ground and every piece of vegetation he could reach on both sides of the trail. Surely, he’d have spooked if he detected my presence at all.

But he didn’t. And when he offered me a 22-yard broadside shot, I released an arrow that struck him right behind the right shoulder.

The buck mule-kicked his hind legs in the air and plowed through the woods in front of my stand. After waiting about 45 minutes to calm my nerves and give the buck time to expire, I climbed down from my perch and took up the trail.

The tracking job was easy, and I was soon standing over my nine-point prize. The buck hunting is done in PA for me.

Woo-hoo!