Autumn in Texas: Storing and Preserving Your Hunting Gear
September 3, 2024 | Lifestyle
As the various Texas hunting seasons begin and end throughout the fall, there’s more to storing your hunting gear than simply locking them up in your shed or safe until you need them next. Without proper maintenance and storage techniques, you may damage your hunting clothing, your hunting rifles can rust, or your bows may fray.
For your peace of mind, we’ve compiled expert tips for preserving your hunting gear so your fall hunting season in Texas goes off without a hitch.
How To Store Hunting Clothes
A bit more goes into storing hunting clothes than your run-of-the-mill t-shirts and jeans. Take essential steps to properly care for your camo attire so you can wear it for several years instead of replacing it frequently.
Washing Your Hunting Clothes
Unlike other clothing items, you don’t necessarily want your hunting apparel to emerge from the washer smelling fresh and clean. Standard detergents contain fragrances that ward off game and may also include ultraviolet brighteners visible to wild animals, making your camouflage ineffective.
Consider investing in a scent-free sportsman’s wash, which, while pricier, is proven effective. However, if these detergents don’t fit into your budget, wash your hunting clothes in baking soda to eradicate the scents of the previous season.
Effective Hunting Clothes Storage Methods
Now that your clothes have been cleaned, it’s important to note they shouldn’t be stored in the same manner as other seasonal storage you may have. Here are some tips to keep in mind as you put your apparel away:
- Keep it away from other clothes. Avoid undoing the work you did washing your hunting clothes by storing them apart from clothing washed in regular detergents.
- Inventory and inspect your items. Ensure you haven’t torn, outgrown, or worn through any clothing, as now is the prime time to repair or replace them.
- Turn it out. Once thoroughly dried, flip your clothes inside out to help deter fading during storage.
- Store it inside sealed containers. Place your hunting clothes inside plastic containers or scent-free bags, putting them somewhere unlikely to be opened.
- Add some natural aromas. If you’d like, you can put pine needles or cedar chips in with your clothes to maintain an outdoor smell while they await the next hunting season.
- Choose an isolated space. Keep your hunting clothes somewhere cool, dark, and away from strong smells, such as a shed, garage, or in personal storage.
As the most vital and expensive part of your hunting arsenal, taking proper care of your firearms is essential to being a responsible hunter. Being diligent about caring for your gun prolongs its durability and helps prioritize safety.
Ways To Clean Hunting Rifles
Before placing your firearms in storage, they need a thorough cleaning to prevent issues like rust. We recommend the following steps for cleaning your hunting rifles:
- Unload your firearm. To avoid any chance of an accident, fully unload your firearm and store ammunition elsewhere before beginning to clean.
- Disassemble your gun. Using your firearm’s manual as a guide, carefully disassemble your gun so you can clean all parts individually.
- Scrub the bore. Clean off the bore using bore solvent on a patch, using several patches or a brass brush for especially dirty bores. Wipe it down with a gun oil-soaked patch once finished.
- Clean the action. Use a small scrubbing brush, such as a toothbrush, and a spray bottle of synthetic gun oil to clean out the action, wiping away excess oil once completed.
- Care for the exterior. Wipe down the gun’s exterior using an anti-corrosion treatment, and remove debris build-up using a brush. Finish it off using a damp cloth.
Thoroughly inspect your guns for any damage in case anything needs to be replaced. Otherwise, you risk poor performance next season and an increased likelihood of a hunting accident occurring. Once you’ve inspected them, finding a secure place to keep your firearms is vital.
- Put safety first. Your firearm should be inaccessible to anyone who isn’t you. Lock it away in a secure gun locker, and triple-check that it’s been unloaded.
- Keep it dry. Excess humidity can lead to rust and corrosion, so use a gun sleeve. Keeping firearms inside a climate-controlled storage locker will be ideal. Otherwise, store with a bucket of desiccants to draw away moisture.
- Place the barrel up. Always store the barrel facing up to avoid warping the metal under the gun’s weight over time.
- Remove accessories. Before locking them up, remove any slings, magazines, or other accessories that can corrode and trap moisture over time.
Storage for Other Hunting Equipment
Organization is critical to effectively storing your miscellaneous hunting gear. Remove their batteries after ensuring all electronics, such as GPS, radios, and walkie-talkies, are in good working order. Sharpen knives, wipe down optics, and carefully clean boots. Everything should be organized and kept somewhere easily accessible so nothing goes missing come next season.
Lock up Your Hunting Gear at Metro Self Storage
When it comes to storage for hunters, finding somewhere secure and reliable is of the utmost importance. Metro Self Storage offers climate-controlled storage rental so you can keep your valuable hunting equipment somewhere dependable and temperature-regulated. Whether you’d like a 5×5 storage unit locker or a larger space for additional seasonal storage, we’ve got you covered.
Find us at a storage facility in Texas today, or contact us to learn more about our available options! If you need to discover your storage solution elsewhere in the United States, see our complete list of Metro Self Storage locations.
