I'm more into ritual that superstition, but I do have a few superstitions! After all, I am also a baseball player and that might be a more supertitious group than bowhunters!!! I have made a ritual out of my scent free/smoking up routine that I have come to enjoy almost as much as the hunt at times. I'll get the clothes going while I watch hunting videos and double check equipment. When it's time to fire up the smoker, I smoke my clothes while jamming to some tunes and drinking a beer or two. I store all my clothes in a Stanley Mobile Job Box and pack it according the the hunts that are coming up. This has become a Thursday night ritual since I spend the entire weekend in the woods from the start to the finish of the season.
The night before the season opener is a big meal of deer from the previous year and plenty of hunting videos on the TV. It's a way to get my game face on. I repeat this throughout the season prior to and during big weekends of hunting. The "pagentry" that surrounds camp is as much a part of what I do as anything and I'd feel like I short changed myself if I did not partake in such activities...
I also number my hunting arrows and will hunt with one as long as I am having good hunts. If I have what I deem a bad hunt, I move on to the next arrow in line. I always carry 3 broadheads, a small game head, and a field point.
I also carry my Schrade Uncle Buck knife at all times. My dad gave it to me when I first started hunting and I've gutted the vast majority of my deer with it. I'd feel lost without it.
I have a lucky rock that I keep in my baseball bag my buddies little girl gave me at a game one time. I carried it in my pack last year and plan to do the same this year.
In cold weather, I always wear my Under Armour hoodie. It becomes a superstition when the weather cools.
The last thing is that I always give thanks once I enter "hunt mode". It's the final stage of prepartaion...
