ScentLok has been in the deer hunting apparel game for a long time – over 30 years, in fact. From day one, the company sought out input from the smartest, most experienced hunters across the country.
One of those experts is Michigander John Eberhart, a 72-year-old who’s been bow hunting since 1965, hunting almost exclusively on public lands on knocking on doors to access free permission properties.
“I don’t own any land,” volunteers Eberhart. “And I’ve never leased anything. I’ve never paid a dime down any place. I don’t hunt over food plots, and I’ve never hunted over bait. I like hunting against competition because on free permission properties – there are always other people who knock on doors, too.”
What’s amazing is that despite Eberhart’s strict hunting methodology, he has logged the most bow bucks (35) in Michigan’s record book, a state with the second most licensed bow deer hunters, only bested by Pennsylvania.
Besides hunting Michigan early to late season, Eberhart leaves during the state’s one-week gun season, typically traveling to saddle hunt public and free permission lands in Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri. Camping out of what he calls a “soccer mom mini-van”, Eberhart’s goal at each destination is to spend as much time saddled 25-feet or more up trees, returning home with another mega buck for the trophy room.
“So, I’m usually hunting out-of-state one week of the year. Since 1997, I’ve killed 20 book bucks in those states, too, making for a total of 55 book bucks. And all of those have been taken off public or free permission properties,” offers Eberhart.
“Before smartphone apps and aerial mapping, all of the farmers used to go down and talk to the ladies at the county seat, so that’s where I would start my search for huntable land. I’d order plat books and ask those ladies if they knew of anyone who let bow hunters access their land. One lady in Missouri said, ‘Yeah, I know a farmer that lets people hunt and she gave me his number and I called him and he owned 40 acres where nobody was hunting. He owned something like 3000 acres, but he had 40 sitting by itself and he said, ‘Yeah, I’ll let you bow on that.’ So I went down there during their gun season, and I shot a book buck off that property. That’s how I’ve always done things,” notes Eberhart.
The Eberhart/ScentLok Saddle Hunter Jacket & Pant Design Collaboration
ScentLok’s Saddle Hunter jacket leverages ScentLok’s 30+ years of apparel knowledge and John Eberhart’s 40+ years of saddle hunting experience to deliver a garment that is tailormade to deliver comfort and performance. A deadly quiet soft fleece paired with WindBrake® windproof membrane and thermal-mapped Thinsulate® insulation helps you stay warm and comfortable, while ScentLok’s Carbon Alloy™ technology helps to control your odor to avoid detection.
“The latest saddle hunting apparel redesign – the ScentLok Saddle Hunter Jacket and Pant – incorporates everything I’ve learned over the years saddle hunting,” says Eberhart.
“It was designed primarily for saddle hunting and it’s good for cold weather, which we’re getting into now. Ideal hunting temps are between 20 and 35 degrees.”
With regards to features Eberhart made sure ScentLok designers put in include higher, easy-to-access pockets, specific collar requirements, extremely quite fabric—obviously, scent blocking—comfort and warmth for late-season saddle hunts.
’The pockets in the jacket are a little bit higher up in the chest area than the slash pockets on a regular hunting jacket,” says Eberhart.
“When you’re in a saddle, the saddle kind of comes around in front of you and it’s up to about your waist—where the top of a belt would be, if not a little bit higher—and it comes around the front of you. So that can make it hard to access regular slash pockets in a regular jacket.”
To fix that—per Eberhart’s requests—ScentLok raised the pockets a couple inches. So, they’re easy to get to, and you can get your hands in over the top of the saddle.
“Another design feature I asked for is a jacket collar that’s short in front, which, when you’re a bow hunter, you’re turning your head all the time looking around you. The collars on most jackets are about two inches too tall in the front and when you’re turning your head, it can scrape your neck. To fix this, ScentLok’s collar is about ¾-inch in the front. But, then as it moves under your chin and under your ears, it rises in the back to about 3-inches to effectively block the wind from coming down the back of your neck. Plus, to give you extra scent coverage, there’s carbon in the collar, too,” continues Eberhart.
While the jacket was designed specifically for saddle hunters, that doesn’t mean that stand hunters can’t make use of it. Eberhart adds: “We also added a tree safety harness port in the top of the jacket in the back.”
Eberhart adds: “Besides the obvious warm and quite fleece exterior and interior, the jacket also features a polyurethane membrane, so it’s windproof, and the jacket has a shirt tail hem, so the back of the jacket rides down a little bit lower to overlap your pants, providing more wind blockage and scent control coverage. It also has a cell phone pocket on the front left chest portion of the jacket.”
Also designed in tandem with Eberhart, he’s issued his stamp of approval on the final version of what he asked for in the ultimate saddle hunting pant.
“Besides the fleece, polyurethane, windproof membrane, and carbon alloy liner, I really wanted saddle hunting pants with leg zippers that extended just past the knee for getting boots on and off easier. The pants also have removable knee pads, which are important because when you’re in a saddle, you’re facing the tree, so your knees are constantly leaning in, so the pads help eliminate getting sore. The pants also have a two-way fly zipper so you can zip the fly from the bottom up or from the top down. When you’re saddled in a sitting position most pants tend to bunch up there. It can be hard to reach up and grab the zipper and pull it down; with this design, you just reach down and pull up it up.”
Another feature he really likes? The quick-adjust waist belt.
“You just grab the waist belt tab end like on a backpack strap and pull it to tighten up the pants, which have belt loops, too,” adds Eberhart.
Eberhart concludes: “The pants also have fleece-lined leg and front pockets that reach to the top of your thighs. We eliminated back pockets because anytime you’re hunting out of a saddle, back pockets become pressure points. The back of the pant does have a little rise on it, which helps with wind and scent, too.”