About this Do-rag...

I think The Rack Report may have been live all of 30 seconds before an e-mail appeared in my inbox from CJ Davis. CJ is a PR guy for companies like Nikon, Winchester and ThermaCell. I haven't known him long, but often, when he e-mails me, it's to ask if I want a free box of ammunition or to field test something cool, like a new rangefinder. So, with a smile on my face, I opened his message and read this: "A do-rag?"

Sigh and chuckle.

After a few more inquiries from buddies and folks who've been reading the blog and looked at my profile, it's time to address this do-rag matter.

I developed a fierce hatred for face masks early in life. I was in the eighth grade, and it was my first-ever year bowhunting. One mid-October afternoon, as I was sitting in a ground blind, a small 8-pointer crept up behind me. It was the first deer I'd ever had in bow range with a bow in my hand. I was shaking like an old Geo Metro running 90 down Interstate 40, but somehow managed to begin the process of drawing my bow. During this process, my kisser button snagged my face mask and turned it completely around on my head as I finished the drawing cycle. There I stood, at full draw, 15 yards from what could have been my first-ever deer with a bow (and a decent little buck at that), and unable to shoot because I couldn't see anything more than a hazy shadow through the mask's mesh. After that, I switched to face paint and have never looked back.

Trouble with face paint, especially in the early season, is it comes off when mixed with sweat. A cap contains sweat to a degree, but, as I discovered in college, it's not nearly as effective as a camo do-rag. Plus, a cap has a bill that can get in the way when drawing a bow as well. In fact, I know lots of folks who turn their caps around backwards while hunting (ahem, Jake).

I remember the first time I tied on a do-rag before heading out to go bowhunting. Michelle, my wife (fiance at the time) and I were living in a college dormitory. She looked at me, laughed and said I looked like a "redneck thug." How often is it a lady passes along that kind of compliment?

And so it's come to be--I wear do-rags while bowhunting, and have done so for several years. Plus, I'm a little guy. And they kind of make me feel like Rambo.

-Will Brantley