Cabin Fever

Dr. Kroll has lost a lot of stock in the deer hunting community, the way he pimps his Buck Forage Oats. So he doesn't believe that you can lay a scent trail of deer urine and have a buck follow it in then huh? Wow, then he needs to tell the millions of guys that do it successfully every year! To each their own.

Thats too bad! Cool looking buck.

A beauty! Congrats!

Congrats! Nice buck!!

I was seeing decent daytime activity, hunting and especially with trailcams, UNTIL earlier this week. Zero, zippo, nadda on any (cams or hunting) daytime activity! I hunt alot. Been out 21 times, on one property or another, and the season has only been open for 20 days so far. Maybe the lack of daytime activity has to do with the upcoming full moon next week or maybe it's just the calm before the storm? You would think that at least the young immature bucks that are just itching to get out there and tear into a doe for the first time would be on the move, looking for love.

It wasn't dark and didn't reek of amonia, like the store bought stuff.

I visited a local whitetail farm yesterday that collects deer urine daily, North Country Products in Lyons owned by John Bacon. After talking with John a bit, I bought some Peak of Estrus scent. I asked John how fresh it was and he said that it was collected less than 24 hours ago! John showed me some of his deer, including one monsterous buck! I went out yesterday afternoon and dragged a scent trail along the edge of a thicket to one of my stands. I sat for 4 hours before dark, but never saw a deer. I tried to remain optimistic about the scent and thought, if the deer aren't moving, and the wind isn't blowing into the thicket to carry the scent, they just aren't smelling it to follow it in. I went in this morning and checked a trailcam that I had set up overlooking the edge of the thicket, where I laid the scenttrail the evening before. I got pics of this new 8pt, pacing back and forth, nose to the ground, a few hours later searching for that "doe"! Granted, I am not singing the praises of these scents just yet, but I will say that this is more positive reaction than I've gotten out of any other scents that I've tried so far. He said that he distributes to ~40 shops. If you're interested, his # is 315-946-4976.

Very nice! Must have had quite a time running through the woods with that on his head!

Kind of sporatic. I've seen some decent activity one day, then go for days and not see another deer! I am seeing small bucks harassing does. Not running HARD, but just chasing/almost messing with them. The cams are showing decent daytime activity also, including at scrapes (I've posted a few nice scrape videos). Just posted a scrape video from yesterday and the buck was hitting it at 11:51AM. I think things will pop, soon. It was looking like afternoon hunts provided more activity for me, but this morning I saw 7 deer. Pathetic for some, but a record for me!

Kind of sporatic. I've seen some decent activity one day, then go for days and not see another deer! I am seeing small bucks harassing does. Not running HARD, but just chasing/almost messing with them. The cams are showing decent daytime activity also, including at scrapes (I've posted a few nice scrape videos). Just posted a scrape video from yesterday and the buck was hitting it at 11:51AM. I think things will pop, soon. It was looking like afternoon hunts provided more activity for me, but this morning I saw 7 deer. Pathetic for some, but a record for me!

Just called 2 big does and 4 fawns in this morning. I've had almost as good of luck in the past calling in bucks using a doe grunt/bleat as I have with buck grunts. Figured if their out there looking for does, I'll give them a "doe". I saw a small buck run a doe and 3 fawns into a thicket this morning about 80 yards away. I doe grunted and about 2 minutes later, I had a doe and fawn ~50 yards in front of me looking and smelling for the other "doe", then wandered off. About 20 minutes later, I hit the doe grunt again. I looked out in front of me again and there was a doe and 3 fawns ~50 yards away, staring in my direction looking for the "doe". They stood there awhile, then turned and went back into the thicket.

Neat video. Thought I'd share. I love having video cams on scrapes right now!!

Congrats! And good job finding her! Always tense when blood trail is sparce.

I put a new stand up before season. My 16 year old son (who has never gotten a deer with his bow or has even had the opportunity to shoot at one for that matter) planned on hunting it this afternoon after school. I thought just to get him excited, I would put a trailcam in the foodplot 25 yards out and face his stand. That way he could see what has passed within his shooting range. I just put the cam out yesterday. I checked it today and got a shock to see the BIG 10pt (that I've gotten pics of by 4 of my stands now!) passing by ~18 yards from the stand last night, not long after I drove out of camp! LOL He is just itching for an arrow!! I just found an active scrape ~50 yards away from where he is standing in the corner of this foodplot. I moved the cam there today in order to get some new scrape videos and see who's coming out to play! I'm attaching a blank pic also, so you can see his 15 yard marker (orange ribbon) and the stand is directly above it in the pic! In the pic with the buck, you can see the 15 yard marker on his left.

Scrape Video. This was at 2:50pm. Interesting that many bucks seem to be more interested in the overhanging licking branch than freshening the scrape itself. Pretty common.

Do a search here and some reading here. http://www.qdma.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=16 These guys are a wealth of info about planting trees, habitat improvement, etc... I have crabapple trees on my property. They are magnets! I've seen deer come out of the thicket/bedding area early and "trot" to the crabapple trees to get first dibs on apples that have fallen during the day! Last week, I watched a doe stand under the tree, staring up in it at the hanging apples, either taking inventory of remaining hanging apples or "subliminaly" trying to make some drop!

WOW! Very nice!!

Nice pics!

Great buck! Congrats!!

Single lung hit deer can go a long ways, if thats where shes hit. I've seen a massive bloodtrail for 60 or so yards then just keep petering out until you only see a drop or so every few yards.

Is this the guy in Lyons??

Thanks. Do you know if you can buy his products right there at the farm?

LOL!!! Can we guess?? There's one that sure sticks out in my mind!!

Does this guy have a website? Been searching for North Country Products in Lyons (correct?), but not finding a website? Found an address. Can you just spot by and purchase?

Very nice! And daytime movement to boot!!