Scents..be honest...

[growalot]

So early season and say hunting public land would you use a estrous scent if your into scents to peak a bucks curiosity ...with a couple of grunt and doe bleat can calls?

 

I won't use urine based scents here at home because the lease guys use them(mock scrapes and drips) and by week 3 when I want to use them.... they spook at the smell... so I actually use air fresheners for cars...cherry smell,green apple and mixed berry smells..some times scented oils in canisters. anise that I hang....curiosity is what brings them I think...mostly doe

[HuntOrBeHunted]

I only used scents long enough to teach me that it wasn't worth it, imo. When rut comes around I will hunt were I saw the most doe and hope their natural smells stir things up.

 

My hunting gear is outside on the ground right now and thats were it will be until early bow. Works well.

[upstatehunter]

I know where I hunt on state land there is to much hunting pressure for scents to work in my opinion.

[phade]

I use scents off and on. Most often it is with a decoy setup now the 1 or 2x a year I use one. Every once in a great while I'll run a drag line when I feel the chasing is picking up. A buddy of mine seems to really like using them.

 

I'd say the large majority of times, they haven't been a positive factor for me. A few times, scents seemed to have a positive impact. But, that's just my interpretation. The buck I shot last year was over a decoy with scent, but he had sight, sound, and scent trying to tease him to come into range.

 

I should also clarify I'm using relatively fresh scent ordering it from the farm direct rather than your typical retailer stuff.

 

I wouldn't cry if they outlawed it like in Virginia, but its just one of those tools that makes hunting interesting sometimes.

 

 

[growalot]

Oh I will use the tail and or hocks from a doe or bow buck...More than once I have watched doe urinate on their hocks as well ...If I get a bow buck I will cut and freeze their hocks...and collect urine ...

 

PS hang pin/nail a deer tail to a tree just on the edge of a field on a windy day...then watch the traffic (bow only unless private)

Edited September 23, 2015 by growalot

[Jeremy K]

Just fox urine on my boots.

[phade]

Oh I will use the tail and or hocks from a doe or bow buck...More than once I have watched doe urinate on their hocks as well ...If I get a bow buck I will cut and freeze their hocks...and collect urine ...

 

I remember a doe peeing over a scrape and getting her hocks involved. She was single and had no fawn in tow. Five minutes later another doe and fawn (definitely different doe) came by on the same path heading same direction, and they scooted right by the scrape as if it was something they needed to get past in a hurry.

 

Doe interactions at scrapes for me have been rare, but pretty intriguing. Oddly enough, ones made around fruit or mast trees, never seem to get much action by the does that feed there.

Edited September 23, 2015 by phade

[growalot]

gives me a headache...

[upstatehunter]

Using a drag line seems like a fork in the road. How does the buck know what way to follow. Does he go in your direction or back the way you had come from

[phade]

Using a drag line seems like a fork in the road. How does the buck know what way to follow. Does he go in your direction or back the way you had come from

 

The same way he knows how to head toward the doe that is leaving a scent trail. They're not always right nor wrong, but creating a traffic pattern probably isn't a bad thing. Tough part is disproving scent effectiveness is equally as hard as trying to prove it works in that small % of time. It all comes down to observations and interpretations in real-world settings.

 

I've definitely seen bucks bird dog scent trails I've laid down before, eyes all rolled back in their head and drooling. Fun to watch. Is it a major part of my tool bag? Heck no. But after sitting all-days or grinding out 14 days in the woods in a row, sometimes breaking up the monotony is welcomed. I probably killed my buck last year that way, because I had already resigned myself to the potential of not shooting one after a pretty bad screw-up on my part earlier that week. What the heck, I'll break out the decoy and scents, etc.

[Two Track]

Once had two bucks come to the same film canister that had doe pee on the cotton balls in it - within 30 minutes of each other.  We had two bucks to drag out that morning.

 

The shots (one miss & one double-lung kill-shot) from dropping the first one did not deter the second one from coming in.  The rut was on.

[BizCT]

I don't use them. Tried a handful of times with no response

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[jjb4900]

Using a drag line seems like a fork in the road. How does the buck know what way to follow. Does he go in your direction or back the way you had come from

I don't know the science behind it, but they know......not much different then a hunting dog that is trained to chase animals, they know which way the animal traveled......but then again that is a live animal that the stronger the scent is the fresher the track scent is. I have blood tracking dachshunds that can tell which way a wounded deer went, and sometimes the track is cold, but they still know. I'm sure there is a good answer, but I don't have it.

[ants]

Estrous doe scents do work. I have killed several bucks that defiantly  were coming into it. The thing is, I think there is a very small window of opportunity when using this type of scent. My success with them has always been at peak rut, and with bucks that were prowling through sniffing, head up. Bucks chasing does or with their nose to the ground will not even notice it.

Early season I use a little straight doe pee. No estrus. I have had luck with that too.

[Lawdwaz]

Growie.....how exactly do you know they are using mock scrapes and drips if you despise these guys so much?

[G-Man]

No scents for me, maybe kischels goldenrod cover if I'm hunting on ground near crp field.

[NFA-ADK]

I think it depends on area and type of hunting.  Staying in one spot I think it works to a degree but many times it can spook the deer from what i have seen.  They know basically every deer in the area so when a new scent comes in one concentrated spot they sometimes pick up that it's not natural and spook.  Set up is everything.   

 

 I think that's funny how they come to check air fresheners!  If I really used them I would try to get them from 4 Season Whitetail or someone who had a deer farm.  The problem with them is if the guy down the road uses love potion #9 and you use something similar the deer will spook at your property because he was spooked at the other property with the exact same scent.  Getting it from a breeder is the best as long as its kept cool.  I would ask for interdigital scent, if you want to set up something unique that the hunter next door will not use or have, mock scrape time with interdigital AHH yes!  Sounds good anyway.  

 

I only use cover scent when still hunting maybe a little doe in heat to freshen up, lol j/k.   Best scents are common sense.

[jjb4900]

last year I used "ever calm", while I can't say it brought them in, I can say that every deer in range appeared comfortable and it certainly didn't spook any....I'll definitely use it again. 

[BigVal]

The scent of a fresh pile of apples that I placed in front of my stand but that's it. Lol but really I'll rarely use doe in heat during the beginning of November but that's it.

[SCbklyn]

I use doe in estrus end of oct to mid November. After and before that it's just cover scents.

[phade]

last year I used "ever calm", while I can't say it brought them in, I can say that every deer in range appeared comfortable and it certainly didn't spook any....I'll definitely use it again.

Ive had does lick that stuff off of a tree. Alao used the deer herd in a stick by a competitor. people rave about evercalm. Not sure why people will gamble on scents but be wary of other techniques and vice versa.

[nyslowhand]

Wish I had the money in hand I've spent on attractant scents over the years, from buck bomb, doe estrus (OTC & farm fresh), drag lines, Tinks 69, Code Blue, blah, blah.

 

If you take all the above posts and condense them it'll tell you what I've learnt over the years - they'll work in the right place at the right time, but nothing works all the time, everywhere! Short of having a real doe tied to a tree in front of your stand. lol

[WNY-Hunter]

I like to run a drag line late October until the end of bow season. Then I use scent sticks for gun season. Have had good luck with drag lines especially on Halloween. The scent sticks work just well enough to stop a moving buck long enough to get a good shot before they take off again. Hunting pressure is very low where I hunt during bow season, but come rifle season its like WW3. over 3k acres of state land and hundreds of hunters all over the place. I have a nice little spot that I have not seen another hunter in over 10 years, but the pressure all around just pushes them delicious animals over to me :-) 

[wooly]

I don't know the science behind it, but they know......not much different then a hunting dog that is trained to chase animals, they know which way the animal traveled......but then again that is a live animal that the stronger the scent is the fresher the track scent is. I have blood tracking dachshunds that can tell which way a wounded deer went, and sometimes the track is cold, but they still know. I'm sure there is a good answer, but I don't have it.

 

Nonsense... bucks are clueless which way a scent  trail is leading unless they got the lady in sight.

I couldn't tell you how many times I've seen a buck following the trail of a hot doe the wrong way when she ran by me with bucks in pursuit heading the other way.

More than 100x's that's for sure.

 

The secret is to make your move when you see that happen. They can come from either direction, but I've NEVER seen that kind of reaction to a drag rag compared to the real deal.

[Buckstopshere]

I use overhanging branches off from hot scrapes on other properties and move them around, mobile overhanging branches...that way they get freshened by bucks and does in different locations. I have had trail cameras on them for years and the mobile overhanging branch seems to be most effective scent I've found. I have experimented down through the years with lots of brands and setups...and probably still will. Part of the fun of bow hunting for me has been fooling around with different scent setups.