I've been bow hunting for quite some time now and bow season starts here on september first. I've just started using some different attractants this year. Usually I just put out a pile of cracked corn and the deer came right in (legal in my state to bait deer for bowhunting.) I decided to try the c'mere deer spray and some buck bran. Any of you bow hunters ever try these? If so do they work? Thanks.
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I don't have anything against baiting. Especially with burgeoning herds going well beyond carrying capacity. Having said that, this is what MY opinion on bait and scents is. Bait tends to attract the young and the dumb. Much like those who come on here to ask a question without looking in the archives, young/hungry deer tend to come directly into bait. If you're looking for tender venison, that's the place. Scents are one of the biggest gimmicks we hunters fall for. September is too early for the pretentious and the precocious to be attracted to them. You're better off with apple spray (if apples are a natural food source for your local deer) or some HUMAN scent eliminator. The good deer and the mature deer are always late to dinner this time of year. Find a good food to bedding trail, find a tree about 100 yards off the food plot that's 20 or so yards OFF the trail, and climb that one. This gives your late arrivals time to be shot inside the woods before they make their late twilight appearance.
I ask hunters who swear by XXX name brand scents: What happens if everyone else in the woods is using it at the same time. Why should the deer come to YOUR scent and not anothers. The old Indian adage about "make no tracks" will always work on whitetails. They have to eat, they have to water, and they have to bed down. When you get anywhere in the middle of that scenario UNDETECTED, your opportunities are going to improve vastly. And when these places change with the seasons, and they WILL change with the seasons, you have to adapt as well.
Come November and the rut, however, all bets are off. Deer are just as stupid as these taxidermists when a woman asks a question here.
Yes there are apple trees around where I hunt. People don't use many namebrand scents and I've heard that they really work in my area. Thanks for the input George.
you must be a fairly successful deer hunter. I agree with you 100%, keep it simple. being more careful of your own scent and trying to "hold it down" will increase your odds a lot more than splashing a lot of other scents all over the woods.
getting a little anxious for bow season to open myself.
Good Luck to All
I can tell, you have spent some time chasing whitetails.
for elk; esp. early in Sept before the rut. Right on answer and post George
Just pick up any archery hunting related mag and they all say the same thing, 'cept they push the scents cause they are advertisers.
Scent elimination along with rubber boots is key to getting bow close to whitetails. A pile of apples and corn sure helps, but when you reak of Brut by Faberge even an entire orchard aint gonna help you.
When the rut is on. I use a hanging wick with "Still Steamin" or "Special Golden Estrus". They are the only two scents I've ever used with success on nice bucks..(over 140).
I ONLY use these two between Oct 31 and Nov 20th, but depends on the area for the timing of the rut. I'm in Northwestern WI, so the peak usually occurs on or about the second week of Nov.
When you place it, be sure to keep it low to the ground (for bowhunting). I've had trouble hanging it 3 feet or higher, because when that big one comes in, they always stop and sniff your scent wick, but if you have it 3 feet or higher, they pick up their head to smell it, which gives them a direct view of you in the tree.
Like George stated, hunt the bedding area to feeding area routes.
Always use rubber boots, and wash your clothes in some kind of scent free wash on a regular basis. I only put my hunting clothes on after I have arrived at my hunting spot, and up until then, they are in a rubbermaid tote filled with leaves, soil, and some vegetation. I gind them right down in to the dirt and leaves, and have great luck with that. I've yet to buy a scent lock getup because I haven't had to by using this method.
As for the bait, as George said, you will see many deer, but not the 3 1/2 plus variety very often. In fact, you will be patterned by the older bucks, and most likely they won;t hit until you're gone.
I personally feel that the bait method is for the lazy folks out there. If you have any idea on where to place a stand, and how to blend into the environment, you will have better sucess, and you will have a better sense of accomplishment when you hook up with a big one.
One more thing I do, is to have a stand or two set up right in a bedding area, right down in the nasty stuff. I ONLY hunt these stands during the rut, since even if I bump deer trying to get there in the morning, it doesn;t matter. I sit from daylight to dark and never get out of the stand, and sooner or later during the rut period, a nice buck will be coming through checking for hot does. LIke I said, it is imperative to not hunt these stands at all until the time is right, or you have the does run out of there.
Good luck this fall!
I should clairfy my "lazy" comment. For those of you who are getting up there in age, or anyone else for that matter that cannot get around in the woods like they used to, I think that the baiting scenario seems perfectly fine.
I was referring to the younger guys out there like me with my previous comment.
I think this post got way off track. for one thing I asked if anyone had tried those two "food" attractants. I don't own scent lock clothing either and I change when I get to my hunting area. I don't own a pair of rubber boots but instead wear my hunting boots to bowhunt. And about the baiting, theres no way you'd get a deer here in north dakota if you didn't bait. Most of the deer like to stay in the hills, cattails, and row crops. There aren't a whole lot of trees in my area and the deer ain't to fond of staying in them so you have to give them a little incentive to come to your stand. Thank.
Apples and corn, like yelling free candy in a school yard, works that good early season, with does and fawns, maybe scrub bucks.
Invest in the rubber boots, I made the switch a few years ago and wouldn't be caught dead without them.
You dont need trees to bowhunt deer, they can and are very shootable from the ground. It's just different tactics.
Main thing is, hunt where the deer are. If they are in the hills, cattails, and row crops, then hunt THERE.
Best bet would be to hunt along trails leading up to food sources. At least a hundred yards away. That way you'll more than likely have ample shooting light when the big ones stroll by, since they're usually the last to arrive for dinner.
good luck
If you put out bait and shoot a deer over it, you're not hunting, you're watching a bait pile. Everyone around here says the same thing, you can't get a deer without bait! Just because it makes it easier doesn't mean it can't be done without it. If you follow some of George's advice and others about scent control, and make yourself a predator, you can do it. And you will find that it is much more satisfying and rewarding. But if you like to bait, go for it, just don't tell us it's hunting.
Mike
Is being a stander on a pheasant drive hunting? After all, your just loafing around waiting for a bird to fly by. Same could apply to dove hunting. Since we're talking standing, same could apply to deer hunting. Most people hunt bear over bait or as you would say, watch a garbage can. You can use the same argument against duck and geese hunting, cept they are just looking for company or a good place to eat.
It's a shame people cant let go of they're petty differences and focus on the bigger issues that face us as hunters, trappers, fishers, and outdoorsmen, not just what they may or may not like.
Hell, if you really wanna argue, lets gripe about crossbows in archery only seasons, that'll really get someones panties in a twist.
Shoot straight and often,
D
I`ve trapped enough years to know that using scents can be very productive...it`s the number one way that all mammals communicate in the woods. The problem is most people don`t use the right one`s at the right time...I personally have been using Jackie`s deer lures for about 10 years...Jackie is a friend of mine I met through the internet that has about a 150 deer that he uses for his urine specimens...Most brands you buy at wal-mart are watered down, synthetic, or rabbit wiz...jackie`s is 100% no additives AT ALL...if you want to smell the difference just buy ya some and open it up and take a wiff(OUTSIDE)I have seen bucks and does go crazy over my mock scrapes and drag lines.You can google search for jackie`s on the internet..I also harvest does as the rut gets near and remove their bladder and dump it into a zip-lok until I get home..
I mean getting some animal over to the trap using scents and baits is sooo unfair... I guess we trappers should be hunting these animals huh? Cause baiting and scents and all is not good according to Mike...
I usually just make my own lures for trapping. I usually stockpile all of the northern pike "leftovers" in mason jars. Let it sit for a couple weeks. Smells so bad you have to hold your breath when you're dumping it out. Canines, coons, and skunks sure like it though.
hey that cmeer deer atracts older bucks as wellas the young! i did my own tests with that stuff and you could spray a thorn bush and they will eat it!sprayed a patch of grass up under a small tree and got a little on the tree.well they ate the patch of grass and the tree.wife was a little upset.so you can put that cmeer deer on eny thing . happy huntin!
Some of us dont want to share the public land with 10,000 nuts ..so if you have a nice small private land of 40-60 acres and put some feeders out your just helping feed the animals and giving them a reason to stay in that area. plus we have a bag limit here, so what the heck its meat on the table and if your real lucky a mount on the wall... You hunt your deer I'll hunt mine..
i personaly prefer food plots over corn deer rumans are funny things you have to be carefull when feeding introduse slowly to many baits to quick can affect there health. whatever you chose to feed try to put out before season when the have more choices so they can adjust to the new diet! i try not to say what is not hunting because our sport is under constant scrutiny and statements made in haste can run off a potential bowhunter . i love our sport and hope others can enjoy it as well!
speaking from experience (and hunting around the area that the beatty buck was taken) george makes a good point yet I use even less then that. washing your gear and clothes in baking soda kills all scent and leaves no trace! period! no attractants are nesscessary just good reliable basics, find deer trails (they do leave those behind them everywhere they go),and points of entry and exit of the area, food and water source, find a reliable tree and USE A COMFORTABLE CLIMBING TREESTAND! I use the treelounge to put in long hours (8hrs+)
perched 15ft. or more with the wind in your face sit back and wait constantly hunting the area (not touching any limbs on the way in and out you won't have to worry about over pressuring the area! cut your path to your stand early in the season and remove the leaves as to get to the tree queitly ) put on your final layer of gear before leaving the car! if you have't to use scent cover earth scent is best. during the rut I use local brand boar's head 100% doe n'heat bottle straight form the doe only when in esterus no extra chemical or preserves. try it! their in wilmington, Ive literally been chase by deer NO BULL! it has not failed yet 2 does on opening day and
8point droptine buck on public hunting property on the rut in one season. with this info you wont need luck! key point just think scent!