Scent Lures & Rutting

[Twenty Up]

Curious as to how you guys utilize scent lures during the Rut, if at all.

[mauser06]

I used to a lot...


Ive had some good success using stuff off a smaller company (Paul Pollicks).

But I'm done with it and calling...


The other day I was in my stand...I had 2 does, 2 fawns and a 1.5yo 3 point pass by...I could still see them 50yds behind me..

I heard a grunt and it wasn't any of those deer...

I grunted back. Same tone...

All 5 of the deer i was watching threw their tails up and trotted away. Why???


A half hour passes and I spot a buck down on the bottom quad trail..maybe a 2.5yo. Dark is falling..he's walking away...figured I'd grunt..

I did and he trotted off!

Last year I had a decent buck pass by. I couldn't get a shot so I tried grunting him back...he took off like someone shot at him..

I've had some luck calling as well...but after those experiences...it's one less thing to carry....


I know calling can be a deadly tactic...but how many deer high tail it that we don't see???


Why are all those deer spooking at a simple grunt??? Not down wind...not seeing me. Just at the noise of a simple grunt...



I did trick a mature buck..the only buck older than 2.5yo ive had luck with scents...as a last ditch effort I waited for the wind to blow kinda sorta the direction I thought he was bedding...during the rut...I completely saturated the air with buck urine/tarsal and estrous...I mean it smelled like a deer farm...I was misting as I needed the spot..misting as I climbed.. periodically i misted while I waited...he came in hard nose in the air...no doubt that's what brought him in... unfortunately i had a target peep and learned that lesson...now with my new setup I'd have no issues...he got to walk at 5yds..


Again, I've seen especially does spook at scents...well..when the rut is kicking and scents are effective I don't wanna spook does....



If I use anything now it's just buck tarsal urine...seems like the doe estrous spooked does and I don't know why. The buck stuff seems to be alright...the 5 I watched the other evening ...i knew I had to cross a trail they might use...I sprayed my boots and then the trail with buck tarsal. The big ole nanny's hit my trail and stopped for a few minutes but finally decided everything was fine...the 3 point crossed down wind of me and never batted an eye...



It all has a place I guess....but I'm done with it..less stuff to buy and carry....

[ Post made via Android ]

[Twenty Up]

Thanks for the informative response, funny you mention grunting spooking deer. I've witnessed the exact same thing, I've seen does take off and had a decent size 2.5yo buck pass by maybe 60 yards and I hit a light grunt to see his reaction. He stopped, looked back then picked up the pace a little bit trotting off.

All of the times mentioned were early season or late season. I've rarely used scents to be honest, I've used a few local scents that guys always swore by but I never saw any deer react differently to it. I have noticed deer come in on trail camera to Bowhunter's Fatal Obsession and they'll stick there nose in for 3-4 days checking it out.. Besides that I've never had much luck with scents.

This year with our Rut beginning to kick in I bought some Tink's #69 Doe in Rut lure as well as Tink's Power Scrape for a camera site. Mostly out of curiosity to see if it works, during the rut in particular.

My thought behind this is if you put yourself in a good spot, down wind of doe bedding, travel corridors, funnels, etc.. you could throw some of this down and have a good spot to stop the buck for a shot.

That's my plan at least..

[mauser06]

I've never had any sort of luck with anything you can buy on a store shelf...smell that opposed to the stuff I use and it's night and day...unless they've changed since then...


Most that stuff smells like sewage or ammonia...not like DEER.



I agree..getting one to stop and hang out can be the hardest part of the rut....

[ Post made via Android ]

[Dewey]

Any scents sold in the stores are generally very low quality. Best luck I had was fresh doe in heat bottled and shipped the same day to my door. It was pretty incredible how many bucks it attracted but problem was they always came from downwind and more often than not winded me. I'm sure some have a good technique to using scents and are successful but these days I prefer to hunt without them.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[stash59]

I've always been a scent fanatic ever since the Wensels and Roger Rothare talked about using them. Back in the early 80's. Straight urine is usually just a gimmick. It starts to ammonianize once let go. This continues even after bottling. Some companies add stuff to combat this. It helps but it still has an unnatural smell. To the deer.

The best scents are lures similar to what trappers use. They have lots of glands in them. Pollick's is a good brand. So is James Valley. That's what the Wensels used years ago.

Like has been pointed out on here by Dan and others. Pressured mature bucks and all pressured deer are different animals. Than their nonpressured relatives. They are just way more cautious. So bad scents are going to alert them. Maybe even the better ones too!

I'm still fairly new to Beast style hunting. So this year all I've been doing is adding Preorbital gland to the licking branch of scrapes and a buck tarsal or buck sex gland lure to scrapes themselves. Just the ones I happen to pass by. Most of these are in areas that human activity isn't out of the norm. My theory is it can't hurt getting the buck or bucks. Thinking a new buck is intruding on their area. Which may get the bucks on their feet earlier. Heading to these scrapes that will be hit after dark.

I have yet to see if the bucks have rehit any of the scrapes I've doctored up!!!! I'll post the results later.