Bring in the deer with scents...
-- It makes better sense
by Kevin Lee McIver
There are two things in the mind of a
whitetail buck as he goes through his daily routine-food and sex. Since
sex is the half of the equation, it is here that you should concentrate on
this deer season.
A buck is ever eager to satisfy his lusty
desires; unfortunately, the female species aren't so inclined. The fact is
a doe will oblige the buck only when she is in estrus, or in a layman term
'heat". It is this period when she is willing to mate that the buck
is most vulnerable.
We know that during the "rut" as
deer hunters call it, that a whitetail buck will deviate from his normal
pattern and let his sense of security lapse to locate the doe in estrus
During the past ruts, I've seen bucks do some crazy things.
I've shot at them with muzzleloaders,
missed and had them come back to the same spot, even with the blackpowder
smoke still lingering in the air. I've seen them standing in fields,
prancing around and snorting while watching does in the distance. I would
shoot at them and they would just stand there, casting a mere glance in my
direction as bullet zinged past them (my marksmanship wasn't so good in
those days).
On another occasion, I got stuck between
does and a buck while hunting from a ground blind. The buck spotted me as
I fidgeted, trying to turn around to get a shot. Instead of running away,
he just snorted and kept looking at the does. As I raised my rifle, he
came charging through the woods and would have ran me over if I had not
gotten the shot off at the last second.
It is during the rut that sex scents or
lures are most effective. You know, those little glass and plastic bottles
in the sporting good store that cost around $6. There are basically two
types: cover scents which mask your scent and sex scents which are
designed to lure a whitetail.
I've used the cover scent before, and you
can buy them if you like, but also consider this... a buck can get all the
food he wants in the world, but sex...he gets that only two months out the
year. With this in mind, I'd buy sex scents over the food any day.
You may be wondering what is in those
little sex bottles? Well, its simple...Urine. Yeah, I know it sounds bad,
but that's what's in them, and when you first crack a bottle open, there
won't be any doubt in your mind.
Don't let the bad smell turn away the good
chance of catching you a buck, because during the rut, it will bring in a
buck that would normally hang up out of the shooting range. It will also
bring the coyotes and the fox, but that's a different story all together.
I don't bother with the sex scents except
during the rut, since it is so expensive. During the rut, I'll place the
urine in the 35mm. plastic film canisters stuffed with cotton balls, and
set these in a ring around my stand about twenty yards out. I carry about
ten canisters and will place only one or two drops on the cotton.
Don't pour an entire bottle in one canister
because it would be a waste. A whitetail's sense of smell is so keen that
only a couple drops is enough. Plus, after a weekend of hunting, you can
discard the cotton balls and replenish the canisters with fresh scent
before the next hunt.
As for the film canisters, the orange the
green ones are the best, as the gray and the black ones are easily lost in
low light levels. Don't remember which companies manufacture the orange
ones, but you can ask at any photography shop. During the rut, I will also
place couple drops of sex scent on the bottom of my boot so I will leave a
trail to my deer stand.
Other times, I even go totally out and pour
a few drops on my hunting clothes and won't wash them for the entire
season (this really smells good). This is a late-rut tactic I learned from
an old deer hunter from Nebraska. The problem with this technique is two
fold. First, it makes you the hunted, as the buck will try to find what he
think is a doe that is in estrus. Second, it will make the inside of your
truck smell like doe urine for months.
Manufactures of sex scents includes: Buck
Stop, Code Blue, Deer Formula, Hunter's specialties, and Tinks. Hunter's
specialties also makes sex lures in a plastic water form, which you merely
hang from a nearby limb. I use these in conjunction with the film
canisters because they are reusable and you don't spill doe urine all over
yourself.
Old deer hunters will tell you that the rut
begins after the first cold weather spell or when the temperature drops
below 32 degrees, but according to Wildlife biologists, the rut is
triggered by what is called "photoperiodism". This phenomenon
occurs when the days begin growing noticeably shorter and a deer's
behavior is changed by the decreasing amounts of daily sunlight passing
through their eyes, John Weiss, the author of Advanced Deer Hunting,
stipulates.
This causes a type of reverse-stimulation
effect of the pineal gland. The result is a cease in the normal function
of regulating body growth and simultaneous increase in the secretion of
progesterone, the female sex hormone which brings does to a heightened
state of readiness. For us hunters, in simple terms, it means the
"rut".
Even if you can't figure out all this
scientific mumbo-jumbo, just wait until the days get shorter and the
weather gets colder. Deer activity will pick up and the bucks will go on
the hunt looking for a little fun-but this time the female does will be
ready, willing and able. This is the time of the rut and the best time to
take a big buck.
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