[Drixmein]

I have a couple decent bucks and on big buck located, but can't seem to get him to come in distance of my stand, and some days I don't even see him at all. Just wondering if anyone has any advice, or if any one has ever tried any of those deer attractant scents out there. Do they work? I have deer hunted for a long time, and I have been bow hunting for only about 3 years. I have never tried attractants or lures. Any help would be great. Thanks.

 

[Bobm]

cut the glands out of the rear legs of some road killed bucks and freeze them in baggies. Wait until the rut starts and pin them on a branch or brush at about belt buckle height. He will think that a new buck is in his territory. Rattleing will also help with this technique. Once you see the deer react to the sound of the rattling don't rattle much if any more. You can also use a grunt call sparingly in this sequence to pull him in but once he gets within a 100 yards or so shut up and let the scent glands work. If you call too much he will pinpoint your location which makes it hard to draw on him. I've killed a lot of them this way and I've been bow hunting a lot for 35 years. Good luck! Handle the glands with rubber gloves and make sure your not in the scent cone as it drifts toward the deer.

 

[Bobm]

Another good source for the glands is any deer processor in your area. I used to keep a cooler in the car with baggies and a knife dedicated to this purpose in a seperate baggie. The knife will get really stinky and you don't want to use it for cutting up your deer or anything else for that matter. This technique works best from about the last week of Oct to third week of Nov. You can keep them fresh in the freezer and thaw them out ( inside the baggie) on your dashboard with your defrosters on the way to the hunting spot. This is a deadly strategy during the above time frame. The key is to use deer from an area other than where you hunt ,you want to be a intruder.

 

[Drixmein]

Thanks for your help. Do you have any advice for early season at all? Or do you only hunt right around rut?

 

[stoeger]

Drix

I do the same technique that BobM does except I buy a bottle of buck urine and put it in a drip container. As for early season, sometimes I will leave a small pile of grain for the deer to eat. It helps keep them interested in the area for it is easy food. It is legal to do this on most land except on federal refuges. If that does not work I will move my stand either in deeper in the trees off of a nice trail that is used heavily. I have a couple of questions for you. What time of the day do you hunt? When did you see these bucks and were they together? What I mean are they on the edge of the trees or deeper in the trees? Are you down wind when you are out hunting? How far up is your stand?

 

[Bobm]

If your are truly interested in killing a big buck spend you time scouting him from as far away as possible with binoculars and hunt him only starting the week before the rut peaks. Use the technique I described above. Big bucks are really hard to kill when they are not preoccupied with chasing does. Stay out of the area the big buck is frequenting until this time, if you spook him you won't see him again. Your first time in on your chosen stand is your best chance. Don't go to the stand until everything especially the wind is right. Find another area to hunt "just any deer". Deer are very habitual if they are not pressed, watch a field from afar and determine where they are coming into the field. Set up about a hundred inside the woods, swamp or whatever they are traveling from and try to intercept them the trouble is its hit or miss and with a bow you really should be within about 25 yds or less. But their trails should be evident. I have had no success with attractants except during the rut. I also don't like commercialized attractants like urine because its suspected to contribute to the Chronic wasting disease spreading. These scents come from commercial deer farms which are hotbeds for the spread of this disease, same with baiting. Use sharp arrows and hone your shooting skills when you get a chance try to remember to pick a spot low on the deer, if you don't pick a spot you will miss. Most misses are high over the back. Stick to the basics and you will succeed.

 

[buckmaster]

If you have seen these bucks when you are sitting in your stand, why don't you try to move your stand into a location where you can manuver for a shot. This is kind of a risky venture, but as long as you are careful with your scent, and make sure to move it as quickly and as silently as possible. move it in the middle of the day when the odds of deer moving is at a minimum. I have had success in doing this, and have read articles of about this, but there is a possibility of spooking them and not getting another shot until the rut when they think with the smaller head. Good luck

 

[Drixmein]

Thanks for the help.

Stoeg, I have been hunting only evenings because I am pretty busy all week, plus I have been goose hunting on the weekends the past couple weeks. This weekend I am going it is possible I might go out one morning and sit away from my stand and just glass the area. I have seen both buck together this summer, both decent, one being a big 6x6 and the other a respectable 4x4. Every night about 6:30, they would come out of the grove and head through a bean field. They had a pretty standard pattern, so I set a stand on the corner of the grove they bed down in about 15 yards of the heaviest path through the bean field on the edge of the field. I also have a stand in a shelter belt that they would go into right before dark that the deer in the area use for a trail to a watering hole. The whole time they are moving they periodically feed on the beans. Since hunting season opened though, they seem to be moving through the trees behind me, skipping the bean field completely and going directly to the shelter belt, or they are too far out in the field in front of me. I did see the smaller buck go behind me, and one of them is rubbing in an apple orchard near the smaller shelter belt. That is basically my situation.
Sorry for the long message. I went to scheels and talked with a guy in bowhunting who recommended this KissScents stuff for early season attractant. Any thoughts?

Buckmaster, I am too nervous to move my stand as I am already really close to where they bed down, and I think I will spook them. The closest I've gotten them in plain view while in my stand is probably 75-80 yards in the middle of the bean field. I can hear them moving behind me, but I have only seen the smaller one when they move behind me.

 

[Bobm]

Its hard to give advice without actually seeing what your dealing with. If you don't think you can get in on them without spooking them hunt elsewhere until the rut, its only a month away. Keep scouting them with binoculars at the time of day you plan to hunt. Its easier to get in on a buck during the afternoon in my opinion, get out early while they are bedded. And then during the rut get in the grove put up some scent glands and sit high as possible in a tree all day. They will be moving all day in the rut and are suseptable to grunts and rattling. Opening day of pheasant season might be a good day too if they use the grove for security and there are enough hunters to move them around. I would wait for the rut and try to kill the 6x6......

 

[Drixmein]

bob,

Thanks for the advice. The 6x6 is worth the wait no doubt, but its so hard to wait........