Adventures Outdoors'
IN WISCONSIN
After four hours in the tree without seeing a deer I was ecstatic when the eight pointer ran out into the hayfield some hundred and fifty yards from me. He stood in the middle of the field like he owned the planet.
I was up wind of him and I thought it was just a matter of time before the buck would wind me and bolt back into the forest. It was the end of October, sunny with a ten to fifteen mile an hour wind with temps in the mid fifties. I was hunting a secluded farm about a hundred yards from a fence line with over twenty rubs on it. The buck that made them wanted everything to know this was his backyard.
Early in the morning as I walked to the tree I kicked up four does bedded in the hay field next to me and this buck was here to find them. I had placed four scent wicks soaked in doe estrus around the tree I would be in. I also placed one wick with a buck tarsal gland scent on it directly under my tree.
The buck lifted his nose high in the air and began a zigzagging walk right to the corner of the field where I was waiting. He came fast and I was still shaking when I drew back my compound bow. The buck stepped into the woods and stopped broadside some ten yards from me. The arrow left the bow with a loud “thwaaack” and the buck took off back into the field unscathed. I had missed. Back then I didn’t use sights or a release. My instinctive shot had gone high.
As the buck stood out into the field wondering what that loud sound was I grabbed my bottle of tarsal gland scent and sprayed it all over the branches emptying the bottle. I grabbed my nose and did the best bleat call I could. “baaaaa, baaaaa”. The buck was reluctant but than stuck his nose back into the air and came back. I shot him with his nose two inches from one of the scent wicks hanging from the tree ten yards in front of me.
I don’t know if he came to the estrus scent, the tarsal gland scent or a combination of both, but I do know he came to the scent. I suppose I could tell you about the many times I went home skunked using scents also but I think everyone knows that scents work sometimes and sometimes they don’t. I have had deer bolt from my area while I was using scent but I’m almost sure it’s because the deer smelled me along with the scent.
Cover scents may be slightly over rated. The human scent is strong. Using skunk or fox scent probably just makes the deer think there is a skunk around as well as a human. I doubt it covers up our stink. You want the deer to smell nothing. Scent lock suits may be worth there weight in gold in certain areas. But If deer are used to human scent for example suburban deer or deer living in close proximity to humans, you may not have to even worry about covering your scent.
Even food scents such as apple or acorn may be a bit over rated. Usually the areas were hunting at that time of the year have ample food for deer but if your in the north woods where there isn't farming or hard woods filled with acorns they could be useful.
Regular deer pee to me is a waste. If I’ve scouted the area and know there are deer around, I’m sure they pee enough in the woods to provide enough evidence to bucks that does are around.
I do use estrus scent and tarsal gland scent during the early and mid rut periods but the real key here is to play the game. Keep clean, surround the stand with the scent during rut only, wear rubber boots in and out and of coarse scout the area making sure there is a buck near by. To me scents do make sense but only during the rut.