Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Tink's 69

Deer hunting preparation includes a bottle of Tink's 69. Let's roll.

I used to use it a lot, years ago, when I did a lot of Bow hunting!

Had a lot of success with it also!

Last time I used tanks was 91 bow hunting in Barron county. I think James valley was better .

I do think mock scrapes worked good during pre rut, rut last week of Oct to the rut through second week of Nov.


Tink Nathan has a pretty impressive bow hunting background

I still use it every year during rifle season. Doesn't seem to hurt!

Of all the lures I've tried over the last 40 years, (and I've tried all the latest and greatest), Tink's 69 is the only one that I can definitively say works...not all the time, but enough to instill confidence. Glad they went back to the glass bottle.

Tink's 69 is good, but I'm a James Valley fan.

Many years ago I was bow hunting and I think it was in early November before the rut. Had a 6 point following a group of does. He got down wind of that James Valley and dropped them like a hot potato and RAN to where the lure was. WHACK.

Tinks works. So does Wildife Research Synthetic. The rut here may be just starting. I put some WR out last night near my game camera. That drew in two bucks, one of which is a nontypical with a whachy right antler, that I haven't seen in weeks. I think WR is stronger and seems more persistent to me. I found the pads I put the scent on yards from where I put them. I didn't catch on camera anything taking them but they definitely got picked up and moved.

Haven't used any type of attractant in years, decades, really. But I might try some this year and see what happens.

My boys are attempting to talk me into trying some with a decoy to pull some bucks within bow range in CRP fields.

It’s the first thing I buy for deer season as well. I get two. One to drink and one to use.

I agree. It doesn’t work all the time but it works enough that I keep using it.

I’ve always been able to find a glass bottle if I looked. But it didn’t really bother me.

One did break one in my pocket when I was 14-15 and drunk for the rest of the day.

Used it once only. Big buck walked right by it and never gave any indication it was there.

We use it some,
never had an encounter with a booner while it was out,many smaller bucks would investigate,but also have seen it spook does.

I’ve had better luck with code blue

JMHO- I believe it all depends on the region and
the hunting pressure.
I've had mostly really good luck with 69 and
years back with that powdered airborne whatever
it was called.
I've talked to as many that tell me how bad it sucks
and how it scared off the world record deer from
their spot. Probably one of the best things I've ever
used is a fresh tarsal gland from a buck I've dressed

Same with me more than once but I still put some out every time. I'm in to thinking if a deer is curious it'll have to check it out.

I killed my two largest bucks when using the 69.

I hunt out of a climber. I went up the tree and poured the entire bottle down the side of the tree, creating a huge scent post. Both bucks were shot with their nose up in the air like they were drinking in the smell.

Wind scent cone is a huge issue when using attractants.

I have wet the bottom of my boots with the 69 and had immature bucks trailing me to my stand.

My personal opinion is that it takes more of the 69 than advertising would leade you to believe.

Have done the boot thing before and had bucks follow my trail in.

Yes. Getting girls used to be a perpetual challenge. That 69 stuff has them swarming around at the local pub.

Wait, what? I thought it was supposed to pull in the bucks?

I tie a drag rag on a short string tied to boots and have killed nice bucks following me to my stand. Shot an eight pointer directly under my tree smelling on the ground where I had poured Vanilla on ground....shot him with smoke pole thru back of neck...dropped right there. It was at last light and I sent my 50 cal. down on a string and when gun barrel hit him he got up and thrashing all around in the dark. Got down and trailed him across a creek...lost blood trail. Hunted him for couple days never found him. Back in the early 80's was standing on street in a crowd watching the Christmas parade go by and hunting buddy comes up behind me.....he says you got to see what I got. He just does open a bottle of Tinks 69.....stopped the whole parade...people running everywhere...never forget it.

There's a sucker ( or a thousand of them it seems) born every minute

You, ummmm, probably don't want to compare photo albums with roundoak.

Yup I use it some during rut. I’ve killed once or twice off a drag rag soaked with Tinks 69.

That's a fact isn't it Scott?

I'd like for him to do that!

I had small bucks come in on it many years ago. Shot few of them too.

Local brand from a deer farm in Kane is called West Wind Whitetails. Had good luck with it but never anything over 100".

Anymore I prefer scentless method.

Why go through all the effort to keep clothes and gear scent free then take a foreign odor and dump it all over your hunting spot?

It works in very late season well after the rut, too. Late December. I killed a buck that was running full tilt up a riverine that another hunter had shot at. I had small pieces of clothe tied in a tree about 6 feet high with drops of estrus on it. Wasn't Tinks, was something else, I can't remember, came in a little white plastic bottle with a flip up sprout.. That buck came to a dead stop when it got near that tree and threw its nose up in the air. Looked like he had a WTF moment.

I too have had good luck with using Tink's 69. More than once I knew the deer could smell me too, but they still came right up to it. I do take extreme care to scent control, this just seems to add another layer...

On the advise of a great bowhunting friend, this year I'm also going to try Wildlife Research Golden Estrus.

We'll see if NE WI deer can tell the difference! Lol!

Human females smell different, as I recall from long long ago, so why wouldn't female deer smell different from each other? If the scent, whatever brand or style, is communicating that there is a doe in heat who is feeling the need to breed, the bucks will come thinking with the little head. I've had bucks that were following a hot doe walk within 20' of me and never take notice despite the blaze orange that I was wearing.

I use the handy wick fingers most of the time. They can be reused. When I leave the stand, pull them put in a plastic bag. The three dirty ones on the right are the ones I used last Wednesday bowhunting. I place them left, right and in front of me, never to the back of me. Learned that right away, when the first buck came in and I could not turn around and get a shot with bow.

And, yes I had a nice buck come in to check things out last Wednesday. He was just coming in to bow range when two coyotes showed up.

Me too. Anytime Round Oak wants to bust out photos, I’m pulling up a chair.

How much of this do you use and how?

I typically tie small pieces of fabric about 6 feet off the ground and put a few drops on each piece of fabric. But it sounds like some of you are using a lot more than that.

I make mock scrapes and put a few drops into the scrape

I knew Tink when he started selling Tinks deer urine when he lived in northern Virginia. Tink was the father of the deer scent industry along with direct mail marketing in the hunting industry that became extremely successful.

These are the only kind words I have to say about the man.......he screwed every person he came in contact with.

I put a little bit out on my property where I've had yard buck traffic to see how they reacted to it. I went out there this evening and I can still smell it. To my human nose, it seems way stronger than Tinks. Even managed to get a tad on my finger when I put it out and even bleach doesn't get the smell off. I don't know if its because its synthetic, but WR wreaks and lasts a long time.

We have had it work up in the big woods but I never had it work in the high pressure public lands in SE WIs. I thick the reason is , cause there are so many people out there using . I can almost always find a half dozen of the wicks in the spring when I am scouting and shed hunting the public lands . There are hunters all over. The funny thing is, I find them where bucks likely will not be in the day time. Very common to have a wick hanging over a scrape along a trail that is made by hunters and deer. There is that much hunting pressure in some areas that hunters think its a deer trail. Then , at 2AM, the bucks use it for easy travel and make scrapes. It tricks the un experienced hunters. Those bucks are getting darn smart when they start pulling those kinds of pranks. in the high pressure public land, I think it scars the does. They seem nervous when they smell it. On these public lands, I am happy with a doe, and hunt NW WIs. very seldom, therefore I dont use it much .

I take the lid off and set the bottle on the ground right where I want the shot to be. Works for me and I don’t end up wearing it.. 😀 I’m a professional at clumsy.

I hunted this one buck for about 3 weeks. Got a glimpse of him once but couldn't get a shot. Hit him pretty hard towards the end. I hunted 3 days straight morning and afternoon before I killed him, the evening before he came in behind at dark and grunted like crazy for about 5 minutes. Anyway, the next afternoon I went out into the food plot, put some on my boot and walked into the woods about 75 yards behind the stand. I always felt this was a better method since the scent would be stronger the closer he got to and into the foodplot. Got in the stand at 315. About half asleep, opened my eyes and he had his nose to the ground on the scent trail. He was dead by 330.

I remember my dad would get some stuff from Hoosier Trapping Supply, watched many a buck come in on trails of it and even chew the pad it was on when hanging from limb.

Back in my limiting out stage I used a rut scent and had some success getting deer, but I couldn’t honestly attribute it to a scent post. I did have a dripper out one opening day and had a 5 and 8 point there opening morning. Roundoak mentioning coyotes reminds me that I too had a coyote definitely coming to a rut scent pad that I’d put out.

Speaking of pads. Funny story about my early adolescent female learning curve. I bought a bottle of the best, most expensive rut scent that my meager allowance would allow. Needing a wick of some type, I requisitioned one of my sisters Tampax things. Perfect, a string and everything I thought. I no more than touched that thing to my open bottle of scent and it sucked up the entire bottle almost instantly. Damn, gone!

Some of you have had more success with the drag rag thing than I have. I always figured that the scent would get weaker the farther that I dragged it and that the deer would track it backwards toward the truck where I applied the scent.

I had another big buck that I haven't seen in weeks come in last night. I don't know why else theses individuals are coming into a place that had mainly seen smaller bucks unless its to investigate the odor. The smaller bucks are no where to be seen after I put the scent out (though I've seen them early before I do). Also, the pad of paper towel I put the scent on is gone completely. The one from the other night had been moved several yards away. But the one I put out last night is gone completely. I've heard from a Va DWR officer that bucks will eat the scent, or lick it up. Using a scent in Virginia where a buck can reach it to eat it is considered baiting, but putting it out of reach is legal. So maybe there's some merit to the eating theory, I don't know.

That was with the Wildlife Research Golden Estrus?

Yes.

It is strong. I got the larger bottle of it and it smells through the sealed bottle. I put the bottle in a zip-lock bag and I can smell it through that.

This is the mutant buck that seemed to be really interested in the Wildlife Research Gold. I put the scent pad too close to my camera. Two nights in a row this guy and another 8 point came sniffing around. Last night I went out and the 8 point (not the one pictured) was sniffing around the pad. I had a Primos "The Can" doe bleat call when I went out to look at him. He saw me, watched, then took off full steam for the road. I sounded that call and he literally did a 180, ran back on the other side of my shed, and walked behind it out to where he was originally staring at me.




I've got Tinks out tonight and the camera set up.

Pour it on!

I put Tinks out last night. Not as much interest, at least on camera, though that pad was moved, too. Tinks smells more natural than Wildlife Research, but the Wildlife Research stuff will stink up a bigger area with the same amount as Tinks. I have no idea which is more effective. But I suspect you'll have to use less WR than Tinks. WR reeks.

I got a lot of does on camera last night and a couple of the smaller bucks that I hadn't seen in a few days. I'm not seeing any swollen necks and the bucks seem more interested in seed than in the does right now.

lol that ain't no chidt!

I've had pretty decent luck with Tink's,

Strangest thing, I was sitting in a tree next to a cattail swamp and heard deep grunting coming through the weeds. As I was mentally preparing myself for the giant buck that was coming, a doe walked in and started rubbing her head on the ground where I dumped it, grunting like crazy.

Weird.

I’ve had more success using Code Blue products than Tinks. Have tried most of them but rely on Code Blue exclusively now. I put some cotton balls in a prescription bottle and tape a clothespin on the side. Dump some estrous scent in it and clip it on a branch upwind of your stand. I use their Scrapemate scent in mock scrapes also works well in scent bombs like I described above pre-rut.

I used to us a 35mm film canister the same way, works good. I'll have to dig through a couple cabinets and see if I still have them. Lately use the scent wicks. I do remove them when I'm not in the stand and keep them sealed in a couple zip-lock bags but you definately can still smell them. My wife now knows to not open those little brown bottles in the house! Lol!

I put the Wildlife Research Gold Estrus out last night. Captured this guy sniffing around, left, then came back eating acorns This time the scent pad was not moved. Went out this morning to pull my sim card and could smell that estrus as soon as I stepped outside.





Got images of some smaller bucks early this morning.

I've had better luck with this:

https://www.peterickard.com/products/super-doe

damn, 80 degrees

It definitely amplifies the funk.

I had good success with Code Blue awhile ago but pretty much stopped using scents.

I was always paranoid that all the stuff on the shelf was old.

A buddy suggested Antler Ice which is fresh frozen urine and I'm going to try it this year for the first time I bought it frozen and I have it in my freezer.

I though I'd give it a try.

Anybody else use it?

I’ve had success bringing bucks in that I still use it. However, I’ve never seen it bring in a mature buck in daylight.

Never brought a buck in, have seen Doe refuse to cross the air streaming from it. I stopped wasting $

Iv'e got some Tink's from like 1979 still in the bubble wrap I'd sell for like $150 if anyone is interested. No refund sale , lol,

It's like wine, it gets better with time.

I did hear a story, may have been here on the 'fire, about a guy spilling a bottle on the front dash, down the vents, of the family mini-van.

I use this fogger spray Tinks. Works well, and covers a good distance.

Foggy Mountain Hot Doe.
Back in late 80s, killed a small buck that came right to it.
Found bottle almost empty in bag the next yr. Used it, another buck shot off it.

100" guys.

Same deal w HS Buck Lure Supreme #1.
Pop a 100" 8 with it.

Only mature buck Ive had come in during daylight, was to a scent dripper on a ridge. Wildlife Research stuff.

145" .....Know because he was shot a couple days later LOL ( but not by me ).

I quit using scents around 95.

Grunt call and or little bleat can, ill be rockin those come Halloween yes sir.

That’s right. Pull that cover, take deep sniff and a real long pull of the bottle. It’ll cure what ales ya.

I have had spotty results using estrous scents but making scrapes with various buck urine's has paid off.

I only use the glass bottle tinks……

Funny story from about 2013 or so…I talked my buddy into going hunting with me so I’d have company but his wife wanted him at some dinner crap or something so he was on a short time leash and I drove.

I put tinks all over the bottom of my boots……target buck comes in at last light and beds down and a small forkhorn comes in as well and licks my ladder stand steps for 10-15 min. Had to carefully drop something on his head finally to not spook them both too bad.

Picked buddy up like an hr after dark and he got a world of [bleep].

I’ve used the Tinks for years. Good stuff, watched deer follow my boot prints all the way to the stand!

I put some Tinks out near my game camera last night. Put some on a small piece of paper towel and stuck it in between some fence rails, so it would be up off the ground. I think a deer ate it. It's nowhere to be found.

Nathan, your post was quoted for posterity for a reason.

And like clockwork:
LINK: The "sucker" adds another to the wall.

Yeah, that roundoak dude really SUCKS!!!!!

He just got lucky....again.....and again.....and again.....grin....

Not Tinks.

But do use a local guys stuff.

Paul Meek Outdoors Doe in Heat.