Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Deer scents, use them or not??

If you've ever trapped you know the importance of scent or lack there of. I've killed a couple of bucks using tarsal glands and grunting but haven't had any luck with spraying doe in heat on my boots and dragging a tampon to my stand.

I don’t. My whole day is accounting for the wind. I can smell, deer/elk, wolves, people and now people wearing elk pee. I always find it funny, the deer can smell everything, your gun, your clothing, the deer scent, your food, your family, and they have a sense of how old a scent is.

I stopped using cover scent 10 yrs ago and the size of bucks ive killed has gone up. I used to have snort and blow when they smelled that stuff. Now they never do. I also have come to believe that deer are like dogs that bite you when they sense that you are afraid of them. If you completely stop worrying about the winding you they dont seem to even pay attention to you.i have had a ton of deer really close to me that never even looked at me. Where i hunt deer come from any direction so i never fear the wind, just hunt prime time.

For years are used everything you could possibly buy but now I just hunt the wind and good sign. Most of the places I hunt I’ve hunted for several years and have fairly established patterns of movement. I’m very careful with my scent on the ground and also with wind.

I have killed more good bucks in the last few years doing this. Could just be that I’ve become a better hunter overall but I have definitely had good success.

During the rut here, I’ve found one that’s worked at least 3x on decent bucks in the last few years. Tried it because a rep friend gave it to me. I’ll continue to use their stuff, but I ain’t worried if I forget it, either.

Once or twice prior to this year. Decided to try one more doe scent this year after I killed a good deer. Tried the golden estrus stuff and nothing paid it any attention that I could tell. I'm done wasting money.

i have and still do use deer scents mostly for rifle season in mock scraps and some drags during Mn. rifle season. i do not use deer scents during archery season seems to only bring small bucks to my stand. i will use deer scents next fall 2023 again during rifle season in mock scraps and drags it can help some when i rattle and grunt call in Minnesota rifle season because that time of year is when deer are in the November runt. Pete53

Never had any problems with scents other than
a bobcat that circled in close looking for the
deer it thought it smelled

I have tried several different deer scents over the years. Used them with drips and drags, put it on my boots walking to the stand, even used a spray in an aerosol can. I cant remember the name of the stuff. I think it might have been something like Buck Bomb or something similar. It has been my observation that they work on small young curious bucks. I have had them follow a drag right to the base of my tree. I saw one 4 point come in from about 150 yards out. he had his nose to the ground like a hound dog. He never even looked up till he came to the end of the scent trail.
But I have never seen, or been able to fool a large mature cagey W.T. Buck with a scent. YMMV, I have used scents on public free range deer hunts where the deer see a lot of pressure. Those big bucks are smart. Imo, they know the difference between the real thing and what comes out of a bottle. I think there is a chance that a good shooter buck may smell it and decide to go the other way. They may work on private land where the land owner manages his deer and keeps people off his property. This is jmo. I would be willing to bet that most of the hunts you see on TV where they use scents to fool a Big ol Buck are not on public access land.

I used to but not in the last five years. Theres so many does around were we hunt I just hang out with them. That seems to work pretty good for me.