The golden time we bowhunters wait for all year is finally here. Deer are transitioning from their summer feeding patterns to focus on a diet of high-energy hard and soft mast while the bucks are getting a bit antsy as their testosterone levels steadily ratchet up in preparation for the rut. The game is fluid, and the serious bowhunter understands that this is when careful strategy determines success.
Why the strategy? Quite simply, there are so many variables to whitetail patterns right now. Deer are searching for oaks that are dropping the most acorns, and that can change almost daily. Fruit trees that produce one day may be dry a few days later. Add to that the fact that mature bucks are breaking from their bachelor groups like billiard balls, scattering to define and ultimately defend their fall territory.
When you think too much about it, it is somewhat surprising that October bowhunting success is anything but pure luck. But, of course, that is not the case. There are steadfast strategies that can win the day, such as careful stand placement between established feeding and bedding grounds, working known funnels and travel routes, being flexible in stand placement to adapt to changing food sources, and fitting together the puzzle pieces gathered during pre-season scouting and trail camera data.
Another key part of the successful bowhunter’s strategy is the intelligent and thoughtful use of scent. Smell is, after all, the whitetail’s most reliable and relied upon sense, and you can use that your advantage if you learn to “play the bottles.”
For many hunters, using deer scent means grabbing a bottle of whatever is hanging in the sporting goods aisle of a box store and sprinkling it around a blind or tree stand in the hopes that a buck will smell it and come in. That’s not a strategy, that’s a crap shoot. Sure, you may tickle the nose and pique the curiosity of a cruising buck, but that approach lacks the finesse and nuance required to bring a buck within shooting range by anything more than random chance. Our recommendation is to select good-quality scents and to let them work together.
Right now, we’re in mid-October. The rut is still weeks away in most parts of the country. That means does are not even thinking about coming into estrus and bucks are focused on setting up their territory. Thus, using estrus scent at this time is not only a waste of good money, it could possibly put deer into alert mode because they know that is a smell that should not yet be on the wind.
Scent Pairing #1: Plain Doe and Buck Urine
Basic doe urine, on the other hand, is perfectly natural to use right now. A fresh whiff will certainly get the attention of a buck, and doe urine is believed to have a calming effect on all deer, buck and doe. This makes it a viable scent to use not only for possible attraction to your stand, but also to keep any deer that wanders into your shooting zone calm enough to get a good shot.
Yet if this is the only bottle of lure in your pocket, you’re missing out. Fresh doe urine is a scent deer are accustomed to smelling. Add some equally fresh buck lure in the same area, though, and you’ve essentially multiplied the curiosity factor xe2x80x94 especially for any bucks that may be passing through. As with the doe urine, a basic buck urine is probably your best pairing here. The message you’re sending is that a doe is in the area and there is an unknown buck possibly encroaching on the resident buck’s territory. Use these two scents and odds are that resident buck is going to check things out … right in your shooting lane.
Scent Pairing #2: Curiosity Scent and Plain Doe Urine
Sometimes, a “something completely different” smell is helpful in jostling a buck out of cruising mode. Here, we’re talking about curiosity scents like Buck-Nip. Scents such as this do not contain or mimic deer scent but instead rely on proprietary formulas that the manufacturer has developed and tested and that have been shown to be alluring to deer.
By themselves, curiosity scents can inject an odor into your hunting area that a passing deer will want to investigate or at least stop long enough to find out what’s going on. Often, that is all you need to execute your shot. We like to employ curiosity scents in two or three shooting lanes around our blinds and tree stands for just that purpose.
To multiply the chance of deer zeroing in on these scent stations, some fresh doe urine is always a good bet. Again, we’re talking about basic urine, not urine with estrus.
Scent Pairing #3: Scrape Scent and Plain Doe Urine
As we move deeper into October, bucks are hard at work, packing in calories and setting up their breeding territory for the November rut. Familiar scrapes are being reopened and new scrapes are being established to help bucks define their territory, lay down their calling cards, and figure out what does or challengers may be in his area.
This is the time when scrape scents such as Hot Scrape really shine. You can use this to ignite a buck’s existing scrape or to set up your own mock scrapes as a challenge. By themselves, scrape scents can do a fine job of bringing in a passing buck or holding a buck on a scrape, real or mock, long enough to get a clean shot. But again, adding a touch of fresh doe urine to these scent setups can compound your chances of success.
Here are a couple deployment tactics to consider for this dual-scent approach.
First is to use a dripper to dispense the scent on a scrape you intend to hunt over the next couple of weeks. The Magnum Scrape-Dripper can give you two to three weeks’ worth of dispensing from one four-ounce bottle of scent. For higher output at a shorter, seven to 12 days of dispensing, the Super Charged Scrape-Dripper is a good bet.
Second, try dragging the doe scent to lay down a trail leading away from the scrape or in a large figure eight pattern that intersects the scrape at some point. A doe scent trail, especially one that gets stronger the closer to the scrape, stands a good chance of pulling in a passing buck.
Scent Pairing #4: Tarsal Scent and Doe Urine
By the time the rut is knocking on the door and bucks are increasingly urinating on their tarsal glands (that dark patch of course hair on the inside of their hind legs) to deposit their scent and further establish their territory for the rut, tarsal scent is recommended. This is the most important scent bucks use to identify themselves, and they often deposit this scent on scrapes through the process of rub-urination.
A robust tarsal scent, such as Mega-Tarsal, can be quite effective in influencing resident bucks to check their scrapes as the pre-rut phase moves closer to the rut phase at the end of October. And as with our previous dual-scent strategies, using a tarsal scent in combination with a quality doe urine can help amplify the effectiveness of your scent setup, both for piquing curiosity and for a calming effect.
The case for a dual-scent strategy is strong, and it can be particularly effective during the sometimes-challenging hunts in October as bucks and does alike exhibit transitional behaviors relating to altering food sources, increased hunting pressure, and the subtle influences of the upcoming mating season. Try these multi-scent approaches during your early season bow hunts and see if they can boost your odds before the rut craze kicks into high gear.
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The Truth About Mock Scrapes
