Finally, the season is HERE, and couldn’t have come soon enough. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way about deer season. Every opening day is more special to me. It’s a truly amazing experience to watch a new day come up while you’re in the woods. The turkeys are coming off their roost, coyotes are giving that last howl before sunrise, deer are moving to their staging areas to feed at first light. Now is a great time to have your Hot Trails® candle lit and burning. It’s much easier to have a deer smell the candle when they’re moving because the scent is traveling through the woods at the same time. Try to set yourself up where you have multiple deer trails downwind of you. With the candle scent dispersing over 500+ yards, you’re effectively hunting every trail around you. When the deer are active, that’s the best time to use the candles.
I sometimes hunt on tripods. When you’re sitting up there, all exposed, you need something to cover your scent. From the swivel seat on the tripod, I hang a soup can with a Doe-N-Heat candle burning. I’ve had so many deer come upwind to me, breathe in the scent, then go about their business. The other day, I had a new customer send me the following email:
“Gotta say, I’m super-impressed with the candles!! Finally, Monday and Tuesday morning, I got to go out both mornings. I have had deer come in and circle the soup can with the lit candle, walk away, come back, and literally have their nose in the can. All the deer were 100% downwind of me and had no suspicion of my scent at all!! I will never go in the woods without your product again!!!” — Ryan Henry
I have to admit, I don’t always hunt with my candles burning. I was once driving down a ranch road and saw an overgrown old road that looked interesting. I parked, grabbed my rifle, and started walking down the road. I found a game trail that crossed the road, so I backed up about 100 yards and sat on the edge of the road, leaning against a mesquite tree. The wind was blowing from the trail to me. I had put a handful of corn on the trail to stop any deer traveling along it. In the evening, a doe came by and stopped in the opening. I grabbed my binoculars, and she saw me move. She knew I didn’t belong next to that tree, and started foot-stomping and head-bobbing, trying to get me to move, but I didn’t want her to ruin my hunt. I was on a cattle ranch, so thinking outside of the box, I let out the best cow “MOO” I could muster. She stopped and stood looking at me. Then her whole demeanor changed. She forgot about me and started eating the corn. When she finished, she continued on the trail. She wanted to know what I was, and I gave one of her senses an answer, and she took it. After she left, a buck who was trailing her, stepped out, and you know the rest of the story. Don’t be afraid to try something different. That attitude led me to the Hot Trails® scented candle idea.
Deer behavior has been studied for a long time, and people try to say, “deer do this, deer do that,” and mostly, they do. But I’ve discovered that deer are as different as you and I. They have their own ways, likes, dislikes and preferences. So don’t get caught up in a “one-size-fits-all” mentality. It took a lot of trial and error using different scent products, but eventually, I created something that lasted a long time and actually worked.
Hot Trails® Scented Hunting Candles are “the best kept secret amongst successful hunters.” So if you’ve never used Hot Trails®, I urge you to think outside of the box and try something different. It just might make all the difference in your deer season. Place an order at www.hottrails.com.
I wish everyone a wonderful, successful deer season.
