So, I'll preface this post by saying that I am generally accused of "overthinking" scent lures when it comes to the prerut. BUT that doesn't necessary mean I overuse them, either. Personally, I tend to always keep some simple buck urine (not buck in rut) in my back pocket, to freshen up scrapes that I find bucks frequenting within my area. Otherwise, I will leave the estrous at home and stay away from any rut-scenting lures as much as possible, until about the second week in November. My worry is that I'm possibly making a mistake by doing that. So my question for everyone is this: what scents would you consider using during the prerut (as a relevant time frame, October 20th-November 3rd), and how would you go about using them? Obviously, scents have proven their worth as the actual rut starts picking up, but lets try to keep this thread about the late October-early November periods. I am northern-midwest hunter, so incite regarding that general location would be helpful for me personally, although any advice is more than welcome. Thanks in advance and stay safe out there folks.
I'm not big on urine/estrous scents. Lots of discussion here about shelf life of the scents. I think they r useful to make a deer stop so I can get a shot, since deer are curious by nature. but I don't carry it around when scouting, or expect to fool a bucks nose into thinking there's hot does or a new buck in the neighborhood.
I've had mixed results with scents. I pretty much leave the doe pee at home. I urinate in scrapes myself, although I have used bottle buck pee at times. I will use the Tinks 69 Gel during the pre-rut. Usually starting about the first week of November. Other than that, I don't bother with scents any more.
I use buck and doe urine in my drippers during the pre-rut and gradually introduce doe estrus to my mock scrapes on a scent wick and then eventually fill one of the drippers with it once the rut starts. In addition to the doe estrus I use tarsal gland lure on scent wicks on the trail leading to the scrape and pre-orbital gland lure on the licking/rubbing branch. Although I haven't capitalized on killing a buck over a scrape since I started this formula a few years back, it brought in some of the biggest bucks we've ever captured on camera.
I tried a tink69 scent bottle year's ago didn't seem to do anything for me. was good marker for 20 steps though
Like others have observed, I only saw young bucks take any interest in any urine scents I've tried. Right now the only scent I'd use is either apples or acorns. Food.
I used to have some mike killers hot doe gel by scent shield and it worked excellent for several years until they stopped making it but i feel like I could have got them to run into the middle of town with that stuff but been back on the hunt for something that works
Im in SE mn and I have used special golden estrus with mixed results but it has gotten me my biggest buck to date on November 2 2014... Was it luck? Maybe. but when that buck got down wind of it he followed it straight into my shooting lane.
(in response to zach1988) Yea actually. I'll tell you tho, that stuff was potent, beyond anything I expected. My uncle brought it down from some farm near us. But honestly, opening that bottle contaminated ourselves and our clothes before it could do any real good. Maybe it was too fresh, or maybe scents need aging like wine, but I suggest you stay away from fresh farm deer scents. Let 'er sit for a while.
Pre-orbital scents. Put that on an overhanging limb and let the deer do the rest. Way too much reliance on deer pee going on out there.
I used to mess with scents, always ended up smelling like doe or buck piss lol.. Never had good luck attracting deer to those areas either.. I go completely scentless now and let the deer attract each other naturally. I still feel if you can find where the doe are at, once the rut starts the buck will be there.
Doe urine in pre-rut is what i use. SOTA: "Pope And Young do not consider does as deer" Not true. Stop bashing archery hunting orgs that do so much for the sport.
