Has a store bought doe in estrus product ever directly helped you kill a buck?

I can not relate any of my buck kills to using scents. In fact, I have had just the opposite luck on public land. I watched numerous bucks get near my scent line and then bolt out of there after looking around. I had not thought about it prior, but those bucks had most likely already associated that "scent" to hunters bringing it into the woods as that piece of public land is very heavily hunted.

I will agree with others that utilizing mass-bottled scents has been effective for mock-scapes.

 

I stated that I had killed several bucks using deer scents. To clarify, I killed 2 bucks by attracting them with scent via drag line. However, most of the bucks I've killed using scents is by distracting them. I usually place a film container with a scent at a location in my shooting lane(s) where it caused a buck to stop and investigate. Placed so that he looks away from me so I can draw. It woeks pretty good. I usually don't have to take walking shots this way.

 

I have never killed a buck using it but I have had smaller bucks come in and sniff the bottle,Or follow a drag line. Had a nice buck come in but didn't present a shot when I had a tarsel and doe in heat hanging and he was definately tasting the air. Had him at 15 yards but never got a shot.When he saw no deer,he left.

I have also had deer spook at a drag line. had a spike that refused to cross the path of it.He tried several places but everytime he got to it,he would turn and move down,eventually he just left.I assume it was bad but it could have been my scent as well.

I have spooked many doe with it.


I dont use any of it anymore,less is more in my thinking now.

 

Although I have had some ok results with scent, I've also had a number of bad ones for reasons I cant figure out.

I finally decided that I put in too much time and effort to get shot opportunities at mature bucks only to have them react negatively to some scent I put out. I'd rather decrease the amount of variables in the equation rather than introduce one that may or may not burn me.

 

I've only had 1 experience where I know FOR SURE the buck reacted to my scent. He was standing straight West of me and the wind was kind out of the North. So he couldn't get a smell of my scent, was not acting interested in coming closer to my stand, and was about 80 yards out. So, I hit the bleet a couple times, and that got him looking in my direction, I then dropped a couple drops of Tinks on the ground so when he crossed my scent path he'd come closer. He didn't respond to my bleat but another buck walked into the area kind of forcing him into my area, once he hit the area downwind from me, and the Tinks, he immediately started doing the 30 yard circle of the area. I could never get a shot on that buck, he was a good one too.

 

I voted no. But i do believe they work and they have a time and place. Ive had lots of little bucks come in and investigate. And should of had a few mature bucks that i either didnt get a good shot at or i missed. One big 8pt ran off two other bucks and was making a b-line for my buck and doe decoy that were drenched in both buck and doe pee. I grunt stopped him broadside at 12 yard's but it was pretty dark and i couldnt see my pins.

 

Skywalker, GREAT photo!

 

MN, I like this.....

"I finally decided that I put in too much time and effort to get shot opportunities at mature bucks only to have them react negatively to some scent I put out. I'd rather decrease the amount of variables in the equation rather than introduce one that may or may not burn me."

Justin....

"Scents are an area I would like to explore and utilize more often, but for some reason never find myself doing.


Although I am highly skeptical of scents, I have also learned to not close my eyes to things that may work given the right set of circumstances. I think I might have a scenario where scents may help me arrow a decent buck early next year and have to figure it out....


I had one occasion where an extremely old buck followed my estrus scent in on a rope about one hour before sundown. I for some reason thought I was mister big buck hunter and did not put an arrow through that old buck because his rack was crazy looking. He would have been the oldest buck I have ever shot as he appeared to be 5.5+ years old. Other than that I have never had any luck with scents. I hunt some decent sized woods with a lot more does than bucks.

 

Yes.. I've had them work and work well.

The key is persistence above all else.. scents only work when you don't give up on them.. you must refresh refresh refresh.. even when every bone in your body is telling you to stay home and just forget about them.. you cannot let the laziness get in your way.

Trust me.. I know they can work and STILL have to fight myself to keep on keepin' on.

I have many examples of them working.. but to save my self time.. and since most of you know me.. I'll just leave it at that.

 

I want pictures, dates, and times !! Dammit !!

I've played around with it but nothing too serious. I killed me a very nice doe that followed my drag line laced with Tinks 66 when curiosity got the best of her. Course that was before rubber boots and she may have been just following my scent.

Tim

 

I dont use scents because to me it cancels out all the other work i go through. I take every precaution to be scent free and leave no trace of my presence, and set up and hunt my stands so that hopefully no deer will be downwind from me.....for a scent to work...the deer has to smell it, indicating he must be downwind of it to smell it.....if i put out scents in my hunting area, im just asking those deer to go downwind of me to investigate, which is not something i want.

 

No for me, but I have killed bucks because of a live doe in heat coming through. My best was shot while his face was buried in doe butt.

 

Estrus no, because actual estrus pheromones can not be bottled. They dissipate in a matter of minutes. All actual bottled "estrus" is actually only urine and will break down due to bacteria over time in a bottle and have a rotten smell to it if it has been shelved for too long.

Anytime you kill a buck or doe, dissect the urine bladder, drain it into a clean bottle and smell it, then compare that to any real pee, bottled deer urine. They won't and don't smell the same because fresh urine smells completely different than bottled bacterial broken down urine.

I have killed several bucks, kept tabs on and inventoried hundreds more using Buck Fever Synthetics. No breakdown, no rot. Estrus ... synthetic.. .NOPE..... if and when anyone can synthetically duplicates actual estrus pheromones of a deer, hunting as we know it would be ruined. Imagine being able to tie up an actual estrus producing doe in your woods and letting the wind do its work.. bucks would come out of the woodwork, that's what would happen if we actually had "estrus" urine in a bottle.. instead its just urine collected during estrus with DEAD pheromones.

Deer as we know are not always in estrus and still scent check and keep tabs on each other day to day via glands and urine.. so yes I have and used urine ( either fresh from scrapes I dig up..and transfer, or from bucks/does I have dissected urine from and used that week or immediately froze and used later) or with Buck Fever Synthetics that does not rot.. I've killed some whoppers over and or in association with my mock scrapes over they years.

my vote is NO on Estrus... Yes on Urine ...

 

Last November I was on my way to Kansas for the first time. A friend of mine has deer he collects urine from and had three does in estrus. He literally caught the urine and gave it to me for my hunt. When I got to Kansas and got set up the next day I put a small scent bottle in a tree about four feet off the ground 17 yards in front of me. Any deer coming in from downwind would quarter across from left to right giving me a shot. About 4 pm I looked up and saw a 160's buck coming my way but not actually down wind from the scent bottle. When he crossed the scent he was 32 yards and he slammed on the brakes, lifted his head and raised his nose into the air sniffing all around. The wind was blowing about 15 to 20 mph. The buck stayed for about 20 to 30 seconds and then whirled and ran back the way he came from. Ten minutes later two small 8pts came from the same direction and literally walked under the scent bottle totally ignoring it! I didn't know what to think of that but didn't use the scent again. A few days later I killed a 159 that came in to a decoy with no scent on it.

 

Has it ever helped me kill a buck? No . However may years back I hung some Tinks from a tree branch. I thought for sure that this button buck that came along was going to hump the tree.

 

Yes it has helped me kill a buck, I was hunting in northwest michigan opener of gun season and this is on 120 acres of private mostly hardwoods and pines, I used primos truth serum doe in estrous, i poured about half the bottle out, its really some strong smelling stuff, and this double forked 4 point came out and had his nose to the air smelling it, and thats when i shot him.

 

Big no for me, for the amount of times I used any type of commercial scents compared the the number of reactions(positive and negative ) from deer I would say they been a waste I time and money.

 

My son's both swear by them and have had good luck using them. But again, it only takes one buck to check it out to be successful.