Tricks, tips and myths to attract deer.

T

The Terminator

New member
I was reading another post, and thinking back, on all of the things that my cousin and I would try, when growing up, to attract deer. If we heard it would work, we tried it.

Lets see, we made false scrapes and urinated in them.

We made feeders of a 5 gallon bucket of corn, with a stick poking through the bottom. Deer were supposed to move the stick, and more corn would fall out.

We put rock salt in a sock, and hung it froma rope, rain was supposed to wash the salt onto the ground so that the deer would lick the leaves.

We buried salt blocks just below the surface of the ground. Ditto with molasses blocks.

None of those really worked.

We sprayed plants with vanilla extract, they came and devoured that, and were slain.

We did the same thing with peanut butter, that worked as well.

We/I tried doe urine. Foxes love to eat that while you watch.

We tried horse feed, they will eat it up, at night when you can't hunt.

We tried honey, in a pipe driven into the ground, with crushed up sleeping pills in it. The deer were supposed to lick it out, and fall asleep so that you could find them sleeping when you came up. Never worked. I think that raccoons ate it all.

Those are a few that did or did not work. How about you?
 
I've used "Deer Cane", the powder you mix with water. It always showed signs of use but I never saw a deer at that location. And that was 25 yards from my treestand. I've used a gallon :D of Tinks 69 and never had a deer "follow me" to my stand or sniff at it in front of the stand. I've used mineral licks and they were eventually used, I never had a deer visit it while on stand. I've had far too many foxes, coyotes, and turkeys around me to think that it's because I'm doing too much moving or the wind is wrong to make me think that it's ME! Maybe just not very lucky!:o
 
I've used a gallon of Tinks 69 and never had a deer "follow me" to my stand or sniff at it in front of the stand
Click to expand...

I got to tour a deer/elk farm in MN that sells sent they collect. They said Tink's was hot water stained through sheep manure. Then I did try theirs and didn't have any results that were evident to me.

I have many times in the past taken the gland(hind leg) from a mature buck and wire it to a stick and drag it along with me.
I had a dandy 10 point'er walk out and stick his nose right into my trail. It was the last day of season, and I had an itch for a wall hanger and dumped work to give the tarsal gland a try. It was snowing 3/4 in and larger snow flakes that AM, and I was trying to keep my gun protected and especially the scope clear.
When that bucks head was down I took aim only to find I couldn't see anything through the scope. I was dumbfounded(not all that unusual) but did a quick swipe of the front lens and still nothing, The buck made me and bolted, and I found it was the rear lens that was fogged. I couldn't figure what could have possibly caused this. I tried to redo this many times as I lost sleep about that missed opportunity. Every time I sat in a heavy snow that situation came back. Had to be 20 years later that I finally figured it out. It was my gloved hand, or more the wrist, as I was keeping the scope tight to my glove and it didn't make sense before as the conditions just didn't line up until it happened again on a warm snowy AM.

I did spend 4 hr. on that bucks track before I headed back to the truck with a lost feeling that just isn't there anymore. If only the adrenaline would flow like it used to. of course that would probably mean I wouldn't be able to sleep a wink the night before also:eek:
But it is those old memory's that do keep us going afield, Aye!
 
I've never had much luck with anything other than food. As far as the cover scents, when I get very conscious about my scent i.e. where rubber boots cover myself completely in camo with some sort of scent killer, I don't see anything usually. The days I say "screw it" and head out after work without showering, greasy work boots, and a little camo, for some reason I see things. I've never been able to figure out if it's either they're so wary of any unusual smell they bolt off, or they are more curious when the smell something out of the ordinary, they investigate. I've been out on job sites that have had deer tracks all around the equipment in the morning, that all smells like grease and humans, but they still come around! I can't figure it out myself, I must say though, the "vanilla extract" idea sounds good, I may try that one. Combined of my motor oil, grease cover scent ;)
 
A sure fire way to attract deer from miles away is to
1)fall asleep
2)put down your gun to eat a samich
3)put down yer gun to walk off to do a potty away from yer stand.
These work very well especially for the largest wisest of Bucks!
Brent
 
As I posted in that thread I started the Trails end has worked at least twice (and visibly).

I've tried the peanut butter trick but never seen it work. It's disappeared at night, but not while I was watching.

I've used timed corn feeders and just corn dumped on the ground with success. Biggest deer I've ever arrowed was heading for a corn pile when I shot him. It's legal here but I understand in many states it's not.

I've tried making mock scrapes with scent products and it's never worked.

For me, the most productive thing is to find where the deer are and be there.

This season I've been hunting a tree/fence line along the edge of a 2 year old clearcut pretty heavily. Deer are funneling through that area, particularly in the evening. I've hunted that stand 7 evenings so far and have seen deer on 4 of them.

Find your choke/funnel points between bedding and feeding areas. It will pay off.

Gonna have to get some vanilla extract now though. I'm assuming you're using the real deal and not the imitiation stuff?
 
All I know is that the big woods deer in PA will bed anywhere and eat anywhere. There are not well defined bedding and feeding areas. You can see a bunch one day, and nothing the next. That's hunting...
 
Get this now...

When the snow comes early and deep, one of the best deer attractants around here is..........................a CHAINSAW! Deer will congregate heavily into any area where trees are being felled to feed on the tops...they have learned to recognize the sound of a chainsaw to mean food is on the way...no b.s.!
 
NEVER WORKED FOR ME: Tinks 69, scent dripper with anything in it, mock scrapes(that one became a quest for me,I gave up but still want to make it work just one time). WHAT HAS WORKED: Trail`s End(around stand and drag rag), Cmere Deer, corn,apples,pears,mineral and salt blocks, the previous mentioned 5 gal. bucket with the stick trick,food and hunting plots, rattling,grunting and bleating(snort-wheeze is deadly on a fired up buck) . HAVEN`T TRIED BUT WOULD LIKE TO: Deer decoy
 
This is not a gimmick to put out a week before opening day.
But, it will attract deer.
This homemade mineral lick provides minerals that are lacking in the diets of most deer.
By providing these minerals to the deer, you will promote antler growth.
These minerals will cause the does to be healthier, thus giving birth to healthier fawns.
The doe will have more nutritious milk, thus ensuring fawn survival.
This mineral lick is especially beneficial to the deer in the spring and summer, but they will come to it year round.
If you put the lick out this week, it may help in this year's hunting, may not.
But, next season, you will see results.
This lick was posted 8 years ago, and costs have doubled. So, it will cost $46 to buy 200 pounds of these minerals. But, that lasts 2 years, so $23 a year.
Deer prefer to lick and eat mineral rich dirt, rather than to lick off of a salt block. Plus, this lick has many minerals that are not found in a salt block.
I made one of these licks a year and a half ago, and the deer have eaten the dirt in a 3 foot circle, six inches deep. There are two well used deer trails that go to this lick.
I got a guy on another forum to make one of these licks 8 months ago.
Last year, he got one deer.
This year, he has already got 3 deer in the freezer, just in muzzleloading season. He says the deer are hammering this mineral lick.
These minerals are available at any seed and feed store, although, my store did have to order the Di-calcium phosphate.
The "Trace mineral salt" actually contains about a dozen different minerals, including copper. Most deer are chronically deficient in copper, and they will travel a long way to get it.


WHITETAIL DEER HOMEMADE MINERAL MIX RECIPE
Printable version
Ingredients: Makes 200 lbs. for about $23.00

1 part Di-calcium phosphate, this is a dairy feed additive bought at feed stores.
Comes in 50lb Bags at around $11.00 you need one bag.

2 parts Trace mineral salt, the red and loos kind without the medications.
Comes in 50lb Bags at around $5.00 you need two bags.

1 part Stock salt, ice cream salt.
Comes in 50lb Bags at around $2.00 you need one bag.

Directions:

-Use a 3 pound or similar size coffee can to use as your measure for each part of the mix.

-Mix all together well but not until read to use, keep ingredients separate until ready to put to use.

-Dig or tear up a circle in the soil about 36 inches wide and about 6 inches deep.

-Mix your mineral mixture with the soil.

Maintenance:

-Replenish in 6 months with fresh supply of mineral, and then each year there after.

Mix up half of the minerals, one hundred pounds, and make the lick.
Therefter, replenish in the spring with 100 pounds of minerals.
 
NO RantingRedneck, NO

Imitation Vanilla only. The alcohol in the real stuff is kinda spooky to them. I was using the real stuff for about 5 hunts several years ago. They were blowing me out of the woods. They may not have liked the brand I was using though :)
 
I have found camo only hides the hunter from other hunters.

I work in the exhurbs, I eat lunch sitting on a 5 gallon bucket out on the edge of the lot, I have deer walk to within 10 feet of me, often from down wind. and they don;t care. I will be wearing work clothes, flannel shirts etc.

a moderate sized rifle shooting a slow load will kill the animal cleaner and leave more meat. I shoot a 180 grain soft point from a 300 savage at 2400 fps deer drop within 50 feet, and they have hardly any damaged meat.

scents dont work. unless the animal you collect from is a local animal, the deer can tell who it is by the scent.

Vanilla and Sugar water sprayed around is about the only hard to detect bait that works, and its illegal as heck where we hunt.

spending a few days in the spring planting some fruit trees, and punching in raspberry, strawberry, and other hardy fruit plaints will get you more than any lick or bait will.
 
I had a Tinks69 product that looked like a stick of deodorant, I had rubbed some on a tree about 15 yards from my stand and I had a buck literally licking the stuff off the side of the tree... until the arrow went through his lungs, then he lost interest.;):D

Besides that event I have used Tinks and other brands for years and not seen any CONCLUSIVE evidence that they are more than a curiosity to deer.


I will be trying that imitation vanilla trick.
 
For me, the most productive thing is to find where the deer are and be there.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you work for NASA!

We do the corn thing and it works well enough, but it doesn't compete too well with the acorns that are now dropping.
 
Have several feeders up, that I keep year around, and they have been up for so long that I have several generations of deer coming to them now.
The key to any attractant, is for the deer to find it every time he is in the area.
If you don't keep the attractant there, year around, they will eventually start ignoring the area.

I've tried about everything on the market, for a quick fix, and the only thing I have found that works fairly quick, is Rice meal. It brings them into an area quickly, but they will eat it up pretty quick also.

Salt seems to work, but it will work better, when it is near a watering hole, and most of the time, there isn't a good watering hole to be found where I like to hunt.
 
Don't even have to leave the house...

Since having this installed, I don't even have to leave the house to get a deer. They're knocking down the front door :D.

deer-door-bell.jpg
 
attracting deer

I live in alabama and I have tried literally just about everything there is (tinks, cmere deer, salt blocks, ect.) but the one thing i have found that works the best for me is taking an empty ice cream bucket and covering the bottom with corn and then on top of that place 4-5 peices if cut up apples (do this for about 3 layers) then pour waffle syrup on top to hold it togather. dash about 3 tbl spoons of table salt on it and set it out in the woods. works every time for me. wat other ideas do yall have?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top