Tricks, tips and myths to attract deer.

Correct. If its growing out of the ground, it's legal.
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Yet in other states that would be considered 'baiting', and is illegal , as with scent attractants. Guess it depends on where your accustomed to hunting!

My point is, that to often, we as hunters are to quick to chastise(or deem un-ethical) other forms of hunting which we may not be accustomed to simply cause we've not hunted in someone else's 'neck of the woods'. Example: Here in Ohio, its illegal to gun hunt deer with a rifle. Shotgun,pistol or BP only. I know people here that think hunting deer with a rifle is unethical. Too, a few that think hunting them with anything but a bow is unethical. These same people have never been anywhere else but here hunting.

No disrespect intended but the recent post by Outlaw about 'sneaking through the woods'. Try that in many places out west.

While 'baiting' in my area may be interpreted/defined by DNR in one way, its defined differently in others.

If a persons hunting legally in their respective areas, IMO, we shouldn't chastise them for doing so.

Also, again, no disrespect but this ethical/unethical debate should be another thread.

Sorry OP for the thread veer.
 
I can't swear to your experience, but I carry peppermint with me. I always have a piece handy for those times when my mouth gets dry. Anyway, I once had two doe, and was I sitting on the ground, walk right up to me when I had peppermint in my mouth. I saw them come in, sniff, keep sniffing and make their way directly to me. These doe got to within 3 to 4 feet of me. At that point, they got spooky and took off.

Ever since, I always keep peppermint handy because it worked at least once.
 
Ever since, I always keep peppermint handy...
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Funny you mention that Krezyhorse. A buddy of mine mixes a bit of peppermint and spearmint seed in his clover when planting. I've never tried it but he swears by it. Says the deer really won't eat the plants till they mature. Suppose they get sweeter then.

Your bag of peppermint candy surely would be cheaper and alot less work. :D
 
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Perhaps we should work up a list of good things to plant to attract deer? I'm looking to grow some apple trees in plastic buckets and transplant them to fresh clear cuts when they're big enough. When I was a kid, we had a crab-apple tree on the corner of our property and it would draw the deer in like a magnet...

Tony
 
Clover grows wild in a few patches on my property and they eat the hell out of it. One patch is right next to the driveway leading up to the house, most of the time they won't stop eating to take off until the truck is right next to them.
 
tinks

This is a gun forum, but I have had Tinks lure work very well during Archery season. I drag a rag around through the brush in a crazy pattern and then throw it up in a tree to really get the scent out. Tie a bolt or washer to the rag with a long piece of twine so you can get it back down and seal it in a plastic bag.
I have had a buck rub the tree the rag was in, had a buck make a scrape under the tree the rag was in and pee in it. I had two bucks come flying down through the woods to the rag as soon as I threw it up in the tree and was caught standing there. I had a large doe come walking up with her tongue out and lay down under the rag in the tree. I think it only really works like that if there are doe in heat in the area or close to being in heat. Maybe 3 days a year?
 
Gunplummer,

Sounds as though you've had quite the success with the 'ole drag rag' trick. I've used that method during bow season for several years and have literally watched deer come under my stand from a long distance with nose straight on the ground following the scent trail I've laid down.

Very early bow season here in Ohio comes in when the bucks are very territorial and staking off their turf. I'll usually use a buck scent then along with rattling and gruntingmany times proves to be a deadly combo on flushing a dominate buck. As the season progresses and the bucks interest start turning towards the does I'll swith to an estrus scent.

A scent I've had attract both sex's is Trail's Blend made by Outdoor Research. Smells alot like sweet anis.



One important thing I've found is that if your going to lay a long scent trail you need to stop every 30-40yds and freshen your rag up with more scent so it stays strong as you drag. Seems as though deer will travel the scent trail from weakest to strongest scent. Similar to the way a good beagle trails a rabbit.

Hey Hogdogs,

Do deer eat oranges?
 
Hey Hogdogs,

Do deer eat oranges?
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I have personally never witnessed nor heard complaint of deer feeding on the fruit. But I know the feral hogs will pick them off the tree before the mexicans can get them.:D

Brent
 
Our pet deer, Murgatroyd, liked Camel cigarettes.

Unlit, of course.

However, Clay Henry, the goat who was the unofficial mayor of Lajitas, Texas, would scarf down any cigarette, lit or unlit, filter or no filter. He was a four-legged suction pump with a bottle of Miller's, also.

I note that deer and goats have dietary similarities...
 
So my dad and I just went out hunting in a blind today. Neither of us have ever hunted out of one. We sat there for about ten hours and didn't see one deer. I walked a ravine before we headed in and found three dead deer so their are deer around how do I attract then or what am I doing wrong:confused:
 
Bummedhunter, sounds like you are in an area with lots of hunting/poaching pressure full of people who don't know how to shoot or track.:mad: If I'm right, your best bet is find another place to hunt.:(
 
hogdogs called it right on... :D

I tried the vanilla thing this year. Scared the deer away from my stand. No more scent BS. All those products mentioned are BS. Never had even one work. I have rattled in a couple deer but that's very spotty and I think you scare them away more then you draw them in. Same with grunt calls. Tinks is junk. So are all the others I've tried. The Scent Lock stuff is BS. I've been deer hunting for almost 50 years now. We got deer "back then" without all this stuff. Let your hunting clothes hang outside for a day or two. Bath without using smelly soap and don't put on smelly deodorant. They make scentfree stuff. Use the wind. No matter how much care you take, if the wind is wrong the old bucks will scent you. Just don't take it personal... :D
 
Farm...

We had deer take out 45 acres of Corn last year, and around the same of beans this year. Food and water source really is all you need. This year we're doing a little cleansing. But corn/beans/wheat. Any source like that will attract them.
 
I've had buck grub work pretty good. On this one place I was on for a while I had bucks running to it, and I mean running! But that was about 4 years ago..

on the lease I am hunting now the only thing that loves buck crub is cows they literally eat a hole into the ground. So depending on where you live I would give buck grub a try

Other then that plane corn works as good as anything else, if there is not to many acorns on the ground
 
near my house I have planted apple trees and a fair amount of corn as well as some black berry bushes and a small garden. I recently (last year) all so planted some evergreen bushes and the deer seem to like to feed on them in the winter. In the past I toyed with feeders and mineral blocks but I never had much luck with them, the deer here seem to like "real" food.

Most years I can shoot a deer from my back porch. This last year was the exception. The apples did not do that well this year. I still got a deer but I had to get off my fat butt and hunt it rather than simply harvest it.

I think the apples are the key. The deer bed down in the corn and eat the apples early in the morning and then again right before it gets dark. It all so helps that I have no neighbors and no out door dogs to scare away the deer (and occasional elk). I all so don't shoot near my house unless harvesting an animal or taking care of a pest.
 
Don't ever bother hunting an uncut corn field. Seven feet tall and the deer can hide in there all season. You will not see them. Two years ago the farmers couldn't cut their corn until there was a freeze due to some blight or something (I'm not a farmer). We did not see deer until the last two days of the season because the farmers finally cut it at the end of the week. Those deer just bedded in there, ate their corn cobs, told jokes (about us hunters probably) and had a good old SAFE time. :mad:

We hunt a oak tree woods surrounded by marsh and the marsh is surrounded by corn fields. The deer love acorns so it helps. If the corn is cut.
 
take a roll of black roofing felt and roll it out in the woods, then spray 2 yellow lines down the middle of it. Living here in PA, them deer seem to love crossing the roads!!!
 
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