Attracting Deer during hunting season

Thought I would ask this question for myself and for new hunters (I know we have talked about it before but there are new people on here)

So Deer hunting season is almost upon us Oct - Dec if Bow and Nov + if shotgun / Rifle (Depends on where you are)

What do you use for attracting Deer if anything? I have tried calling but never found it successful. I do mostly hunt from a stand (Occasionally still hunt but not much). I have used the Tinks All season Smokin sticks, I think they might be somewhat successful but my son disagrees. Since we hunt over bait pile it might be hard to be sure.

I don't bother masking my scent as we hunt near farms and most likely we don't smell any different then what the deer smell all day.

Hunting this area we have done OK I guess 2 deer in 2 years could have been 3 but I messed up and spooked my son's deer. We see lot's of Deer before Nov but at the beginning of Nov they seem to disappear (Which is why we decide to bow hunt this year).

So what does everyone else do or use.

I do the opposite of whatever my brother-in-law does. Always works.

Seriously though better to go where the deer are than try to bring them in. Requires copious amounts of scouting. Locate their bedding areas. There will be numerous areas and the ones in use will fluctuate based on weather, seasonal food sources (and this can change week to week) and the rut will also affect things. You also need to determine the primary food sources associated with the bedding areas. Based on your scouting hunt the runs and pinch points between the two. For instance in years when there is good Beech nut mast it does not matter what you use for bait when the nuts are dropping - the deer will be among the Beech trees no matter what you try to lure them with.

Although I have built a few permanent stands over the years i typically prefer a mobile approach with a climber - far more flexibility to account for seasonal changes, wind direction, weather etc..

You can add bait, scents, rattling, calling etc to the above approach but 90% of the success comes from the scouting and than consequently being in the right place at the right time.

Sugar.
Strawberry jello powder throw it out your blind. It will give you the munches tho lol
If desperate one thing that works here sugar beet crush about $16.00 small bag
3 deer 1 turkey out of same blind last year crossbow I’m going to say 2020 was my lucky year period

Depends where you are, if you're hunting farms with fields you dont need to do much. The guys in my group like poping their tents in the middle of the field looking at the bush line waiting for them.

I on the other hand like to find a little open patch inside the bush. Either that or find alot of tracks near the field edge line and set up in there Somewhere.

Salt lick and some deer scents when I go in every morning

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Bags of corn and a bit of molasses on top works well if you want to attract deer to a location on the regular. As far as scents go, I only have faith in one, and that’s because I’ve seen deer follow my tracks with their nose on a couple of occasions during the peak of breeding season when I’ve sprayed it on my boots, and that is tinks 69 doe in heat. Otherwise, location will do it every time.

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Originally Posted by Species8472

but 90% of the success comes from the scouting and than consequently being in the right place at the right time.

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and lets not forget pure unadulterated 'luck' :)

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Originally Posted by Bowjob

I on the other hand like to find a little open patch inside the bush. Either that or find alot of tracks near the field edge line and set up in there Somewhere.

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I hunt back in the bush on transition trails, never had much luck sitting on tree lines.

I feed the does, nothing better than having 4-6 Does hanging around your property year round. Make them feel comfortable and get them used to your scent being in the bush. They eventually relate your scent with food.

Come the rut , all the local boys come to calling...

I hunt on the shield in the bush. No agriculture anywhere near us.

The only definitive attractant Ive seen work is food (corn feeders, food plots). Salt licks too, but they tend to have less use in the fall, more of a spring/summer thing.

Last year I did use a grunt tube about every 30 minutes on my stand, with my last call sequence maybe 5 minutes before shooting a doe. Did it bring her in? I have no idea. Did it sacre her away? Probaly not?

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Originally Posted by Species8472

I do the opposite of whatever my brother-in-law does. Always works.

Seriously though better to go where the deer are than try to bring them in.

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What he said!
The biggest things for hunters not being successful is hunting where there's no deer.
The other is making mistakes like moving too much, setting up upwind of deer travel, making too much noise, not hunting at the right time, not hunting all day etc

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Originally Posted by Deer Hunter

The biggest things for hunters not being successful is hunting where there's no deer.

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no truer words have ever been spoken HaHa..

Locate a well used runaway in late summer / early fall. This would be used by the deer to travel from their bedding area to food source.
Setup 20 to 30 yards perpendicular and downwind from it in a ground blind or tree stand if using archery. A little further back if making use of it only during firearm season. Make sure to clear a shooting lane.

Spill a bit of food such as corn with molasses on the runaway to get them to pause and offer you a carefully placed shot.

The real work is finding a good runaway but that comes with early season scouting.

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Originally Posted by impact

Locate a well used runaway in late summer / early fall. This would be used by the deer to travel from their bedding area to food source.
Setup 20 to 30 yards perpendicular and downwind from it in a ground blind or tree stand if using archery. A little further back if making use of it only during firearm season. Make sure to clear a shooting lane.

Spill a bit of food such as corn with molasses on the runaway to get them to pause and offer you a carefully placed shot.

The real work is finding a good runaway but that comes with early season scouting.

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Here molasses won’t work just attracts bees deer won’t touch it might as well hang a balloon on a string

I find that deer tend to be near food or water. If you can locate food sources, then setting up in transition zones or funnels is a good plan.

I used to sit in a tree stand for most of the day, but now prefer to still hunt. A successful strategy that I’ve employed is sneak quietly for 5 minutes, then sit and watch for 15 minutes. You need the right type of bush to do this and you can up your odds by targeting certain areas e.g, transition zones, funnels, inside of field edges, along water.

I carry a grunt tube with me all the time and had the best luck drawing in bucks that I’ve seen in the distance or heard walking in the woods. Blind calling works too… sometimes. A deer needs to be within range for them to hear it.

I also carry rattling antlers but have had limited success. It’s easy to mess up if you don’t do it right. Bucks will more often than not come in downwind so you need to have that area covered. It’s best done with 2 or 3 guys with the rattler well concealed. Often a guy will get busted and not even know it. You need to be meticulous if you want to have consistent success.

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Originally Posted by js4fn

Here molasses won’t work just attracts bees deer won’t touch it might as well hang a balloon on a string

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The mix Peavy sells works quite well. It is like a candy cane for deer.
I have seen it with my own eyes, shot deer over it and have thousands of trail cam pictures that prove it.

https://www.peaveymart.com/animal-eq...de=flyer-deals

Pretty much what all the guys have said, if your in an area of low deer numbers because of terrain,predators, you have your work cut out. My place is about typical of the big woods, one or two deer per 100 acres.

So to attract them you need to provide a food source that is more valuable to them than what they can forage naturally.

This year apples will work well for me because I lost all the apples of my apple trees to the caterpillar's so will bring up apples from the city. I planted turnips and parsnip's which should be hit after the first frost. I think your basically trying to offer the deer the food with the best nutrition, if you have acorns dropped near you they might forgo your apples for acorns on any given day.

I find when the first decent snow starts to lay on the ground the equation swings back towards the hunters advantage and especially after the first rut. So for me its food for the attraction at the right time.

And of course find the trees that feed them heavy crop this year

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e1e3430a4e.jpg

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Originally Posted by MikePal

I hunt back in the bush on transition trails, never had much luck sitting on tree lines.

I feed the does, nothing better than having 4-6 Does hanging around your property year round. Make them feel comfortable and get them used to your scent being in the bush. They eventually relate your scent with food.

Come the rut , all the local boys come to calling...

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This is exactly what we do as well. Seems to do the trick. Does hang around all year and bucks eventually start to roam.

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Originally Posted by impact

The mix Peavy sells works quite well. It is like a candy cane for deer.
I have seen it with my own eyes, shot deer over it and have thousands of trail cam pictures that prove it.

https://www.peaveymart.com/animal-eq...de=flyer-deals

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10-4. That's the same mix we use. Never fails. Bring the does and fawns in with it and wait for the bucks to catch on.

Scent is your enemy regardless what you are around all day, the deer will know and that's probably the reason why you don't see any (within bow range). The smelling ability of a whitetail deer is 1000 x more acute than a human, so they will be able to smell you. I hunt orchards, they have workers in those orchards daily, the deer's wont spook during the spring/summer much, with that said they aren't in bow range either. When it comes to hunting, if we aren't properly scent sealed (which is a very easy process) and in the wrong wind they know.

Scent bait is always a good option if your going into a place you can't bait yearly. Several products out there you can hang or spray while you are in the stand, they also have the wicks you can burn. I used to burn a wick and put it on the platform of my stand and it will burn for hours.

Good luck!