Attracting Deer during hunting season

[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.

[js4fn]

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.

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

[Sam Menard]

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.

[impact]

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

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

[Gilroy]

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.

[js4fn]

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

[rali]

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...

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

[rali]

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

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.

[WranglerWild17]

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!