Scent products are tools that need to be used regularly and properly in order to be successful. It is very important to match scent products to the time of year or specific area in setups that favor positive outcomes. Strategically place scent drippers or wicks upwind or crosswind from your stand to attract deer.
Pre Rut – Early Stage (September to Early October): Use Doe Urine & Blazing Blend Urine – Bucks will cover lots of ground during this time because they have not begun to pattern their routes. Also, because deer are curious about their home range & often exert dominance in their areas, they investigate any new scent to find out who left it. Use scent products along buck travel routes leading to doe bedding areas or near buck feeding areas.
Pre Rut – Late Stage (Early to Mid October): Use Doe Urine, Blazing Blend Urine and Tarsal Gland Urine – Bucks begin to regularly visit “dominance zones” of rubs, scrapes and doe activity sights. Use these scents in scrapes or set up mock scrapes on the same series of real scrapes (this creates an illusion of an “intruder” buck or an inquisitive doe). Use scent products along buck travel routes leading to doe bedding areas or near buck feeding areas.
Primary Breeding Stage (Mid October to Mid November): Use Doe Estrus, Blazing Blend Urine and Tarsal Gland Urine – Bucks are looking for (or traveling with) does during this period and confronting bucks over breeding/dominance zones. Monitor doe-use areas and scrapes at this time. Apply Blazing Blend Urine, Tarsal Gland Urine and Doe Estrus Urine in scrapes or set up mock scrapes. The Blazing Blend Urine works very well during this period (this creates an illusion of an “intruder” buck and a “receptive” doe). The use of testosterone (Tarsal Gland Urine) scents may also attract does to an area, in turn attracting bucks because does are there.
Post Rut Stage (Late November through December): Use Doe Estrus, Blazing Blend Urine & Tarsal Gland Urine – Bucks begin to slow down but continue to seek unbred does. Often they resume scraping. Apply in scrapes and set up scent dispensers between bed and feed sites.
Other Suggestions: The use of Doe Urine or Blazing Blend Urine can be used as a human scent “cover up” to avoid detection. Open a bottle of scent when you’re up in a tree stand, or dip a shoe lace in the scent and hang from your stand. Another suggestion is position yourself a short distance from your stand, dip long laces in Doe or Blazing Blend Urine, tie them around your ankles so that they drag behind you, and walk to your stand. Remove the laces about 20 feet from your stand.
