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Today’s hunt
- Thread starter 1100LT20
- Start date
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
Any luck? Looks like rainy weather?
1100LT20
Active Member
No deer sightings, I was rained out at 9:15 am. Maybe next weekend?
Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
Have you used the smoke sticks before or is this the first time?
1100LT20
Active Member
First time. I ran out of the black widow so I grabbed a pack at Walmart and tried them but nothing showed up. I had a good east wind that helped push the smoke down the swamp’s edge exactly how I had hoped just no bucks.
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
Has anyone ever had much success with smoke sticks that you know of?
1100LT20
Active Member
Don’t know anyone that’s even tried them before. The only commercial scents that I’ve ever had any kind of luck with was Tinks 69 liquid and black widow XXX southern deer formula, and that was young (1.5 years old) bucks. I’ve had does come up to code blue tarsal gland in a jar and Conceal apple before but that it as far as market scents. The now discontinued Conceal apple scent was sold by Kmart in the 90’s, hands down best scent I’ve experienced during October bow season in the south. I’ve tried creating it with apple extract and distilled water but haven’t had any deer act interested?
yoderjac
Well-Known Member
It is pretty easy for us to use a scent, see a buck and put 2 and 2 together. Sure, there are times when a buck may be looking for does and happened to cross a scent path downwind of your scent and come look for the doe. It happens. Deer are also curious at times and will investigate interesting odors. I've never used smoke sticks in particular, but I've messed around with a lot of scents over the years, back when deer urine was legal in my state. I have to say, when I stopped using it, I found it was one less thing to setup, and my deer harvests did not suffer at all.
There is one place where I was able to use scents successfully and that was bow hunting. I did not use them to attract deer, but to position them. I would put a little vanilla extract on a cotton ball and place it on a branch just out of reach of deer in a shooting lane. Deer would often come by my archery stand but never step into a shooting lane or give me the right angle and I'd just have to let them walk by. With the use of the vanilla extract, every deer that came by me would eventually go check out that cotton ball with the vanilla. They would sniff it for a bit and move around it, and then eventually just move on. By placing it in a shooting lane and the deer pausing to investigate, my chances of the right shot angle increased significantly.
That is not to say I never killed deer using doe-in-heat or buck lure type scents. There was never enough consistency that I could say I would not have killed that deer without it. One more thing that I observed, was deer coming in, catching the wind from a buck lure type scent and turning tail and running. I even saw this when the deer first walked up and put it's nose in it.
In my experience, they are hit and miss, and I don't at all regret the change in regulations eliminating their use.
There is one place where I was able to use scents successfully and that was bow hunting. I did not use them to attract deer, but to position them. I would put a little vanilla extract on a cotton ball and place it on a branch just out of reach of deer in a shooting lane. Deer would often come by my archery stand but never step into a shooting lane or give me the right angle and I'd just have to let them walk by. With the use of the vanilla extract, every deer that came by me would eventually go check out that cotton ball with the vanilla. They would sniff it for a bit and move around it, and then eventually just move on. By placing it in a shooting lane and the deer pausing to investigate, my chances of the right shot angle increased significantly.
That is not to say I never killed deer using doe-in-heat or buck lure type scents. There was never enough consistency that I could say I would not have killed that deer without it. One more thing that I observed, was deer coming in, catching the wind from a buck lure type scent and turning tail and running. I even saw this when the deer first walked up and put it's nose in it.
In my experience, they are hit and miss, and I don't at all regret the change in regulations eliminating their use.
yoderjac
Well-Known Member
That is where personal hygiene and scent control come in. I'm fastidious when it comes to bowhunting, not so much with gun hunting. I was never very good a playing the wind. There are too many little back eddies, change of direction, and swirling where I hunt. The prevailing wind may come from one direction, but in my stand, things my be very different. When I started focusing on scent control, I went from getting blown on most hunts to having deer feed all around me never knowing I was there. This is regardless if I used an attractant scent or not.
1100LT20
Active Member
Very true. I watched the smoke from those Tinks sticks flow towards the west for most of the 2 hours but occasionally it shifted in every direction.
Drycreek
Well-Known Member
I just don’t think you can get scent free. I know you can reduce your scent, probably fool their noses into thinking you are farther away than you are. I have done a little experimenting with that myself. I prefer to place myself where MOST of the deer won’t get behind me and I just wouldn’t bowhunt when winds were “light and variable”. Gun hunting is much different most of the time, but not always.
yoderjac
Well-Known Member
I agree, scent free is a goal. We never completely achieve it. In the places I hunt, human scent is common place. There is a difference in PPM between a human has been in the area and a human is nearby. With scent control, I'm trying to keep the amount of scent I produce and escapes my clothing at a very low PPM and the amount that makes it to a deer's nose much lower. I'm sure I have been scented but the occasions are rare compared to my trying to play the wind before I began practicing fastidious scent control.
1100LT20
Active Member
Same stand this morning
43 degrees, cloudy with 11 mph north wind and 25+ gusts.
Same rifle too
Got the black widow in the mail yesterday and put half the bottle on top of this palmetto thicket. Not expecting much in this wind but I’m running a 2 minute offense with the season coming to an end.
43 degrees, cloudy with 11 mph north wind and 25+ gusts.
Same rifle too
Got the black widow in the mail yesterday and put half the bottle on top of this palmetto thicket. Not expecting much in this wind but I’m running a 2 minute offense with the season coming to an end.
Drycreek
Well-Known Member
Good luck LT. !
I sat in my stand at home yesterday afternoon from about 3:00 until dark. No hogs made an appearance, but a 3 year old buck that I’ve been watching for two years now came in right before dark. He just walked by my feeder and skirted my elbon rye, stopped for a half minute and walked into the woods. If he’s still here next year, he will reside in my freezer. Something is wrong with his left side, exaggerated main beam and a few short points. Ain’t ever gonna be much except steaks, so might as well pull him before he gets older and tougher.
I sat in my stand at home yesterday afternoon from about 3:00 until dark. No hogs made an appearance, but a 3 year old buck that I’ve been watching for two years now came in right before dark. He just walked by my feeder and skirted my elbon rye, stopped for a half minute and walked into the woods. If he’s still here next year, he will reside in my freezer. Something is wrong with his left side, exaggerated main beam and a few short points. Ain’t ever gonna be much except steaks, so might as well pull him before he gets older and tougher.