Good Attractant

[WoodsQuest]

I’m trying to find a good attractant for whitetail deer in NY. I can’t use anything they can eat. It has to be all scent based. No licks or feed, etc. I’ve read about mashing acorns and making a spray with it and also using vanilla extract. Any other scents I could make that will work as an attractant?

 

[kenton]

Pee in a scrape or make a mock scrape. By far the most effective attractant.

 

[WoodsQuest]

Do the stuff made by Tinks work?

 

[Addicting]

Pee in a scrape or make a mock scrape. By far the most effective attractant.

Killed quite a few that way.

 

[kenton]

Do the stuff made by Tinks work?

NO, there is no commercially available scent that will consistently work. Its always going to be another foreign odor introduced into the woods.

 

[MITCHMO]

Use a grunt call, I hunt heavily pressured state land and every year I call bucks in. I’ve shot several over the last couple seasons doing this. Don’t get discouraged when you try it 5-10 sits and nothing. You have to have one in ear shot and in the right mood. Just don’t over call. Last season I called 3 bucks in a single morning after trying for a week straight. Bottles doe scent does work, but it’s a crap shoot. I think that the deerbusually smell you on top of it so it’s not that effective.

 

[Brian in Montana]

NO, there is no commercially available scent that will consistently work. Its always going to be another foreign odor introduced into the woods.

I have to agree with Kenton. The one thing a "scent attractant" will do, is provide the hunter with a distracted animal. If they come through the area they might stick there nose to it for a good pondering sniff while you take aim at and shoot a motionless target. Beyond that, I'm afraid scent attractants are pretty much a gimmick. That's my opinion, but its an opinion founded on 30 years of hunting whitetail.

Hunt feed areas and travel corridors and don't waste your $ on scents.

 

[Brian in Montana]

I meant to say also, grunt calls and rattling do work under the right circumstances.