The selection of whitetail scents and lures available these days can be mind-boggling. Hunters looking to fool a big buck can purchase buck urine, doe urine, tarsal glands, estrous scent, and synthetic versions of all of these products. Attractants that appeal to a whitetail’s taste buds come in a variety of forms as well including: sprays, liquids, pellets, and good old-fashioned corn. To find out which whitetail scents and lures will actually help you put a buck on the ground I spoke with Isaiah Dresbach of Dresbach Outdoors. Here’s what I learned:
Do Whitetail Scents and Lures Really Work?
The short answer to this question is yes. Dresbach uses attractants year-round and utilizes scents when the whitetails’ breeding season draws near. He said, “Yes, they do work, for sure.” As mentioned Dresbach caters his scent and attractant presentation to the phase of the season he is hunting. Here’s a rundown of what he puts out throughout the season:
Early Season Attractants
Dresbach hunts and guides hunters in Ohio, where baiting is legal. During the early season he shies away from using deer urine and other scents in favor of corn coated with an apple flavored spray. Dresbach said, “I just let them come to corn pretty much and pattern them.” If baiting isn’t legal in your area, focusing on natural food sources. Food plots can help you do the same."
Hunters in states where baiting is illegal can also have success finding and patterning bucks through the use of mock scrapes. Whether you choose to use real deer urine or a synthetic product, mock scrapes can be an effective tool to add to your early season arsenal.
Pre-Rut Scents
Once the pre-rut starts kicking in and the bucks start feeling their oats, Dresbach changes his strategy slightly. After finding a hot scrape, he applies buck urine to simulate a rival buck moving into the area. Dresbach said, “I’ll just scrape the scrape out, put my buck urine drip on top of it, and that’s it.” Dresbach was able to kill a mature buck using this method last season. He said, “I made a scrape, sprayed [Buck Bomb] on the ground, and he came right to the scrape and re-dug it.” Aside from doctoring deer scrapes with buck urine, Dresbach continues to offer apple-flavored corn.
Go All Out During the Rut
When the first does start coming into estrous, the game changes and your scent strategies should too. Dresbach continues feeding corn and doctoring scrapes during this time period, but adds another element to his olfactory illusion by using Tink’s 69 Estrous Doe Scent. Dresbach uses a key-wick dipped in the lure and creates a trail into his stand. He said, “I’ll walk around my stand and hang it about 15-40 yards away from my stand.” Dresbach also stressed that it was important to hang the scent-wick upwind of your stand. That way, any bucks circling downwind of the wick will pass between you and the scent, giving you a slam-dunk shot opportunity.
Focus on Food in the Late Season
Once the flurry of breeding season has died down, bucks need to replenish the body weight they lost during the rut to prepare for the upcoming winter. This means that, while scent strategies probably won’t work, an un-pressured bait station or food plot can be deadly. At this time of year, Dresbach hunts primarily near his apple flavored corn or one of his food plots. Follow his lead to find a big post-rut buck. Use these tips to decide which scents and lures to use, when to use them and see more success in the whitetail woods this fall.
To book a hunt with Dresbach Outdoors contact them at:
www.guidefitter.com/dresbachoutdoors.
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