1. Scent Elimination: This was taken from Week 6, so I cut and pasted. One thing I have begun to do differently is using rubber gloves when handling any of my clothes/boots around the house. All else is the same.
I use Scent-Away natural or fresh earth soap and baking soda for my clothes. I wash everything and store them in the plastic totes. I separate everything in to about 3 boxes. I have undergarments (yes, this includes towels and underwear), lightweight, and then heavyweight clothes. Prior to washing my clothes or taking them from the washer to the dryer, I always spray my hands and arms down to eliminate human scent. Do the same prior to folding them and putting them away. I use the white oak and earth wafers in the totes, although I think this may be a bit overbearing and unnatural to a deer's nose. I take showers before every hunt, and I spray down my entire body right after drying off. I never get dressed until I reach my hunting area. I generally wear shorts and a t-shirt on the drive over, but, I have been known to drive over in my underwear as well. I spray down again once I am dressed, and do the same once I get to the stand. Going in light as I do (see previous tip), I will generally try to carry any heavier clothes as to prevent sweating. I use baking soda on my head, under my arms, and around the crotch area. I am a bit anal and have been known to wash clothes and shower between a morning and afternoon hunt (note: I always will shower).
Starting in 1984, we really didn't have all of these scent eliminating clothing (which I feel to be entirely bogus BTW), soaps, etc... My dad and his best friend encouraged us very early on to cover our human scent in the best way possible. At this time, most hunters were using skunk scent or fox piss. We used fox piss for years. I'm not sure it really did any good. But, we never showered before a hunt. Boy have times changed.
2. Scents and usage of such: Beginning about 1988/89, I became a religious believer in the usage of Tink's 69 Doe in Heat. I would say that over the years, I can only think of 3 or 4 different bucks that I know came down the exact trail of scent I had laid out. I told you guys last week of the big one down at Zalma that caught the scent that windy day many year back. Missed him at 10 yards shooting a PSE Laser Magnum. Which, BTW, was tall cotton for the time. Anyway, I would say I kept this up for many years, even and up to about 6 years ago, when I began using Scrape Juice at 170's suggestion. My first experience with that stuff resulted in a buck at 25 yards, me screwing the shot up hitting him high and back, and then me killing the same deer about a week or so later. That buck came in aggressive, like nothing I had ever seen. Since this time, I have not really had a deer act like that to Scrape Jucie. But, I am a firm believer that it works each as a good cover scent and an attractant. I really like the aerosol that it puts out, although that is pretty much common these days for all products. Recently (last year), I began using this Wildfire product from Spook Spann. The jury is still out on it. But, when you only hunt a single day during the rut each year, it is hard to get a read on any product.
Overall, my usage of attractants has been rather limited. I can give you a half dozen examples of deer that I am sure came to the scent. But, that is out of a very large study section. I believe I'd do just about as well without them.
3. Calls: Here is where it gets dicey for me. When I was younger, I used a grunt call religiously. Felt naked without it in fact. I called in a few deer with it, but nothing big and nothing really to speak of. Then, one day about 7 years back, while hunting the HFA, I grunted at a fully mature 150" buck one Saturday morning. He was probably 50 yards from me. That deer did not look up, nothing. All he did was bust out of there as quick as possible acting much like he had been shot. Never had witnessed such. Then, the following morning, a doe came through. About 10 minutes behind her was this same exact buck. This time, I opted to try and bleat at him with my mouth. The same exact thing happened. From that time forward up and until last year, I never carried a grunt call. During that 6 or 7 year timespan, I grunted in one 10-pointer with my mouth that I ended up killing. I grunted him from about 150 yards away. That being said, I remain pretty much silent with respect to bleats or grunts in the woods. The deer I killed last year, however, I killed by blind grunting him in. Came right in to the tree and was looking for trouble. He got it. But, let me reiterate. I call sparingly at deer. If you would like a very good grunt call, let me get a plug in here for VECtor grunters. They are as good as they get. Hand turned and sound fantastic.
With respect to rattling, I carry a rattle bag. But, I use it even less than a grunter. I like the sound of a rattle bag and I can carry it in my backpack (which I very seldom carry... see one of my other tips for going in light). But, I have been successful rattling in small bucks over the last 10 years. Sometimes it is just fun to mess with them. If they are interested, you can bring them right to the tree. Shut up, and they will leave. Rattle some more, they'll come right back. I've done this only a handful of times. Now, with respect to mature bucks..., I have only rattled in one big deer. It haunts me to this day that I was unable to kill him. But, he knew something wasn't right. Would I have been better having a decoy? Did he see me in the tree? The answer is possibly "all of the above". But, that deer was killed by a ML hunter in December and netted 154" as an 8-pointer. I had him at 30 yards and just couldn't sneak an arrow to his vitals. Another step and I would have killed him. But, he realized something wasn't right. But, let me be clear in that I rattle even less than I grunt. But, sometimes in the middle of the afternoon, it does take the edge off of an 11.5 hour sit. Gives you something to do when times are slow. These days, I do carry a backpack more than I used to, so I sometimes have these items available. I also like to range trees now that I have a rangefinder (which, BTW, I feel to be an altogether useless piece of equipment).
Overall, I use attractants religiously and they work very seldom. I use calls sparingly and they work not terribly often as well. I think for the most part, all of them are gimics.
Next week, we might visit the topic of hunting scrapes. It will be a short topic though, as I believe hunting travel corridors to be much more productive.
