How to Attract that Big Buck

Many seasoned hunters know that there is a lot of value in research. Not the type that has you hitting the books or studying for hours on end. This type of research involves hanging out at the hardware store or the bait shop. This type of research involves sifting through so many tall tales for that glimpse of truth about the truly monster deer in the area. Another part of this research involves some day trips to your hunting area in the off season. You can also look around in some other areas of interest to see if you can spot several "points" trotting through the underbrush. Once you know where to hunt, knowing you will see the choice prey is the next step. There are some very interesting methods to do this and many are quite disturbing. Here is one easy method that does not require you to spray urine all over yourself.

Once you have scouted out the area where you will be hunting, you can start to attract the deer. The first step in getting the deer to start coming around your hunting area is to start laying out some food. If there are any corn fields nearby, you can ask the farmer if you can glean a little bit of the scrap corn that is left after the harvest. Otherwise, you will want to buy some corn seed or other deer foods from any local hardware or pet store. Laying out grain and hay in the area will get the deer comfortable with feeding in the area. Alfalfa is another good source of food and is aromatic enough to draw them from a couple miles away. If you can afford it, apples are the best thing you can use. You don't want to toss out whole apples though. If you slice them into quarters or smaller, you can optimize the aroma and you will be able to spread one bag of apples over a much larger area. Deer love apples and they can smell them from a very long distance. You may want to use apples over the last week before the season starts. This will bring in more and make sure they are still around when the season opens. You will want to start with a rather broad area at first. Each week, begin to confine the area to a tighter circle around your stand or area. This will bring them from a much larger distance and then concentrate them to your spot once the season starts. Many states have baiting laws during the season, but there is no law that says you can not feed the wild deer when the season is not in full effect. By feeding them in the off season, you can relocate them to a spot where it is much easier for you to hunt in.

As the season draws near, you will now need to get your gear in order. The smell from your clothing and equipment can scare a deer off quicker than any sound. You will need to descent everything that you are planning to take with you or wear while on your hunting trip. You need to start this at least a week before your trip. The first step is to wash all of your clothing and any gear that can go into the washing machine with straight water. The only soap that you may want to consider using is a specially formulated one that has been made for hunters and hunting trips. You can find these at almost any hunting store. One other option that you have is to cut one apple into small pieces. You can cut it into quarters and then cut each quarter in half width-wise. You want to do this right over top of your load of laundry while it is in the washer. This will allow all of the juice to get into the wash basin. Another option is to put one cup of apple juice in the washer. This is not the preferred method since there are a lot of added preservatives and sugars. This will embed the scent of apples into your clothing and make you a natural deer magnet. Once you get everything washed, hang it up outside to dry. You can put all of your gear together outdoors, as long as nothing is overlapping. You want the air to be able to blow through your gear so that it can blow away any human scents and trap the natural smells. You want to keep everything away from any dryer vents, car exhaust, or any other odor producers that may be in your area. If it is possible, you can hang your clothing near to your hunting area and let it air out there. This will make it nearly impossible for the deer to smell you.

The next thing that you want to do is lace your hunting grounds with pheromones. The best way to attract deer is through their urine. There is no way around this. The one thing that I am against is spraying it all over my clothing an body. I do not like covering myself in urine. Some hunters are okay with it though. This is completely up to you. Whether you do or not, you will want to implement this step into your preparations. You will want to get about 5 to 10 35mm film canisters and some cotton balls. You want to nail the canisters to the surrounding trees in your hunting area. You can use staples or glue if you do not want to nail them to the trees. You will also want to put about thirty to fifty yards between each canister. You want to place one or two on the same tree that your stand is in or on the nearest tree to your spot. Once you have all the canisters on the surrounding trees, you can start to bait them. Place a "musk" soaked cotton ball into each canister. You can either soak them first, or put the cotton into the canister and then soak it. This is completely up to you. You want to hang the canisters about a week or two before the season starts, but wait to bait them until about three days before your trip.

Now that you have your area set up, there is only one more step. This will be done the day of your trip. Just before you set out, you will want to use either an apple spray or a fresh apple and get the scent of it all over your clothing and hunting gear. You will also want to get at least one apple and cut it into small pieces. You can spread these pieces in your line of sight. Once you are in your hunting spot, cut up the apple(s) and toss the chunks into the areas that you want the deer to appear. This can be classified as scenting and is legal. For it to be baiting, you will have to use so many pounds of food to attract the deer. As long as you stay to one or two apples, you should be fine. You can also use apple cores. This way you can use as many as you want and it is now trash, not bait.

This may not guarantee you a trophy buck, but it will definitely increase your odds. Bringing all the deer from the surrounding area into your spot will greatly increase your chances at getting the perfect shot at the perfect deer, year after year. With the amount of deer that you can attract to your spot by using these methods you can fill your bag limit in a matter of days, if not hours. You can also be more selective in your shots and wait for the perfect animal to come into view. It will no longer be a matter of if you bag a deer this season, but how big it will be.