November is the month all serious deer hunters live for. Not only are many rifle seasons open this month, this is the time when bucks are most vulnerable as they pursue does around the clock. Not unlike many of us, they tend to get a bit punch drunk and drop their guard when love is in the air. Seasoned hunters know how to take advantage of this annual ritual by employing calls, rattling and making good use of rut scent products developed for specific whitetail responses.
The problem with scents from a new hunter’s perspective is that there are so many to choose from it can be difficult to decide what to use and when. A quick glance at the scent pegboard of a well-stocked sporting goods store can easily overwhelm anyone.
Since the rut is on throughout most of the country and there’s no time to waste, we’re going to give you the down and dirty of rut scents, describing the three most effective scent types and how you can make them work for you during this golden time of deer season.
Attractor Scent
If you only have one scent in your pocket this month, it should be an estrus-type scent.
The sole purpose for bucks to get out of the proverbial bed right now is to mate with a doe that has hit her peak estrus cycle—the one- to two-day period that she is able to conceive and is willing to allow a buck to breed her. Bucks know a doe is in this state due to the pheromones released from her urogenital area. This is the smell that bucks zero in on and the smell that often makes them oblivious to anything else going on around them.
Amp Up Your Whitetail Rut Scent Strategies
When things go right for a dominant buck, he will locate a doe shortly before she approaches her peak estrus cycle. He does this through pheromone scent given off from a doe’s urogenital area and deposited urine. Once the doe is located, he will follow her as closely as she will allow (called “tending”) and do his best to fend off other deer—especially competing bucks—that might interfere with his amorous intent. If a buck is not already tending a doe, then he is actively searching for one that is releasing this all-important estrus pheromone.
This is where estrus doe scents come into play for the practical deer hunter. A premium-level scent, such as Special Golden Estrus, uses the freshest (collection-dated) doe urine containing essence of the estrus-cycle pheromones. It’s the closest formulation to a live estrus doe available and makes for an optimal attractant to get the attention of a passing buck and bring him into your shooting zone. Variations of this formula that utilize Wildlife Research Center’s Scent Reflex Technology or new aerosol dispersal system can maximize the effectiveness of the scent imprint on a seeking buck.
Since the goal here is to bring a seeking mature buck into your shooting zone, it is important that the estrus scent disperses as widely as possible to get a cruising buck’s attention. The best way to do this is by saturating several Key Wicks with the scent and hanging them on branches in a semi-circle downwind of your stand out to the edge of your shooting range. This will provide maximum dispersal of the scent, and any bucks passing within wafting range should come in to investigate.
Challenge Scent
As with dominant males in most animal species, big bucks don’t take kindly to interlopers in their claimed territory. When a mature buck is working his side of the tracks, searching for breedable does, he’s keen to any intruders and will be intent on running them off.
This is where a challenge scent can be of great benefit—especially on the front or back end of the peak breeding days for your area, or when estrus scents may not be lighting up the woods.
Challenge scents, such as Golden Buck or Mega Tarsal Plus, are based on buck urine and include an infusion of scent from a buck’s tarsal glands (located on the deer’s hind legs). Tarsal glands provide, biologists believe, the unique smell signatures of deer. This smell is deposited by deer when they urinate on their tarsal glands. Bucks, particularly, do this to stake out their territory, letting mature does know a suitor is in the area and informing other bucks that this country is spoken for.
While challenge scents are optimally deployed on existing scrapes or in a mock scrape, they can be used effectively by hanging them high on Key Wicks or by any means that gets the scent out there where a passing buck can sniff it while you are on your stand. If he does, you stand a good chance of him barreling in to investigate who’s sniffing around on his turf.
Scrape Scents
Although any of the scents discussed here are perfectly suited for use in scrapes, a quality scrape scent like Active Scrape or Golden Scrape provide a one-two punch that can really kick the hornet nest for some bucks. That’s because these scents combine both doe urine with estrus pheromones and buck urine with tarsal gland essences. In short, these combinations are akin to a dominant buck discovering that “his doe” is cheating on him with another stud.
For best results, these scents should be applied to scrapes that are currently in use, either directly onto the bare ground or by using a dispersal system such as a Magnum Scrape-Dripper that releases the scent only during the daylight when you are on your stand.
If there are no active scrapes near your stand, don’t hesitate to make your own. Assuming you’ve set up your stand along a viable travel route, locate an obvious horizontal branch protruding about 4 to 5 feet above the ground. Scrape out a patch of bare dirt directly beneath the branch about 2 to 3 feet in diameter and apply the scrape scent of your choice.
How Mock Scrapes Can Motivate Bucks to Your Advantage
A good scrape scent that combines estrus doe with a randy buck scent should keep the area’s dominant buck keyed in on your hunting zone if he’s not already tending a hot doe.
The one thing that we all can be certain of during the rut is bucks’ propensity for doing the unexpected—showing up in places you wouldn’t think they would visit, doing things that veer from predictable patterns, and basically acting as if they’ve lost their minds. That said, there usually is a method (or at least a focus) to their madness, the result of which is to sow their oats. By playing the scent game just right, you stand a good chance of turning a buck’s crazy into backstraps on the grill.
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