Hey folks,

Looking this up elsewhere as well, but wanted to ask here too. I'm going to be out for deer and elk during 2nd rifle season in Colorado (Oct 19th - 27th).

From the sounds of it, elk rut will definitely be over, and the mule deer rut takes place around 2nd week of November.

I'm going to be doing a bit of still hunting, and hunting from a ground blind where my cams picked up some activity. Aside from paying attention to the wind, being quiet and silent, are there things (legal) I can do to draw the animals in?

Do the different deer and elk urine and tarsus scents attract them outside of the rut? What effect if any do bugles and grunts do outside of mating season?

Thanks in advance for any info or experiences you have with this.

Up here in WY we drop our drawers, dab rut scent on our butt cheeks, and assume the customary position. When the buck comes in to.......well.......we grab our rifle, spin around, and shoot.

I see you gave up being nice already?

OK, seriously.

I don't put much faith in any kind of bottled scent. That goes for in the rut as well as out of it. The deer seem to either get nervous when they smell it or just ignore it completely. I'd stay away from that stuff.

As far as calls, I use a fawn bleat as a curiosity inducer. It's out of place in the late fall but it does seem to make deer look around for the source. I only use it when I can see the deer and want to stop them or maybe get them to mill around a bit. As far as a call that will draw unseen deer or elk in outside the rut, I have no clue.