pa_yote_hunter

What should i be doing to draw those deer close to me? Is it not close enough to the rut yet to use scent? Should i use a curiosity scent? Should i rattle? I have not been seeing any deer at all with the exception of a small spike. I watch my scent pretty good. I will grunt alittle and use the Lil' Can sometimes. What else can i do to help increase my odds of seeing something?

rybohunter

Sounds simple, but set up where the deer want to go. IF you can do that, then you don't need anything else. While calling (and I suppose scents too) can be used to "bring deer in", the game is MUCH easier if you start out in close proximity to them, or where they intend to walk by.

Scott Radish

It's not to early to use scents. But it depends on what your using. Don't bother with anything that even resembles a doe in heat. But you could use a curiousity scent style doe pee. Also it depens on where you are hunting. Is it a funnel, field, ridge. Where are you at? What is around? I have a little funnel area that feeds into a turnip field. It's an area full of scrapes. What I like to do go the early evening before and use a 2 oz squirt bottle around my area where I plan on hunting in the morning. Don't worry about using too much scent. Multiple deer pee all over the woods every given day. Just swinging a squirt bottle side to side while keeping a steady pace covers a huge area. Alsospray some brush which keeps the scent active much longer than justspraying the ground.You want your set up to be 50 -75 yards from this so you can still effectively use grunt calls. . You are not hunting this area for the night of laying down this scent. You want to keep the deer coming through at night in the area for when you get out in the morning. They hate the idea of not pinpointhing where the scent is coming from and will keep searching all through the night up to within an hour or so after shooting light. Now get out early and be quiet getting in and see what happens. Good luck

quiksilver

Ryan's right - if you're relying on calls, you're probably doomed to fail.

This time of year - find the bedding areas and the nearby travel pinchpoints and corridors. Set your stand 20 yards off the most likely travel route, on the prevailing downwind side. Over the next 2 weeks, you're going to see increasing numbers of bucks cruising the doe bedding areas scoping it out for that first hint of estrus.

Your calls should be a last resort, not a primary go-to weapon. Your stand placement is really what will make or break your season.

Not saying that calls are ineffective... Just saying that only a small percentage of deer are killed off of a call, while the vast majority are victims of their predictable travel patterns.

PABuck_HNTR

I just got back in from an all day hunt. Not worth hunting mornings yet. Anyway I was set up where I knew deer came from the bedding to the fields. Well today they took a different path for some reason. I get out of my stand and hed back to the truck. There was still a tad bit of light in the fields, but pretty dark in the woods. I get to the edge of the field and there were about 20 deer already feeding. I guess I'll move closer to the field instead of the staging area that I thought they'd use like usual.

archer58

The deer haven't been too active during shooting light. I wouldn't be second guessing my set up yet. If you have set your stands(you should have multiple) for what I call "buck only sets" you may not see bucks for a week or so. As an example I mean side hill trails, the down wind edge of a known doe bedding area, etc.

If you want to see does , sit on the heaviest trails you can find leading into and out of bedding areas or feeding areas before you expect the deer to show up.... If you are hunting bucks, think like a buck. Where would I go to find a hot doe? Remember that bucks scent check bedding areas so look for the trails down wind.

If you are sitting on a travel route or pinch point right now, wait a week and you'll start to see deer. All of us have been through the mid October lull. It should be ending. I wouldn't rely on calls to draw deer in until the late pre rut.(last week of Oct. & 1st week of Nov.) I don't think any calls will work right now. It will only educate them to your position. Scents , on the other hand , are safe to use as long as they are not doe in heat. Striaght doe or buck urine is all that is necessary.

pa_yote_hunter

thanks for the replies. I am not relying to much on the calls, but do call every now and then. I am set off of a bedding area, and on aheavily used trail, but i cant seem to get them in shooting light at all. I guess that is my main problem.