OK...I may be shooting myself in the foot here...but...
 

Someone had mentioned that vanilla was a good scent for deer....
Got me to thinking....
What about fruits that grow in your local area in the wild?
We have apple trees up here....
Could I put out apple juice, or apple juice concentrate?
Or, if persimmons grew in your area? Could that area put out persimmon juice?
Just wondering?
Anyone ever try this?

RE: OK...I may be shooting myself in the foot here...but...
 

Sunset. That's a good question, and I have tried it a couple times.

Actually, I have not found it effective except in one situation...We have a feeder in the yard at our camp. We don't shoot deer there, but we watch them. I generally don't put out soybeans and corn except in the late summer through the early spring. When I first put them out, sometimes the deer don't find them right away, so I douse the ground with apple juice to bring the deer in. Then they find the feed and the feast is on.

I tried the same thing years ago around a couple stands and had no luck at all.

RE: OK...I may be shooting myself in the foot here...but...
 

Apple juice has worked for me to attract deer just put it in a spray bottle and before you hunt spray it on a tree in the area where you can get a shot. I think the same would be true for permissions. Even works better if apples or the fruit is natural to the area. But as far as vanilla goes i think it arrouses there curisoty so they come to investigate the sweet smell.

RE: OK...I may be shooting myself in the foot here...but...
 

SO..if I may expand on this topic..if one of the many snuff dippers puts in a chew of Vannila Skoal he is spitting an attractant? Hmmmmm

RE: OK...I may be shooting myself in the foot here...but...
 

Just another quick idea for you apple juice users. I have on several occasions drawen deer into my stand with the leftover part of my morning snack. After I'm done munching an apple on the walk in I will take the core thats left and rub/smear it all over a tree trunk. The smeared apple and juice smells very strong and very natural.

RE: OK...I may be shooting myself in the foot here...but...
 

ty....good ideas.....
except for the chew....I think I'll pass on that ;):D

RE: OK...I may be shooting myself in the foot here...but...
 

I had a buddy tell me that he will make his own "lick" by hanging a frozen can of apple concentrate in a tree. He then pokes a small hole in it and as it thaws, drip, drip, drip. He says it works qiute well and cheap.

RE: OK...I may be shooting myself in the foot here...but...
 

I make my own Acorn scent every year with acorns from the area I hunt.

I have an old cast iron meat grinder. In the autum after the mast crop falls I gather up about 4 to 6 cups of acorns and grind them up shell and all. I place them in a gallon jug and pour in a liter of cheap Vodka. This sits until the next hunting season.
I drain off the liquid and place it in smaller bottles to carry in my pack pack and use it as an attractor scent. I've seen Deer stop, change direction and lick it off rocks and tree truck. No they don't get hammered, the Vodka evaporates. You can also dump the acorn pulp on the ground but make sure solid bait is legal in your are before doing so.

I have not tried it but Im sure that this would work with other food products such as apple, corn or what have you. The vodka is just a carrying agent that lets the acorn scent remain and concentrate without spoiling.

works for me:D

RE: OK...I may be shooting myself in the foot here...but...
 

There are many you can choose from Apple is one of them ,acorn,pine and dirt scent's as well. What I've found is that if your using a scent such as pine or apple and there are no pine or apple tree's, then you are putting the deer in a defensive mode, since they are aware what type of smell's are in an area that they frequent. If there are no apple tree's, and they smell apple's! they'll know that it's not normal.When I first started bowhunting and using different scent's. I learned this when I had a buck coming into a field from a trail,he was fine as he neared my stand. I had pine scent on and it stopped him in his track's ,there were no pine tree's in the area ,as it turned out the buck took 2 step's directly back and then bolted back from where he came from. The buck never looked up, but he did have his nose in the air scent checking .This happened again using another scent.This is just my opinion ,I 've had a few avid bowhunter's tell me what I was doing wrong, because at that point I had no clue,all I use now is a scent that smell's like dirt that I picked up at Wall Mart and I've never had those reaction's since. I've been picked off but I don't believe it was the scent I use that got me busted ,I think it was slight movement.

nubo

RE: OK...I may be shooting myself in the foot here...but...
 

You got that right! I used to keep my clothes in a rubbermaid tub with cedar branches which worked excellent when I was hunting the cedar swamps up north. I wore the same clothes and hunted the hardwoods close to home once and I'll never make that mistake again.

RE: OK...I may be shooting myself in the foot here...but...
 

Sunset... you can put out anything and we guys will come running to your stand.[8D] I would think apple juice would work great. I use a couple smashed and rubbed on nearby trees in a couple spots with apple trees close by. It seems to make a nice cover scent/detractant.

RE: OK...I may be shooting myself in the foot here...but...
 

Sunset ,
do you remember me telling you at your Gathering about attracting 4 does with persimmons on a handwarmer ? Yes , it does work , and so will vanilla . Vanilla smells kinda like white oak acorns . Food scents generally attract does and younger bucks , the big boys won't usually come to them unless their's a doe in heat there too . If anise(licorice) will draw them I guess nearly anything that makes them curious might . Try various scents on your herd in the off season to be sure .

RE: OK...I may be shooting myself in the foot here...but...
 

now they make apple skoal....
i might give it a try...

RE: OK...I may be shooting myself in the foot here...but...
 

beleive this or not i was in cades cove in tenn. i took a bag of green apples with me.They say dont feed the deer but i couldnt stop myself i cut the apples in 1/4s and had em almost eating right out of my hand....the kicker is when i ran out all i had was 1 of those big bags of cherry lifesavers in the car my wife said give em some of these...well having hunted for over 20 yrs i told her she was NUTS thats not a normal food for them no way they would eat a lifesaver LOL. be dammed if this doe and her 2 fawns tore up like 30 cherry lifesavers they actually had red slober dripping out of there mouth i was rolling LOL.Guess my wifes not to nuts after all.

RE: OK...I may be shooting myself in the foot here...but...
 

awww, tyty;):)

Speaking of scents......I ran over, (no not killed), I tried to vere off & miss this big ole skunk with my momma huntin van....I missed him....Did he care that I spared his life? He sprayed my van....Well, four days later, I still have that scent on (and permeating in[X(]) my van. On the good side, I have excellent cover scent when I drive into my hunting area LOL....On the bad side, my daughters girl scout troop refused to ride with me to a function. LOL (wait a minute, that's an upside too....:D)