RE: The trouble with scents & calls!!
 

Marlin,I strongly suggest that you try a " true talker" but only with the video.If you can' t find the video e-mail me and we will work out how I can make you a copy.If you' ve ever tried to call turkeys,it' s the same principle.Practice,practice,practice.It' s not a cure all but a great tool.It helped me convince a yearling doe that my decoy was a real deer,so it bedded down next to it.I have a bow season call that will bring in bucks and does,I' m not really sure why but it works.

RE: The trouble with scents & calls!!
 

Yes I hunt central Maine,and yes I shoot bucks only and yes I don' t always get the nice mature ones I want.Good Luck to you also and its going to be a good year as there was good winter survival despite the cold and snow.I' m not full of it or I wouldn' t post a link to pics of deer I' ve shot on my posts.I take deer hunting very serious up here and always have.I just use all the available tools and techniques I can and then do massive amounts of pre and post season scouting, spotting during the summer, and run three game cams into the fall.My scent control techniques border on insane and stand placement near not in bedding areas and funnels are critical to the plan.My mentor and teacher was Fred Goodwin the antler man up in silver ridge thats had write ups in deer and deer hunting and north american whitetail.

Best Regards
woods

RE: The trouble with scents & calls!!
 

You dont need them , but there are times when they sure help! I would probably guess that if you' ve tried them all to no avail and you think their all the same then your doing something wrong. I wont enter the woods without my grunt call especially during prime rut. As for scents for bucks , I use them on scrapes every year with great success.

RE: The trouble with scents & calls!!
 

Woodseye, nice buck!! I agree that the winter was tough, but I am seeing alot of healthy looking deer around. I will be hunting near Ashland this year and will be dedicating all my efforts on tracking if we get some snow. In the last 5 years I have either still hunted or tracked deer and have seen and passed on more bucks than I care to mention. I have been spoiled early in my hunting years with trophy fever and cant shake it. I think a lot of it has to do with a Mastic Buck I killed 3 years ago. I have set my standards pretty high and now I am looking for that Silver Ridge Buck ( I am sure you know what I mean)!!

take care,
Marlin

RE: The trouble with scents & calls!!
 

LittleRhody, I hunt around Palermo, China and Albion mostly, but have some sweet hunting ground that is always good for 1 or 2, 150 to 170 class bucks every year.
How about you, where do you hunt?

RE: The trouble with scents & calls!!
 

I' m also not really sold on store bought scents but there are alternatives. I will go to a friends deer cooler and cut the tarsal glands off a buck and hang it down wind of my stand have had bucks circle around to try to get downwind of it. As for calls I haven' t had much luck blind calling here in georgia but have turned a few bucks that were going away from me to bring them back and wont go in the woods without a grunt tube

RE: The trouble with scents & calls!!
 

I hunt in a quite desolate area and will never use scent until the first week of Nov (rut just getting going). Doe bleats early in the year...very discretly will occasionaly work, and what I have seen will not spook deer out of an area. Come the rut though, they can be very vocal and will respond.

Last bow season (Nov 9) I shot a nice, somewhat nontypical 10 point. I had a canister of tinks 69 in front of me hanging in a tree and a doe came in from my right. She milled around under me when she quickly looked behind me and I slowly peered over my right shoulder and I saw the top of a rack and a big body. She finally walked straight away in front of me. I tipped my " can" one long bleat and two short ones, then instantly gave a long low grunt. I didn' t even finish the grunt and I heard a few twigs snap over my left shoulder. Slowly turned and there he was about 15 years peering back and forth then made a scrape then quickly rubbed a tree. A few more steps after stopping under my tree and he was mine. Granted, there was a doe that he was parreleling, but I truely beleive the look in his eyes (beleive me I saw it) told me that he was pi$$ed looking for a buck taking his little hottie away from him.

During the rifle season, late November last year, I had a medium size 8 milling around a doe in a clear cut and I wasn' t sure if he was a shooter, but thought not, but what the heck....I grunted once and he never looked. Gave another LOUD grunt (he was a good 150 yards away) and snapped his head right up. One more medium sound grunt and he took off on a rope. He jumped a big fallen tree, started trotting right towards me after breaking through some ice and tripping once or twice. When he got to about 40 yards he stopped and just started looking back and forth. He started walking right towards me and ducked under a fallen tree and locked in on me at about 12-15 yards...his eyes opened like two big pieces of coal and he knew he was busted....he crashed back a few bounds then wandered back to follow the doe out of sight.

So do grunts work....I think so. But only use discretely. Peak of the rut, or if you need to get his attention or stop a potential brute getting out of sight.

RE: The trouble with scents & calls!!
 

Marlin, I in no way would put all my apples in one basket, while calling/rattling has produced for me, so has still hunting, cutting tracks, spot & stalk or sitting being stealthy. I have a buddy who hunts the same area and has the same trophy mind set as me, however he wouldn' t dream of rattling come rut. I on the other hand would not step into the woods without my 4x4 set of horns that time of year. All in all we both have taken great bucks and I would say very even in numbers/size as well over the years. Different methods each achieving similar results, who is to say which is the best way!!! I certainly can' t argue with his past success nor can he with mine. I do know that if you look back at the responses of those who use the calling with success, they all have a similar pattern (how, when, what, where). I am not saying you can' t answer these question, but I bet your like my bud, he doesn' t care to mess with his success. More power to you and all hunters which ever way you choose to chase the almighty " Big Buck" . I can bet their are many days our bag of tricks and think tanks have came up dry and we have all wondered will anything work or go right for me this year;).

Good Hunting Boys & Gals[8D]

RE: The trouble with scents & calls!!
 

Marlin 450

My uncle has a small place in freedom, It' s at the end of palermo road where palermo and 137 meet, So I do alot of my hunting in the bog around there. I also hunt off of palermo road, and rt 137, and around freedom pond. I go into Albion alot to do my shoping and get some lumber, I forget the name of the store, You should know it. I drive down bog road alot, I want to stop and hunt but to many trucks on the side of the road. I dont know the area that great because I usually drive up from R.I with my uncle and he' s in his 60' s and likes to stay around his place, But the few times i have taken my truck I' ll drive around alot, love to get out and see new places. I would like to hunt some fields in the evening, Maybe you could point me in the right direction :D[:-]

RE: The trouble with scents & calls!!
 

He He He yeah,breaking the MASTIC barrier will do some strange things to ya sometimes, but they are " good" strange things lol.Good Hunting in the " county" up north and only follow the tracks that are at least 2 1/4" wide :)They are seeing a lot of deer up north despite the incrediable deep snow they had late last winter.Heres a pic of the Silver Ridge buck that Fred shot down along the gulliver deadwater just above his footbridge.Good Hunting and nice talking to you!