Anyone try this? I've heard of it, but never tried it.

I have heard if it i was thinking i would try it i got a great upwind stand to test it out.

Save the vanilla for making homemade ice cream. Been there, done that ..... waste. This was a rage among a handful of guys at our hunting club 25 years or so ago. I tried it too .. a couple of times. After a couple of seasons we collectively quit .... none of them saw any reaction by deer in the area ... adverse or favorable to vanilla as a cover or attractant. We probably moved on to some other useless scent gimmick !!!

I've used it here in CT on the shotgun hunt last year. Doe stopped brousing and came into the scented area and sniffed the vanilla extract soaked cotton ball just before I shot her.
The best deer lure....maybe not but it seemed to work that day.

Yeah years ago vanilla scents were the rage, was it dan fitzgerald that put out "vanilla killa"? They are what i call "curiosity scents" i dont think deer know wth it is so they might follow it some, does especially. If thats what you want then it probably is worth trying a time or two. But in nearly 30 yrs of deer hunting i feel confident in saying that mature bucks ARENT curious animals! If they cross a path of un-natural scent 99% of the time they will turn around and retreat! They just dont play those games or take chances!!!

Thus the saying, "hunt either does/ young bucks or trophies, rarely will the same work for all"
HL

I tried an Acorn Rage sent bomb last year which seems to have a sweet vanilla scent to it or something close and a doe got a little spooked by it and headed the wrong way. It was a young doe for what it is worth thats what I have observed using that product.

Very good point Hatchie!

I am not so sure, I think whitetail are little more curious then we sometimes think, especially in early fall, when I used to bow hunt, , late sept, early Oct, I at one time experimented with some different scent, Now I didn't have what you would call Great results, but I did find that a doe or fawn would sometimes take a closer look, this was farm country, where I am sure they were exposed to a large variety of smells, I don't recall ever trying Vanilla. I think it is worth a try, (just a thought) if you are hunting from a tree stand, put it a good distance away. I do know for sure Fox enjoy licking that licorice stuff. Doc