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Over-hyped and Overrated?

Old 11-01-2012, 07:09 AM
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Default Over-hyped and Overrated?

I'm beginning to think that much of the hunting stuff being marketed is more about financial profit than killing deer. I swear that I see more deer when I don't use calls or scent lines than when I use them.

I'll grant that doe pee on a rag can attract some deer some of the time but I'm increasingly convinced that it steers deer away rather than toward me. Same with grunting.

What's your experience?
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Old 11-01-2012, 07:15 AM
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I cant help but agree with you on this... the biggest deer i ever killed was last year and i was running late, got in woods right at day light, and was in the stand for maybe 10 min and he chased two does right to me i didnt have time to do anything but spray down on the ride and plenty of other times im setting out sent bombs and drags and a mock scrpe and kinda for what, you know??
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Old 11-01-2012, 07:33 AM
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I agree with you. I'm not sold on all the scents/cover scents and calls. I use a little bit of cover scent but that is it.
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Old 11-01-2012, 08:04 AM
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I also believe this as well. The first time I ever used a call, I had a nice 8 pointer come in about 45 minutes after I sat down. I thought, wow this thing is awesome. However, once he got into the field I tried to call him closer and he just ignored it. Since then, I have never had another deer come out to the call, which makes me think he was just coming to the field anyway. I quit using it and have killed more deer. I'm not say that it turns deer away, but it certainly doesn't seem to bring them in.

As for the scents I agree on that as well. I've only used things like Tinks a few times, but I've never had a deer come to them when I have used them.

I also don't think that hiding your scent matters that much at all. I originally bought scent free laundry detergent, scent free soap, shampoo, etc. I killed a few deer while using it, but when I haven't used it I've killed just as many. With one of the larger deer I've killed, I had taken a shower a few hours prior with Axe shower gel, and I just decided to sit in the stand over my lunch and see if I happened to see anything.

The biggest deer I've killed, and one of the biggest ones in the area, I killed after cutting several pieces of plyboard and putting them up in a shed. I didn't have time to change before going to the stand. I smelled like sweat, pine dust, and everything else. The guys I were hunting with told me I'd never see anything smelling like that. I decided to give it a try anyway. Turns out I killed the largest buck I've ever seen that evening.

The way I look at this stuff is it certainly doesn't hurt, but I don't think it matters either. I've quit using the majority of it, and I've killed just as many deer and I've never had one bust me.

A friend I hunt with fairly often has shot lots of large deer in the past couple of years and he also has come to the opinion that this scent free stuff is just a marketing gimmick. Like me, he always used it for everything. He killed a few deer like that, but then decided to quit using it and see how it worked. He has killed just as many deer and just as big of deer as well. He has now quit using all of it, and just goes out into the woods smelling however he smells. He has yet to see a difference and has gotten pretty much the same results as I have.

Surprisingly, he has also killed several while he has been talking on the phone. He tells me that he chats on the phone in the stand, and as long as he doesn't talk loudly, the deer still seem to come in. I don't know that I quite believe that, but I do believe the scent part as I've experienced the same results.
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Old 11-01-2012, 08:21 AM
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90% is for the hunters, and the suckers buy it every day. There are some useful products, but not many that truly make any difference.
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Old 11-01-2012, 08:34 AM
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Like I said I use a little bit of cover scent. The woods I hunt my dad is in at least once a week cutting wood and cleaning up/property management. I figure the deer are used to people/scent being in the woods.
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Old 11-01-2012, 08:54 AM
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Being in range of where deer your targeting wants to be without it noticing anything unusual including noise makes for a good ambush.
That said i,ve tried scents,calls,wash, i do still wash most hunting cloths in baking soda and try to keep household and loud odors off them. Gear has scent and i don,t know of any proven way to be in a deers nose without it knowing. I expect any that wind me to have me figured.
Calls a favorite, doe or young buck, fawn has worked for doe but awfull noisy. Last few deer were bushwacked. No idea i was around.
I smoke when hunting,drink coffee and wheelchair has foreign oder too,playing the wind most important. Staying out of deers route,still in range has produced better success than getting found out coming and going after i leave. To many times i,ve seen where they checked where hunters set up. Watched them "track"people too. Best investment, being a bump on a log or equivalent.
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Old 11-01-2012, 11:46 AM
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It depends. I have only been hunting a few years, but what I have learned so far is that you have to find the right time to use that stuff. The more experience you have, the better you'll be and knowing what those times are. I know without a doubt that I killed my biggest buck due to the Primos can call (the "estrous bleat"). Someone told me to blow thru the call to increase the volume. One morning, I waited about 30 min after sunrise and blew through the call. Immediately, a nice 9-point came out of nowhere and into the open woods with reckless abandon, looking for the source of that sound. The next sound he heard was muzzle blast.

But, I also know that calls and scents can hurt you. I sprayed a buck bomb the opening morning of muzzleloader last season, and I will tell you what, I saw any deer that got even remotely close start to act extremely skiddish, and not the same way they act when I know I've been winded. This was different, and I believe it was the buck bomb that did it.

This year I'm going to use the can call, and perhaps a grunt call, but no estrous scents.
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Old 11-01-2012, 11:52 AM
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I even stopped using cover scent. I get odorless deodorant and thats it. I wash my clothes in nothing but water and always leave them outside in the fresh air. I get dressed outside and undressed outside. That way they wont get normal house scents on them as well as my dog.

I find attractant scents totally worthless. I tried using them a few years ago and never saw a thing for the rest of the season. I started just making mock scrapes and pissing in them myself or using scents bottled here locally from processed deer and that seems to work better than the bottled crap u can get at walmart or other sporting goods stores. More expensive but better than that Tinks garbage. Also will go over to the local processing plant and cut off tarsal glands to use as well.

Last edited by thomasmgp; 11-01-2012 at 11:54 AM.
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Old 11-01-2012, 12:29 PM
  #10  
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I decided many moons ago, ESPECIALLY when chasing old bucks... the LAST thing you want to do is start them looking/smelling/expecting ANYTHING! It's hard enough to fool them long enough to have them come sauntering by you without figuring out you are nearby and about to drop the hammer on them. The LAST thing I want to do is cue up their senses and put them on the lookout for whatever it is xyzpdq product may or may not cause them to do.

"3-d camo", scent containment, sprays, scents, bla bla bla... just a bunch of CRAP whose BIGGEST purpose is to seperate the consumer from his $$$. That's fine and dandy, this is America and we are a consumer driven economy but for alot of these clowns I think they honestly believe their own garbage and I REALLY get mad when they induce the young/novice hunters into believing that WITHOUT all these gadgets, gizmos, tricks and hooey that success is impossible.

JUST GO GET DOWNWIND OF A LIKELY SPOT AND WAIT!!! This aint "rocket surgery".
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