mbristol

I went scouting in my hunting area and gathered a bag full of acorns. I am interested in a technique or recepe to make an acorn scent?

BuckSecrets

Hello,

You can try and make your own cover scent but it may not be a great idea. If you make the scent too strong it will appear unnatural to deer even though the scent is native to the area. That' s why you should also make sure to follow the manufacturers directions when using commercial scents and lures, the manufacturers of these products know exactly how much of their product is needed to produce a natural covering scent. If you decide to try it then be careful not to get human scent or any household odors (even plastic smell from a new mixing bowl) mixed in.

I was once eating an apple near some deer that had become accustomed to me on a logging job. I decided to cut off a slice and throw it towards one of the deer. When the animal came over and sniffed the slice, it jumped straight up in the air stiff legged and all five deer ran off with their tails up. This from a deer that was in close contact with me for almost a year. Apple or any masking scent with human mixed in will still spook deer in my opinion.

Also, you should make sure that the acorns were taken from an area where the deer are actively feeding on acorns, deer can tell bad acorns by smell and if you have taken them from an area where the deer are not feeding it may be an indication that you don' t want to use them. One more thing, if you have a crop of white oak acorns in your area, use them instead. Deer greatly prefer white oak acorns and will ignore crops of other types when they are in the area. Hope this helps, good luck! -Mark

BuckSecrets

Hi,

I just wanted to add that deer also notice out of place smells. You probably already know this, but just to be sure, you shouldn' t use that acorn scent if you aren' t hunting in an area with oaks that day. If you are hunting cornfields or apple orchards, the deer there know what scents they expect to smell when they approach the area, and any out of place scent will be noted, especially by those sly, mature bucks!

-Mark
http://www.buckhuntersecrets.com

Nomercy

What I usually do, when making a cover scent, is take things that occur naturally where I' m hunting, I' ll gather a variety of natural materials from the location, then grind them (to help the scents transfer) and boil them for a goodly while, then I' ll skim off as much floating grease/sap as I can (since it' ll clog an atomizer), decant the solution (pour it off, so I don' t clog the atomizer with chunks), then use that solution as my cover scent. It works really well, and it' s a whole lot cheaper than buying cover scents that don' t fit YOUR spot exactly.

Here' s an example of what I' d put in if it were present: fist full of different grasses native to my spot (in approximate proportions), pine needles, some rotting bark, fresh bark, clovers, just a little dirt, twigs, local berries and nuts, basically any local vegetation, and I use water from the local source, usually creeks, to boil it in.

I also usually keep some smashed/ground berries, nuts, grasses that I can wipe/rub on my clothes just before I go out too, so that suff that should smell strongly does. You' d also be amazed how well spraying doe urine on your boots from last years doe works, even if it wasn' t in esterous when taken, it' ll smell like a new doe (since he won' t remember her probably) or at least a long lost friend, they' ll trail you right in to your stand.

It' s worked really well for me, get like a 2-qt sauce pot from good will or something though, because it WILL ruin your wife' s good pots.

I' d say if you just want to make a acorn scent, grind the acorns into a fine meal, then simmer or boil in water for a time. If you' re just going to pour it on yourself or somewhere, just leave the meal in the liquid, if you' re going to spray it, get as many of the chunks/grit out as you can. It also doesn' t hurt to freeze them in a plastic bag, then let them thaw out before you go hunting and crack them, then drop them where you want a scent. The key to that is to keep them smelling fresh, or to use fresh ones each time.

benhuntin

Heres what I do and it works great. boil 1 part acorns to 2 parts water for 30 minutes. ( if you can grind/chop up the acorns in some kind of blender it works better.) Let cool for a couple of hours then strain the acorns and add 1 or 2 tbl spoon of vanilla extract per quart of liquid and mix thoroughly. Put the acorn scent in pump spray bottles. Cost about $5 per gallon.

Split-Hoof

Making your own cover scents is an excellent idea IMO. I have experimented with making my own, and this year I am trying to perfect a homemade cedar cover scent. Store bought cover scents can and will work, but it' s my opinion that using natural materials from your own area will work much better in most cases. I would advise against using tap water though, use either water from a spring or stream, or buy some distilled H20.

benhuntin - what does the vanilla extract do? Are you suggesting that for attractant purposes? I' d rather leave the vanilla out myself, since it is not a naturally occurring scent in most hunting areas.

RICHIE3

So far, the best cover scent I have done is to take really green, evergreen/cedar limb clippings about a foot or so long and put them in a nylon stocking, and throw that into the dryer when drying my hunting clothes. Make sure that the " leaves" or " needles" do not penetrate the stocking, just to make the wife happy. Try to keep limbs with any extra sap out of the mix. It will stick to the dryer barrel and get on other clothes. Had a good butt chewin' from the Mrs. for that one..........Live and learn.

CarolinaDeerHunter

I make all my own cover scents. I use the same dirctions above and it works great. -- CDH

crc

I MAKE A COVERSENT BY GATHERING LEAVES AND DIRT AND PUTTING UM IN A PLASTIC BOX WITH MY CLOTHES.THEN I WAIT TWENTY FOUR HOURS.AFTER TWENY FOUR HOURS I PUT UM ON AND GO HUNTING.I HOPE THIS COULD HELP IF IT DOESNT I APPOLIGIZE.

mharrisatuwg

an old coffee maker is a good way to make the scent. After you grind it up you can just treat it like coffee, and you don' t have to worry about skimming the acorn grinds off. My grandfather did this for years.