Outdoor Logic with BioLogic

LATE SEASON BAG OF TRICKS THE LAST HURRAH

BY TODD AMENRUD

Most hunters carry one or more deer calls, a bottle of deer scent, maybe a rattle-bag or antlers, and often other gadgets in their hunting pack. However, many of them don’t understand fully when or how to use each. I love using scent, calling, decoys and other some times “off the wall” tactics from time to time. It keeps hunting exciting and once a tactic is learned you can add it to your “bag of tricks.” Well, at the end of the season, sometimes as a “last hurrah,” I like to open that bag.

Does, fawns and young bucks will often ramble straight into a well-placed decoy, scent placed out properly or a vocalization that sounds authentic, but a mature buck often needs confirmation from more than one sense before they enter into the unknown. They do trust their sense of smell entirely, but if they see or hear something and aren’t sure, they’ll almost always wait for confirmation before proceeding deeper.

I love using these “tools of the trade,” especially scent. My view is, if you’ve set up the correct deception and if you can confirm to their number one defense (sense of smell) that it is real, you’re most of the time going to get the buck to close the distance for a shot opportunity.

What makes a situation seem real to you? For hu mans, our most reliable confirmation comes from our sight – after all, “You’ve got to see it to believe it.” For whitetails, as you may have guessed, it’s their “sense of smell” that is trusted the most. However, for any species, “the more senses you satisfy, the faster the circumstances become reality.”

I believe in calling and rattling, using decoys and other visual tricks, the use of commercial deer scent, and all while at the same time reducing foreign odor to miniscule, trace levels so even mature bucks will tolerate my presence in close proximity.

Each of the tactics mentioned above will work when used individually; however, used together each can “feed” the scenario. Let’s say a buck hears your rattling and pops out of cover across a large food plot. But when he gets there, he sees your (small buck) decoy so he lays his ears back and begins doing an aggressive, stiff-legged walk across the plot towards your decoy. The decoy was definite motivation for the buck to close the distance, but when he gets close he becomes unsure. So he swings downwind to scent check the situation, but when he does he smells the scent you placed out crosswind from you. Obviously you must use a scent that confirms the specific scenario you’re trying to portray, but each element adds another level of confirmation.

You must learn a bit about whitetail behavior and use a little common sense. I see hunters purchase calls but they often don’t take the time to use them properly or learn what whitetails making the vocalization actually sound like. Nowadays, with information at your fingertips, there is probably an audio recording or video of actual animals making the sound available on your smartphone. Practice!

I mentioned “off the wall tactics.” I’ve had success with “flagging” in the past. When it gets cold I often wear wool gloves (not mitts) that have a light color that’s pretty close to a deer’s tail. Once I harvested a doe that I, for lack of a better term, “flagged” to me by hiding my body behind a tree and swishing my wool gloves like one of their tails. A tail wag means so much more in the whitetail world than most hunters realize.

The above was fun, but the “closer” for my “glove’s highlight reel” would be a time approaching my tree stand and a doe and fawn busted me about 75 yards out – they were directly under my treestand. I tried to sneak closer to no avail. Once they sounded the alarm, I saw the buck I was after (a perfect 154-inch 5x5 with less than 2 inches of deductions) stand up about 200 yards away. Cautiously ducking behind a tree, I began to loudly make a snort back at the doe. Then, several times, I would flick my hand out from behind the tree, swish it three times and pull it back. It calmed the other deer back down so the doe and fawn resumed feeding and the buck looked like he walked a small circle and bedded back down close to where he had been. They must have thought I was another deer that made the noise or movement that originally alerted them. I waited for the doe and fawn to move off, snuck into my treestand and right about sundown, arrowed the buck at 28 yards.

What time of year is it? Are you after a buck, doe, or will any deer do? What age-class buck are you after? The best advice is to think about what “that specific deer” wants at “that particular time of year” and give them a reason to close the distance.

When choosing lures and scents, again, think about what the specific deer you’re after wants at that specific time of the season. For instance, early sea son I might use plain buck or doe urine…just some thing to add realism to the scenario.

Closer to the rut, with a buck decoy, and trying to portray a competition set-up, sometimes I'll use a combo of Active Scrape and Mega-Tarsal Plus. One gives a full spectrum scrape aroma and the other is a territorial intrusion scent. Trying to create the illusion my fake buck is moving into his turf.

Rather than just ripping your call out of the package and loading into your hunting pack, take the time to learn how to use it. Listen to the animals when you’re afield and try to duplicate the sounds you hear. (Photo Credit: Todd Amenrud)

When portraying a breeding scenario, my go-to scent is Special Golden Estrus. Along with the scent, I may use sounds that would commonly be heard in a breeding scenario, or maybe a doe decoy – it’s some thing else to confirm to his senses, it’s real! Think about "how" and "why" a buck might interact with your set-up. Make it seem as natural as possible and give them a reason to close the distance.

Let me add, sometimes you don’t want to intro duce anything to your set-up. If you’ve done your homework and scouting you may only need to wait him out in the right ambush location. Let’s say you’ve got mature bucks coming to your food plot during legal hunting light. In this case…let them come. Don’t do anything; just position yourself to make the shot.

Scent reduction is always a priority whether you open your bag of tricks or not. I rely heavily on the Scent Killer Gold system. If a buck’s patterns are known, sometimes the information is all you need to create a shot opportunity. It’s when a buck is skirting you out of range or when they aren’t getting up during legal hunting light when I rely more heavily on commercial calls, scent or visual stimuli.

Some hunters believe by trying to appeal to more senses you’re leaving yourself open to making more mistakes. Details are important whenever you hunt whitetails, but if you use common sense, keep human scent out of the picture and present things as natural as possible results will follow. Answer the questions of “why" a specific deer would interact with your setup, and when he does, “how” he might interact with the scenario you've presented. Maybe to be social or maybe it's for competition. The more realistic you can make it seem the better it will work for you.

Sometimes you don’t want to introduce anything extra, if they’re already com ing…let them. If you’ve done your homework you may only need to wait him out in the right ambush location. Here’s the author with a Minnesota buck taken from a properly placed ground blind, where no additional stimuli were used. (Photo Credit: Sophia Amenrud)