Do scents work in cold?
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: Bob H in NH
16-Nov-22
Trying estrous scent for first time. Made a drag rag and drag it to near stand, then hang it on a stump.
I've had bucks walk right past it trailing does and alone, also saw them sniff air down wind
It's about to get COLD, well below freezing, will the scent freeze and stop working?
From: APauls
16-Nov-22
I see bucks trailing where does were in the snow fields at -15 this past week....
From: Dave B
16-Nov-22
They do work but you have to keep the container from freezing, they tend to burst inside of packs, ask me how I know lol
From: Cazador
16-Nov-22
If you have to rely on scents the cold is the last thing you need to worry about.
From: buckhammer
16-Nov-22
Take the money you are spending on scents (attractants, cover) and spend it on your wife or girlfriend. You will be much further ahead.
From: Pat Lefemine
16-Nov-22
In 30 years I’ve only seen it work once. I’m sure others will swear by it. I gave up after ten years of trying. Now I hunt places where real does pee and real bucks scrape. Then I just set up there.
From: HDE
16-Nov-22
Yeah
From: Dale06
16-Nov-22
Do scents workin the cold? A better question is, do they work at all. The “real thing” works in all weather. Stuff you buy, is not like the real thing.
From: scentman
16-Nov-22
Scents work for trapping predators and nest raiders... if you use scents for deer, save your money... I agree with Pat's last post. scentman
From: Woods Walker
16-Nov-22
My experience with estrous scents is about the same as Pat's. The vast majority of the time it didn't work at all, and a few times it actually SPOOKED the buck.
One of the few times I did have it work was with the "Scent Sticks", which I don't even know if they make anymore.
From: Buffalo1
16-Nov-22
I have been successful using Tink’s 69 in weather ranging 20-60*. I also use a Primos Can.
I have also been successful spraying Buck Bomb on the side of a tree. Bucks could not “figure” that experiment out.
From: Bob H in NH
17-Nov-22
That's what I've been seeing in my trial. I've had does and bucks walk right past the rag and never look. I've had bucks get downwind then smell.
One time it might have worked, big 10 point came along heading right to it, breeze had been drifting towards him for 3 hours. Then again he was coming from where most deer I've seen coming from so who knows
From: LBshooter
17-Nov-22
Yes they work in general, but in order to know that you have to use them. Do they work all the time, no but there are times where a deer will come in and turn right toward the scent stick. Also, I use a interdigital gland scent and I have watched deer hit the scent nose down and follow the exact path I walked. As far as cold weather, conquest scents have come out with a scent pad that can be used in your thermacell, going to be using them next week. Give it a try and see what works for you. Their ever calm is awesome scent and works!!
From: LBshooter
17-Nov-22
Yes they work in general, but in order to know that you have to use them. Do they work all the time, no but there are times where a deer will come in and turn right toward the scent stick. Also, I use a interdigital gland scent and I have watched deer hit the scent nose down and follow the exact path I walked. As far as cold weather, conquest scents have come out with a scent pad that can be used in your thermacell, going to be using them next week. Give it a try and see what works for you. Their ever calm is awesome scent and works!!
From: Grey Ghost
17-Nov-22
Back when I chewed, I had many deer come to the scent of Skoal Wintergreen, they'd even lick the branches I'd been spitting on. Urine scents occasionally would attract a young buck, but does and mature bucks either ignored them, or were alarmed by them. I stopped messing them years ago.
Matt
From: t-roy
17-Nov-22
Have only used scents a couple of times, years ago. I had one positive reaction. I bought some type of buck lure and put it on one of the old scent pads that had and elastic cord on it, so you could attach it to the bottom of a boot. Loaded it up with lure, and headed towards my stand, stopping a couple of times to freshen it up. Well, it came off somewhere along the trail and I never went back to look for it.
I climbed up into the stand, and about an hour later, I saw some movement along the path I had taken. It was a coyote, with something red in its mouth, about 75 yds away. I pulled up my binos and sure enough, it was that pad. He walked a few steps further, dropped the pad, and started rolling on it, picked it back up, and trotted off.
From: ahunter76
17-Nov-22
Yes for me many years. Not all synthetics but a good one for sure.
From: loprofile
17-Nov-22
They work equally well in all temps??
From: loprofile
17-Nov-22
They work equally well in all temps??
From: fdp
17-Nov-22
Every deer hunter that I ever knew that was successful using estrous and so on was hunting in an area that had a pretty healthy population of bucks and does to begin with.
From: Ollie
17-Nov-22
Scents will not work as well in really cold weather because the scent molecules are not as volatile in the cold. How well scents work is another matter. In general I have experienced very limited positive response to scent drags.
From: fuzzy
18-Nov-22
What ever happened to Tink Nathan anyway?
From: Whocares
18-Nov-22
Made me chuckle t-roy. Reminded me of the only time I tried a scent drag some years ago. Kept tangling it in the brush but the interesting part was I walked to a deer stand and climbed up. Few hours later I saw a couple things bouncing along a grown over logging trail, thinking they were deer. As they got closer I saw it was 2 wolves. They got to where I had walked in standing no more then 20 feet from me and stopped at the scent trail and looked at each other as 2 hunters might. They then split about 30 yards apart and began hunting like 2 bird dogs paralleling the trail I made coming in. Never saw them again. Oh, and haven't seen a buck yet this season. There's a connection. Last week we heard wolves howl every night and half the mornings.
From: Ursman
19-Nov-22
Hope what l’m about to write is not offensive. Some people may turn their noses up at the very thought of using a used Tampax! The smell is a excellent attractant. Example: Tied three of them to a small sapling 15 yards from my stand (that’s what the strings are for!). A short time later a buck came into to the sapling. It ran 30 yards and piled up. As l sat in my tree going over the shot, digesting what had just happened, when a second buck came toward the sapling, saw the downed buck and attacked it, goring it with his antlers and pushing around as it layed there. It finally ran off. A third buck was on his way to me, saw the downed buck and walked away. Since my season was over l didn’t return to retrieve my stand until a week later. The Tampax was gone. Used the same method in Kansas later that year. In between seasons my Tampax source and l parted company. Never was able to convince any new sources that it wasn’t really “gross” and disgusting! It works on bears also, that’s another story! Anybody else use these things?
From: Highlife
19-Nov-22
Once in the early 80s and yes it worked damndest thing I'd ever had seen in my early bowhunting days.
From: Bou'bound
19-Nov-22
So would the saying “forget the wind and just hunt” be changed to “forget the wind and just ………$&!? “ be the tagline.
From: Anchor point
19-Nov-22
Ursman you are one sick puppy. Who holds onto a dirty bloody used tampon that smells like raw steak? You must be one backwards redneck. Or completely full of bs. Either way the thought it took is a little disturbing lol
From: Ursman
19-Nov-22
Ahh haaa! Backwards redneck ehhh! You have claimed to have identified the fragrance! So how did that happen? You must have held one by the strings and brought it up to your nose, or you may have found one on the ground and knelt down to get close enough, or maybe you got close to one while it was still in its cradle!! Now that’s a sick puppy worthy of a medal!! LOL ( Can’t believe l’m typing this - sorry!! ) Bottom line- it works!
From: Anchor point
19-Nov-22
While it’s in the cradle. I like it warmed up. Lol
