I’ve seen a shift in consumer response to attractants. They’ve gone from being really excited about using attractants to having a lower expectation of deer lures to perform. In the last few years, there’s been a huge influx of deer attractants on the market. The hunter is somewhat confused on how to use deer attractants effectively, and some attractants have been less effective than others. The hunters who’ve used deer attractants effectively are still buying and using attractants. When they find an attractant that works for them, they’re not telling their buddies about the attractants, especially the ones who hunt in the same area they hunt. Hunters are much like fishermen who start catching fish on one particular lure. That lure becomes one of their secret lures. The hunters who use deer attractants and aren’t successful tell everybody that attractants don’t work. I think that explains the drop-off we’ve seen in hunters buying and using deer attractants.

You can’t put deer lure in the middle of a deer’s trail and expect it to work. First, you have to put an attractant where you find deer signs, or where acorns have been cracked open, and the deer have eaten the meats out of the acorns. One thing to remember about any hunting aid is you can get bad results from a good product if that product isn’t used correctly. For instance, attractants will work, if you don’t put it on a deer trail. You have to place it in an area where deer feed and lightly rake leaves over it. The deer will find the attractant with their noses, and they’ll return to that spot several times. But if you pile it up, so they can see it, they know that pile of deer lure hasn’t been there the day before. They’ll be very suspicious of it, especially during daylight hours. So, as hunters learn and understand more about how to use deer attractants, I’m sure we’ll see the market for deer attractants boom again.

Let me tell you a true story. A friend of mine, who has twin boys, has 200 acres of land, divided in half by a road. One of his sons hunts the 100 acres on the left side of the road, and the other son hunts the 100 acres on the right side of the road. One year both of the boys went to their favorite sporting goods store and bought the exact same products. The brother hunting the left side of the 100 acres sprayed the liquid product on honeysuckle and persimmon trees and around acorn trees where deer were feeding. He put up trail cameras on each site that he had sprayed with the attractant. The brother on the right side of the road found a well-traveled deer trail. He poured an attractant right in the middle of the deer trail and put up a trail camera. A week later both boys checked their trail cameras. The brother who had put out the liquid attractant had 200 pictures of deer. Next, he put out a scent Powder and kicked leaves over the powder, so the deer couldn’t see it, requiring the deer to find the powder with their noses, not their eyes. The brother on the right side of the road checked his camera. The scent that he put in the middle of the deer trail was still there. He checked his trail camera, and he had a picture of one raccoon.

When they got back to the house, the brother who had piled the attractant scent up in the middle of the deer trail told his brother, “I didn’t have any results with that product.” The brother who had put out the product on the left side of the road said, “I put out the attractant, and I got 200 pictures of deer. I think the liquid is pretty potent.”

This true story illustrates my point. If you use deer attractants the wrong way, they won’t work. But if you use them the right way, you can get phenomenal success. So, you can make any hunting aid a non-performer, if you use it the wrong way. NEVER put deer attractant in a trail that the deer are using! Always put deer attractant in a feeding area.

By: Hank Parker, Bassmasters Classic Champion, longtime avid deer hunter, TV personality and president of C’Mere Deer (www.cmeredeer.com).

Questions:

* Do you use deer lures? If so, how effective have they been for you?

* Have you ever tried deer lures around natural browse to give the deer two reasons to come to the same spot?

* Do you use deer lures in conjunction with your trail cameras to determine the buck-to-doe ratio, develop a hit list of bucks you want to take for the season or determine when a buck is most likely to appear during the season?