How to use Deer Scent to Fool Mature Bucks

Learing how to use deer scent properly can be a great way to fool mature bucks into range.  When leaving a scent trail in a straight line you’ve only got a fifty-fifty chance the buck will follow the trail in your direction. Half of the time they follow it in the wrong direction, even with a real doe’s trail. They’re searching for the what’s at the end of the trail so even if they do follow it in the wrong direction, when they get to where you started the trail and don’t find what they’re looking for, sometimes they’ll follow it back in your direction. It might not happen immediately; a buck may come back several hours later and follow the trail back the opposite way. In fact, some bucks will go back and forth several times on a scent trail so if a buck crosses your trail and heads the wrong way don’t give up hope.

Figure 8 Scent Trail

A cure-all for this problem is a “figure 8” scent trail. Create your scent trail in a large “figure 8” and place yourself downwind of the inter-section of the 8. This way regardless of where the buck cuts the trail or which way he follows it, eventually he’ll wind up in front of you. You have to use your judgment; this may or may not be the best way for you to leave a trail.  Maybe you’ll make too much of a commotion or contaminate the area too much with human scent to make this tactic work properly, but this method of how to use deer scent has fooled mature bucks time and time again.

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