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The rut is the best time of year for us whitetail hunters. Bucks throw caution to the wind as they chase does through the woods. Scents can play a key role in being successful during the rut. Knowing when and how to use each type of scent for the different rut periods is very important.

Pre-Rut

During the early season deer movement is usually pretty predictable. Deer are still on their food to bed patterns. You wouldn’t want to use a rut scent like doe in heat during this time as it would just confuse the deer. A great choice for early season would be either a cover scent or a food based attractant like apple, sweetcorn, acorn.

The first stage of the “rut” would be the pre-rut phase. During the pre-rut phase bucks will starting breaking up from bachelor groups and will start becoming more territorial. You’ll see bucks making more scrapes and rubs marking their territory. Does aren’t in heat yet buck the bucks are starting to show some rutting activity.

A great way to use scents for bucks during this time is to challenge them to come in. Pre-rut is a great time to use buck urine scents like P7 Stud, Conquest Rutting Buck, Pure Whitetail Cash, or Rack Getter Dominant Buck. Using a buck urine along with a buck decoy is also a fantastic plan.

Here is a video of Larry McCoy with Respect the Game using the Wyndscent unit with a decoy. The scent along with the decoy gave the buck the confidence to commit and come right in.

Seeking

During the seeking phase of the rut bucks will be trying to locate does. Most of the does will not be in full heat yet but the bucks will be on their feet more looking for does. Buck scents are effective during this time as well as normal non-estrus doe urine. To get the best of both worlds, the P7 Crossroads scent includes a buck urine, a doe urine, and a little flare of doe in heat.

Here is a video of Victor Guarisco with Crimson Trail talking through his Wyndscent strategy. He shows video of a buck coming right to the unit and putting his nose on it.

Chasing

The chasing phase of the rut is the most exciting to hunt and is the most effective for doe in heat scents, decoys, and calls. Its in this phase that you’ll have the highest chance of luring in rut crazed bucks. Now is the time to bring out those doe in heat scents. Wyndscent offers lots of different doe in heat scents from multiple brands. Using a doe decoy along with a doe in heat scent is a great tactic during this time.

Scents not only lure in bucks during this time that aren’t on the tail of a doe but they also help stop a buck in your area if they are actively chasing a doe. I don’t know how many times I’ve had a doe come in really quickly in range of my stand. I get all set and ready to go. Then I see the buck sprint in, but he runs in and out of range too fast to get a shot off. Having something that catches that bucks nose and causes him to stop is great. We’ve seen that exact thing happen running Wyndscent. We had a buck come in chase a doe. He caught wind of the Wyndscent unit, and it caused him to stop and sniff it for a bit before he got back to chasing that doe. Its wasn’t quite a buck we wanted to harvest but none the less it was a really cool encounter.

Here is a video of that encounter.

Lockdown

The Lockdown phase of the rut can be tricky to hunt. Bucks during this time will often stay close to their bedding. It can be hard to pull away a buck during this phase but it can happen. Doe in heat scents can be effective during this time along with buck scents.

Second Rut

As you start getting into the post-rut and second rut phase, not as many does will be in heat but a few will. Using doe estrus may yield some result but not as good as it did in the prior parts of the rut. As bucks start to get worn out from chasing does and as it gets colder, bucks will start to get back to their food to bed pattern. That is a great time to switch back to those food based attractants or to cover scents.

Cover Scent Strategy

Using cover scents is effective during the rut. I love morning hunts in the woods during peak rut. I’ve been covered up in does on those hunts and knowing that a buck may come cruising in anytime is fun. During the rut does are often more cautious than the bucks and keeping them calm will be key to getting a shot off on a buck. Using cover scents can really help with masking human scent. I always hunt the wind, but deer will still go downwind. I’ve had lots of times where I’ve had deer go down wind of me running a cover scent and the deer haven’t been bothered.

Levi Morgan is a huge fan of running cover scents to keep the deer calm. We’ve partnered up with Levi to offer a couple of super effective cover scents called “Chill” and “Chill Hardwoods.” Chill can be used anywhere and Chill Hardwoods is specifically designed for the woods.

Watch Levi explain his cover scent strategy below.

Scents Are An Effective Tool For Many Species

Scents, when used properly, can be a very effective tool for a variety of species we hunt. So many animals rely heavily on their nose. They might not see you, but if they smell you the game is often up. On the flip side, animals are often attracted by the correct scent. If an animal has a visual but they don’t smell the proper scent when they are downwind of the visual, they get nervous because things don’t seem realistic. The same thing applies while using calls. If you call in an animal, they often approach from the downwind side. If they don’t smell the critter that they think they hear, they are often undeceived.

Many people are very familiar with using scents for deer hunting. Hunters have been using scents for deer hunting for generations, and it has been proven to give you an edge that you otherwise wouldn’t have. There are 2 ways that whitetail hunters use scents. The most common way hunters use scents is to use them as an attractant. The smell of a hot doe is hard for a rut crazed buck to resist. The other way whitetail hunters use scents is to help mask human scent. We try to do everything we can to be scent free, but also running a cover scent can often be exactly what it takes to keep downwind deer calm. Scents are effective for whitetail hunting as cover and attractants, and the same principles apply to a variety of species including coyotes and other predators.

Use Scent With Your Call

Predator calls have a remote for a reason. Most predator hunters place their calls a ways away and control them remotely. Placing your call a ways away helps for several reasons. First of all, you don’t want coyotes to be looking right at you. Placing the call away from you keeps coyotes focused on the location of the call and not the hunter. Secondly, having the call further away means that sometimes the coyotes will be downwind of the call but not downwind of your position. This situation presents a perfect opportunity to use scents. If a coyote is downwind of the call and you have scent at that location, he will be even more convinced that the critter making all that ruckus is actually there. Often that is what it will take to bring that coyote into range.

Using a tool like Wyndscent to vaporizer your predator scent is even a more effective way to use scents. Wyndscent vaporizes the scent making it small stronger, last longer, and travel further. Another advantage of the Wyndscent unit is its remote controlled meaning you can control both your scent source and your audio source (predator call) remotely.

Pic courtesy of Bone Maniacs

Hunting High Pressured Areas

Animals in high pressured areas are often more leery of calls. That again is where scent really helps. Scent completes the deception and gives predators more reason to come into range.

Keep Track Of The Wind Direction

Keeping track of the wind direction while coyote hunting or any type of hunting for that matter is critical. If you are using an attractant scent, make sure to position the scent where it isn’t blowing in the same direction as your downwind side. If you are using a cover scent, placing that next to you works great. A cover scent often buys you a little extra time to get a shot off before the predator catches your scent.

Using Scents In The Cold

I went coyote hunting recently, and it was COLD. A lot of us that live in the northern US coyote hunt in cold conditions. Using scents in the cold has long been an issue because scents freeze up in the cold. That problem has been solved with the Wyndscent scent vaporizer. Wyndscent heats the scent up and vaporizes it out. Wyndscent is very effective even in cold conditions. The Wyndscent 2.0 unit comes with a high powered, rechargeable vape battery that works well in frigid temps. If you want to up your scent game while predator hunting, make sure to check out Wyndscent. Wyndscent offers rabbit scent for predator hunting along with several great cover scents including earth and pine. If you whitetail hunt as well, Wyndscent offers a large variety of cartridges that you can use on the same vaporizer unit.

Scents can be very effective for both critters that eat grass and the ones that eat the ones that eat the grass. If you try using scents for your next predator hunt with Wyndscent, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

The coyote from one of our recent coyote hunts.

By Tracy Breen

Like many hunters, Levi Morgan has had a love/hate relationship with deer scents. “I have known that using deer scents has some benefit, but using deer scents also has many drawbacks,” Morgan said. “For starters, deer lure is smelly and messy. Once a bit of scent is on your boots or clothing, it is there to stay. I am hesitant to use it because it is so messy. The Wyndscent unit has changed that.”

 FORGET THE MESS

A Wyndscent uses vaporized scent and the scent is contained in a cartridge, so deer hunters don’t have to worry about deer urine spilling in the truck, getting on their hunting clothes, or contaminating a hunting area with old lure that could in fact spook the deer. “Until Wyndscent came along, using deer scent was very final,” Morgan noted. “Once it was on the ground, on my boots, or clothing there was no putting it back in the bottle. What I love about the Wyndscent is I can carefully place the unit in the field and with the remote, turn the unit on and off from the stand without worrying about getting human odor on the ground. I can turn it on and off when I want to.”

 VAPORIZED SCENT IS BETTER

Another reason Levi Morgan enjoys using a Wyndscent is because the vaporized scent can help him outsmart big bucks. “The wind is never perfect when hunting. You never know exactly when a buck is going to come in on the downwind side and bust you,” Morgan said. “I like having two Wyndscent units out and have the scent blowing to my downwind side so if a buck gets a little human odor, it might also catch the scent from the Wyndscent. If I can confuse a buck for a minute, sometimes it is long enough to get a shot.”

 
WYNDSCENT AND DEER DECOYS

Levi Morgan enjoys hunting over a deer decoy. “Hunting over a decoy can be a lot of fun. The downside is when a buck comes in, he expects the decoy to smell like a deer. To add a bit of realism to my setup when I am hunting with a decoy, I like to put a Wyndscent unit under the decoy so when a buck approaches the decoy it smells like the real thing. All the little details can make a big difference when hunting deer and using a Wyndscent makes a decoy setup more realistic which can increase my odds of getting a buck within bow range.”

 VAPORIZED SCENT TRAVELS FURTHER

One of the greatest advantages of hunting over vaporized scent is that testing shows that heated vapor scent can be smelled by animals hundreds of yards away. If you are looking to get the most out of your deer scent this year, do what Levi Morgan does and hunt with a Wyndscent unit.
 
Many of the most poplar deer scents on the market are available in a Wyndscent cartridge including Conquest Scents, Code Blue, and many more.

One of the most recognized faces in outdoor television is Roger Raglin from Roger Raglin Outdoors. Raglin has been on outdoor television for decades. Raglin has hunted across the world but one of his favorite places to hunt is in Southern Texas. “Texas holds lots of large bucks and I have a few ranches that I really enjoy hunting,” Raglin said. “I’ve been hunting at one ranch in particular for twelve years because there are a lot of large bucks on the ranch.”

The problem with this ranch last year was the ranch was partially flooded which forced Raglin to hunt a different part of the ranch. “There is a certain blind on the ranch I like to hunt out of, but the area was under water last year so I had to go to plan B,” Raglin noted.

Plan B required a north wind but Raglin really wanted to hunt the stand so he brought his Wyndscent unit with him on a day when there was a south wind. “I really like the Wyndscent because the vapor scent is extremely strong and I believe it helps outsmart big bucks and cover my scent when the wind is questionable,” said Raglin.

When Raglin climbed into his blind last fall, he turned his Wyndscent unit on, placed it out in front of his blind, and let the unit go to work. “I love the unit because I can just hit the button on my remote and dispense scent whenever I want to. Wouldn’t you know it?  A big buck showed up and I am sure the Wyndscent unit helped me outsmart the buck.”

The buck that the Wyndscent helped outsmart wasn’t just any buck; it was the largest buck Raglin had ever seen on this ranch. “The buck ended up being a160-class toad! I couldn’t believe it!  Everything has to roll your way to kill a buck like that and wind is often the one thing that is out of our control that ruins many hunts. The strong vapor scent that the Wyndscent produces often helps me outsmart bucks when the wind in wrong.”

The Wyndscent unit has many advantages over traditional scent which is why Raglin uses it. “I have always been a fan of using deer urine when hunting.  The Wyndscent brings deer scents to the next level.  Heated vapor scents travel further than scents you pour on the ground. You can operate the unit remotely from a stand or blind so there is less human odor contamination near the area where the unit is placed verses when scent is poured onto the ground. The benefits are many,” Raglin noted.

Watch the whole hunt go down here.

As whitetail hunters we all know the hardest thing to beat is a deer’s nose. We can wear all the latest and greatest camo patterns, but it is the deer’s nose that will pick us out no matter how much we visually blend in. Being as scent free as possible with your apparel and making sure to hunt only when the wind is right is super important. However, there is no absolute way to make sure deer don’t get down wind. When deer do go downwind anything you can use to make sure they don’t detect your presence is super important. Using cover scents is a super effective way to help mask human odor and to keep downwind deer calm.

Wyndscent Takes Cover Scents Farther

People have used cover scents to mask human scent for years. A variety of scents and scent forms have been used for generations. The problem with many cover scents is they don’t last long, and they don’t travel very far. Liquid scent quickly evaporates and then isn’t potent once it does. Also, traditional scents don’t work very effectively in the cold because the cold weather inhibits evaporation. Wyndscent solves that problem. With the Wyndscent 2.0 unit scents are heated up and released in a vapor form. Vapor smells stronger, lasts longer, and travels further. The Wyndscent unit vaporizes scent on intervals during your entire hunt so it isn’t just one and done like so many scent dispensers. Plus, Wyndscent is very effective in cold temps. Wyndscent offers a large variety of cover scents for any hunting situation.

Single Unit Strategy

The most popular way to use Wyndscent as a cover scent is to run the unit up in the tree with you or on the ground below you. If a deer happens to walk down wind of you, the vaporized scent effectively masks human scent. You still need to hunt the wind when using cover scents. Using cover scents and scent control for your clothing isn’t a guarantee that a deer won’t pick up your scent now in then. You still need to be smart about wind direction while using Wyndscent but Wyndscent can give you a huge advantage that you otherwise wouldn’t have. Check out this video from Raised Hunting where David Holder talks how he uses the Wyndscent unit.

Double Unit Strategy

Another popular way to use Wyndscent as a cover scent is to use two units placed to the right and left of you. Often people will use two attractant scents in this scenario. If deer try to go down wind of you either on one side or the other, they will catch the scent stream of the Wyndscent unit first. If you are using an attractant, hopefully the deer will follow the scent stream in to your unit and allow you to take a shot. Check out this video from Levi Morgan as he talks through these two strategies for using cover scents.

Changing Up Your Scents

A big tip when it comes to using cover scents is to change up your scent from hunt to hunt. Let’s say a deer goes downwind one day and smells a certain cover scent. Well, if you use that same cover scent hunt after hunt in that spot, the deer might catch on to what is going on. What you don’t want to happen is for that deer to start to associate a certain cover scent with a hunter. That is why it is super important to change up your cover scents when hunting in the same general area. Wyndscent has a very large variety of cover scents. Wyndscent offers P7 Sanctuary, Conquest Evercalm, Nose Down Bedding Area 51, Vapor Shield Vanillin, Vapor Shield Earth, Apple, Pine, Acorn, and Sweetcorn. No matter where you are hunting Wyndscent has a cover scent that will meet your needs.

Cover scents are super important in helping you get more opportunities at shooting a deer. Using Wyndscent as not only an attractant but also as a cover scent can help you be more successful in the woods this fall.