Editor’s Note: If the South has another winter like the last couple of ones, southern hunters and perhaps other deer hunters across the U.S. will have to change their deer-hunting tactics. Or, they’ll continue to eat and sleep more in their deer stands. What do you do when the woods have too-much food in them, and the temperatures climb high causing the deer to refuse to move? Many deer hunters below the Mason-Dixon Line have faced this problem the last couple of years, with scientists reporting that winter has lasted 3 fewer weeks than usual across the U.S.

All deer lure works for the same reason. Deer, naturally curious animals, will investigate anything they hear, see or smell in their environment that’s different. But deer may not always come when you’re looking for them. To use deer lure to bring deer out of thick cover, put the lure on the edge of a thick-cover region. Then the wind will carry the lure into the thicket. Take a stand directly across from the lure to enable you to see the edge of the thicket but prevents your human odor from penetrating the thicket, especially if you’ve used Scent Kapture products https://scentkapture.com/, including field cloths and body wash, wipes, clothes detergent and sprays that encapsulate and eliminate odors, before starting your hunt. If and when the deer lure draws the buck out of the thicket, you can see and take him before he spots or smells you.

Deer lure also can have a reverse effect on deer. It can cause some bucks to go in the opposite direction when they smell deer lure. Therefore, I suggest that you have a backdoor stander, who goes to the back side of the thicket before you’ve ever placed the deer lure. Once this stander has positioned himself, then put out the deer lure, and take a stand. If the buck comes to the deer lure, you’ll get the shot. However, if the buck turns away from the lure, the backdoor stander will get the shot. Using this technique, regardless of the effect the lure has on the buck, one of the two hunters will more than likely bag the buck.

To learn more about hunting deer with John E. Phillips’ Amazon Kindle eBooks, print books and Audible books (the latest Audible is “How to Hunt Deer Like a Pro”) and Nook books, click here at  https://johninthewild.com/books/#deer. You can type in the name of the book and download it to your Kindle, and/or download a Kindle app for your iPad, SmartPhone or computer. For a free download on how to make jerky from venison to provide a protein-rich snack, choose “How to Prepare Venison Jerky: The Ultimate Snack Food” at johninthewild.com/free-books.

Tomorrow: Camping Out on Buck Deer