Funny Experimental Deer Lure Circa My Brother.

Remeber this: Peanut butter and acorns in the hand is a worthless nut in the bush.

Yesterday I was entertaining a conversation with my brother. I had told him about my misadventures in the woods with the deer. There is this one buck I have a long standing love-hate relationship with. This buck has the ability to live on a very small acreage of land without being ambushed. I have seen him running behind his clutch of doe heading for the swamp. His usual hideout when he is alone is out near the old hog parlor during the day. One day he was stalking me from the acorn patch by the cemetery because the crow tells on him sometimes. The conversation from my brother’s side was how I could entice or lure the buck to come out. As of late I have been not using any kind of lure because of the corn harvesting, oats, wheat, or soybean. The deer have plenty to eat along with the acorns that are falling out of the tree, the persimmons, or swamp mushrooms. I figure why waste a dollar by providing corn or some other lure when there is plenty all around. Eventually winter will come and the food will be scarce.

My brother tells me to get an apple, run a string through it then cover it with peanut butter. I started to laugh while thinking, “People do the craziest things”. I asked him did he think I was out to catch a big rat down in those woods. Next he would tell me to just hang tin cans and they could eat them much like a billy goat.

I do remember over the late summer I was trying to catch a critter cam photo of elusive deer in my backyard. It would seem a couple of doe and their offspring were sneaking into the yard after dark to eat the pears on the ground. Probably smelling my scent on the camera, one of them tilted it giving me a shot of only her ear. Pretty smart I thought:  pear bandits tilting the camera.

I told him in jest that I was going to try out his theory but in my own way. We ended the call with a chuckle. I went into the kitchen and scoured the cabinets for essential ingredients into this little wilderness gourmet diatribe. I found peanut butter, salt, rice crispies, and clover honey.

I reviewed my ingredients then realized I needed something special. I had previously taken a short trip to the river to pick some acorns off the trees there because they are bigger. I had a five gallon bucket half full of these little oak seed wonders. I took a pan and mixed all the ingredients into four evenly amounted acorn butter balls. I was laughing the whole time. Why do I do these things just for fun?

After I was happy with the consistency of the balls I placed them in a covered container inside of the refrigerator.

Later that evening I collected my hunting supplies and grabbed the sandwich bag with the acorn butter ball.  I drove down to the woods, unlocked the gate, drove in and stopped amongst the trees. I went to my usual hang-out but walked across the ladder bridge to drop the acorn butter ball onto the top of this blue feeder bucket that was tilted and completely empty. I went to sit in “the box”.  Hours passed. Deer were walking all around me and calling out on the game trail right behind me down one of the man-made corridors in the woods. Goat smell waifed up through the screen. It got darker and darker but no actual deer came out. I looked down the canal ditch and saw two black shadows moving in and out of the greens. This was the side of the area that quickly got swallowed by the shadow from the dying light. 

Feeling I had no luck on this venture collected my belongings and marched to the truck.

My thought on the acorn butter ball thing was raccoon action. I figured the coons would be down there playing patty cake with that ball and it would be gone by the morning or at least half washed in the ditch.

I went back this evening on the golf cart to check things out with this acorn butter ball. Sure enough something had been gnawing on it but what that was I do not know. I felt compelled to put another one in a different location to see what my results would be.

Now I have seen some mighty strange lures put up in the woods to attract deer. One time I went down to this place to hunt. In a moderate distance inside of the woods was a tree decorated like you would see at Christmas except the decorations were tampons. These tampons were covered with buck lure. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I put my gun down and began a belly laugh like no other. If you are ever told that men have a problem buying tampons for women it is a lie. They have no problem buying them to lure deer or at least robbing the tampon box of what they need.

I have even seen full body traps set in the woods with lure and a trip wire like you could catch a bear or a dog in. The two men in question actually caught a young peg horn buck then wrestled him out to freedom.

I know they say that deer like frost bitten apples but its not that cool here and winter hasn’t hit as it normally does. It use to get really cold in August or September but now it doesn’t get really cold here until Feb, March, or April.

As for experimental buck lures I am not sure if this is working but the jury is not out yet. I’ll give it until Monday before I do a thumbs up or thumbs down.

Written by:  W Harley Bloodworth

 

~Courtesy of the AOFH~