Using Deer Attractants for Observation Instead of Hunting

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No Pressure + Deer Attractants = Great Hunting Intel

When most whitetail hunters talk about deer attractants and mineral supplements, they automatically drift towards the deer hunting application of them. After all, our powerful and attractive product can create one of the best hunting sites you’ve ever sat above. But eventually, you’d probably educate a few bucks about your intentions if you sat over a site too much. And additionally, an increasing number of states do not allow hunters to hunt over or even near anything that could be considered bait anyway, which would rule this scenario out too. So have you ever considered using a deer attractant to enhance a bait site or mineral site without hunting it?

It might seem crazy to some people – why spend the effort and money on keeping a site like that running if you can’t directly hunt the deer using it? But there are actually several benefits of doing just that. Here’s how to use deer attractants and some tips on where and why to use them.

Why Use This Strategy?

The best reason for using this approach is that you can gain valuable insight about the deer using your property in a way that you might not if you were hunting it. Whitetails are pretty quick at patterning people, so hunting a deer bait site several days in a row definitely turns the pressure on. With this strategy, however, you can capture trail camera pictures of essentially unpressured deer (since you don’t hunt it). This property reconnaissance helps you understand truly which deer are using your land; whereas, mature bucks may be reluctant to use a bait site that is regularly hunted. That is the true power of this deer attractants strategy.

 

In addition, if you’re wondering how to attract deer to your property, this product is so versatile for different situations. There are several ways to use this product, depending on the situation. At easier to access sites (i.e., accessible via a trail system), this is probably the best deer attractant to mix with corn because it adds fat calories (soybean oil), 90+ minerals, unrefined salt, and attraction power (scent of soybeans) to the bait pile. For more remote areas, you can pour it onto decaying wood or directly onto the soil to create the best deer mineral attractant. These are all very good ways to attract deer.

And as we mentioned earlier, there is another obvious reason this approach might be a good option for you. In some states, it is illegal to bait deer while hunting them, which often includes any caloric food source at all (including grains, fruits, vegetables, molasses, etc.). Since our product is made with crude soybean oil and chock full of fat calories, you definitely couldn’t hunt over it in that situation. However, some states may allow you to bait deer on your property, provided you don’t hunt within a certain distance of it. In this case, you could still get the benefit of baiting deer in front of your trail cameras without breaking any laws. But be sure to study your state’s regulations on this topic before you start.

Best Places to Put Deer Attractants

While this approach could work for any property to get an unbiased look at the deer there, here are a few places where this would make the most sense.

  • If you have a small property (e.g., total of 40 acres), you need to be serious about deer hunting to consistently do well. Instead of walking around your whole property throughout the season, try designating most of the center of it as a sanctuary that you hardly ever enter (except to re-apply more GYT90 deer attractants and check your trail camera). Then you can use the trail camera pictures to decide how to hunt the perimeter, based on which deer are comfortably using the interior portion. 
  • Do you have a cellular trail camera that directly sends pictures to your mobile phone? That’s even better. Find a very remote part of your property that you can’t access easily (e.g., an island in the middle of a swamp). Take some time to apply a liberal amount of GYT90 deer attractant on some decaying logs and within the soil so that it will persist longer than just applying it to a corn pile. Rest assured, the deer will absolutely eat the decaying wood and dirt. Then let the camera and deer attractants do their work. This approach probably makes GYT90 the best deer attractant for trail cameras at remote sites.

 

How to Use This Approach for Hunting

Wait, didn’t we say we were not hunting over these deer attractants? Yes, but there are still ways you can use this method to inform your hunting strategies. First, simply having this site in an unpressured area could entice deer to stay longer than they otherwise might. Keeping them on your property is over half the battle once the general hunting season opens.

For a more specific hunting example, if you start seeing a mature buck using your remote site, you will need to figure out how he is accessing it and where he goes afterward. Study some aerial maps of your property and find some likely travel corridors or pinch points that the buck might use. If he primarily uses the site at night, it’s likely he will head to a bedding area in the morning, so look for densely vegetated areas on the map where a buck could feel safe during the day. Then place some trail cameras in those locations. After a week or two, sneak back in to check the cameras (or use the cellular option mentioned above). Once you find out where and when he is using a certain area, set up a tree stand or ground blind downwind of his primary access – remember to not hunt too close to your deer attractant site. By only hunting the perimeter of this area, you stand a great chance at attracting and then hunting a buck as he comes and goes.

Best Deer Attractant

This season, try using this amazing product and hunting approach to see how it goes. In most cases, the deer attractants will pull the deer in on their own – how you handle the hunting of them is up to you. But providing a no-risk area for deer – especially mature bucks – to congregate and get some nutrition and minerals from is a fantastic way to get a census of the deer using your property.

 

Best Locations for Mineral and Bait Sites For Hunting

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Mineral and Bait Site Locations | GYT90 Deer Attractant

Deer hunters want to create an attractive bait site for a multitude of reasons, but most would agree that killing a target buck would be at the top of the list. If you want to build a habitat that encourages deer to hang around your stand during shooting hours; getting creative with your setup will be key. To begin this process, we must consider the priorities of a whitetail:

  1. Food  
  2. Water 
  3. Security  
  4. Breeding

These four factors will control a deer’s life and the better we understand each, the closer we can come to punching our tag. To best determine where a bait site should be located, it’s helpful to refer to an aerial photo and begin your search for the perfect spot. An aerial photograph, in combination with a topographic map, can assist your search for water, food, possible bedding and terrain features that lead to travel corridors. 

The primary goal in finding all of these features is to help increase the attractiveness of your bait site and eventually a place in which to ambush your deer.

  

Natural Deer Movement

Deer, like humans, will naturally take the path of least resistance when traveling in most situations. When setting up your bait site, consider where deer will most likely funnel through an area. The best way to do this is to refer to your map mentioned above. When reviewing the map, you’ll see an arrow that points to a natural point in which the hardwoods is sandwiched in between food plots—creating a pinch point. This area of cover is the perfect place for deer to travel with the feeling of security while moving from one food source to another.

Pinch points are the easiest of features to find on a map, but other features to look for are also important:

Saddles: This is a place where the terrain dips down like a horse’s saddles. Sometimes this feature is easy to spot, and at times it’s very subtle. However, one thing is for certain; saddles are a place deer will naturally move through.

Field Corners: Many hunters prefer to hunt over a field to see much deer, but they don’t realize they’d kill more deer by staying on the inside corner of the field. By the time October rolls around, deer know they are hunted. The likelihood that a mature buck will move into an area before dark decreases and these deer love to skirt the edge of fields by going around the corner; this can be another great place to place your GYT90 mineral station so the deer can feel secure before heading into your food plot.

Gaps in a fence: Every year it’s a good idea to walk the edge of your property line to determine if there are new low spots in the fence. Again, deer love to take the path of least resistance and an easy to cross fence is an excellent place for deer to funnel through. Many times that is on their way to and from food and bedding.

Bedding Areas 

Everything we think of—when it comes to whitetails—should be around bedding. Deer spend a large portion of their day bedded-down to survive. Deer will pick a bedding area where they can see and smell in a way that makes them feel comfortable about their situation. At times, we feel the need to push the limits on a bucks bedding area to kill him, but your bait site should not intrude on their bedroom.

To keep the bait site fresh, you’ll have to spend time going in and out of the area. When choosing your location, it’s best to understand where the deer are bedded because they will see you, or smell you going in and out. It’s recommended to find their primary bedding locations as soon as the season is over so that you will not alert the deer during the season.

Once you’ve located their bedding areas, you’ll want to make sure that your bait site is in their natural travel corridor, so you don’t have to push the limits. The most important asset to a deer is water, so getting your bait site between water and bed is a great location to start.

Waterholes

Water is an essential ingredient to a whitetail’s habitat, without water on your property the deer will be traveling as far as it takes to find it. If water doesn’t exist, you have the perfect opportunity to supplement your deer herd with a waterhole. Think about it; the more comfortable you create for the deer herd, the less likely they are to leave their secure environment.

Creating water holes is labor intensive, but worth the sweat equity. All you need is a water trough, or even kids swimming pool, a shovel, and tons of water! Once you have your water is in the ground, and situated close to your bait station, you’re good to go. All you’ll need is rain to keep it full or tote in more throughout the year.

Mock Scrapes

Deer have to eat, they have to drink, but they’re also social animals. Creating a mock community scrape near your bait station can be a great way to keep deer cruising through the area to keep tabs on one another. The scrape is a way for a deer to let others know he or she has visited; think of this as a message board for whitetails!

To create a scrape is simple: Find a tree with a small branch hanging down to where a deer can lick it, rake the leaves back in a large bowl under the branch, then you can pour deer urine or use your own to create the first scent. If you want to run multiple trail camera’s near your bait station, this is the best place to hang your second camera to get pictures.

Putting it Together

Throwing out GYT90 in a random place will produce results, but the likelihood of it producing deer on a consistent basis is lower. The more time you put into creating complimentary aspects of a deer’s life, the more you increase the attractiveness of your bait site. Most of the ingredients to a suitable location already exist on your property, make sure you increase the odds by putting in the extra effort, and you will increase the herd health, density, and your hunting success rates.