Finally, the season is HERE, and couldn’t have come soon enough for me. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way about deer season. I’m 75-years-old, and each year, every opening day is more special to me. I hope I’m able to enjoy many more. It’s a truly amazing experience to watch a new day come up while you’re in the woods. The turkeys are coming off their roost, coyotes are giving that last howl before sunrise, deer are moving to their staging areas to feed at first light. Now is a great time to have your Hot Trails® candle lit and burning. It’s much easier to have a deer smell the candle when they’re moving because the scent is traveling through the woods at the same time. Try to set yourself up where you have multiple deer trails downwind of you. With the candle scent dispersing over 500+ yards, you are effectively hunting every trail around you. When the deer are active, that’s the best time to use the candles.
I sometimes hunt on tripods. When you’re sitting up there, all exposed, you need something to cover your scent. From the swivel seat on the tripod, I hang a soup can with a Doe-N-Heat candle burning. I’ve had so many deer come downwind to me, breathe in the scent, then go about their business. The other day, I had a new customer send me the following email:
“Gotta say, I’m super-impressed with the candles!! Finally, Monday and Tuesday morning, I got to go out both mornings. I have had deer come in and circle the soup can with the lit candle, walk away, come back, and literally have their nose in the can. All the deer were 100% downwind of me and had no suspicion of my scent at all!! I will never go in the woods without your product again!!!”
–Ryan Henry
I have to admit, I don’t always hunt with my candles burning. I was once driving down a ranch road and saw an overgrown old road that looked interesting. I parked my truck, grabbed my rifle, and proceeded to walk down the old road trail. I found a game trail that crossed the road, so I backed up about 100 yards and sat on the edge of the road, leaning against a mesquite tree. The wind was blowing from the game trail to me. I had put a handful of corn on the trail to stop any deer traveling along it. In the evening, a doe came by and stopped in the opening. I grabbed my binoculars to take a closer look, and she saw me move. She knew I didn’t belong next to that tree, and started foot-stomping and head-bobbing, trying to get me to move. I didn’t want her to ruin my hunt and she was getting ready to do just that. I was on a cattle ranch, so thinking outside of the box, I let out the best cow “MOOOOOOOOOOO” I could muster. She stopped what she was doing, stood looking at me for what seemed like hours, but was only minutes. Then her whole demeanor changed. She forgot about me and started eating the corn. When she finished, she continued on the trail. She wanted to know what I was, and I gave one of her senses an answer, and she took it. I’m glad it worked because minutes after she left, a buck who was trailing her, stepped out, and you know the rest of the story. Don’t be afraid to try something different. That attitude led me to the Hot Trails® scented candle idea.
What I’ve found out is everyone likes everything nice and neat, tied up with a ribbon and bow on top. Deer behavior has been studied for a long time, and people try to say, “deer do this, deer do that,” and for the most part, they do. But I’ve discovered that deer are as different as you and I. They have their own ways, likes, dislikes and preferences. Some like this and others like that. Don’t get caught up in a “one-size-fits-all” mentality. It took a lot of trial and error using different scent products, but eventually, I created something that lasted a long time and actually worked.
Hunting is a special shared time with fathers or grandfathers and their children or grandchildren. Memories are made at such times. One of my fondest is when my youngest daughter was on a morning hunt with me. We were up way before daylight and drove the pickup to a spot several hundred yards from my tower blind. In south Texas, there aren’t many tall trees, usually the tallest are 10-foot mesquite trees. Therefore, to have a good view over the brush, we build tower blinds. This one was 22-feet up from the ground to the bottom of the door, and about 24-feet up at eye-level with the windows. I had put a barstool in the blind for her to be able to see out the windows, since she was only about 7-years-old. As daylight started to break, she said, “Daddy, I see a wolf.” How many of you have had tricks played on you with shadows in the early morning or late evening? Sometimes your mind makes them pretty real. Early on in my hunting life, I shot a limb on a tree that looked like a deer looking around the tree. It took 3 shots to figure out my error. My daughter and I still laugh about the “cactus wolf.”
Well, I hope I’ve shed some light on the subject. Just being scent-free doesn’t guarantee your success. Attractants have been used by successful hunters since time began. You need to help bring the game to YOU, and I believe Hot Trails® is the best product on the market today to do just that.
If you’ve never used Hot Trails®, I urge you to think outside of the box and try something different. It just might make all the difference in your deer season. Place an order at www.hottrails.com.
And to sweeten the deal, if you take your deer using Hot Trails®, send us a picture. If we’re able to use it, we’ll send you some free product.
In my previous articles, I’ve discussed preparing for hunting and the rut, the rut itself, and how to add and use Hot Trails® Scented Hunting Candles for a successful season. If you’ve missed these articles and want to learn more about Hot Trails®, you can find them on the Articles page here on our website.
I wish everyone a wonderful, successful deer season.
Written by Bill Moore, Founder of Hot Trails® Scented Hunting Candles
IMPORTANT: HOT TRAILS® USES A FIRE AND MUST BE TREATED WITH CAUTION. CHECK LOCAL FORESTRY REGULATIONS ON OPEN FIRES IN THE AREA YOU ARE HUNTING. HOT WAX ON BARE SKIN CAN CAUSE INJURY. DO NOT MOVE THE CANDLE WHEN WAX IS HOT OR CANDLE IS BURNING. NEVER LEAVE A BURNING CANDLE UNATTENDED. NEVER BURN A CANDLE EXCEPT IN OUR HOT TRAILS® MINI LANTERN OR IN SOME OTHER TYPE OF METAL BURNING CONTAINER. CLEAR LEAVES AND OTHER COMBUSTABLES FROM THE AREA AROUND WHERE THE CANDLE WILL BE LOCATED. JUST LIKE USING A GUN OR BOW, CAUTION AND SAFETY SHOULD BE OBSERVED AT ALL TIMES WHEN USING A PRODUCT WITH AN OPEN FLAME.