Does Vanilla Extract Work For Deer Hunting?

Fact checked by Steven Lines, lifelong Hunter, and Outdoorsman.

People often try to find the perfect scent to attract deer when they hunt. You can spend a fortune on unique concoctions sold in stores, but different people have homemade recipes that are effective and pretty straightforward. 

Deer like the smell of vanilla and vanilla extract. Spraying it on the ground or around your tree will attract the deer to your ground blind or climbing stand. Vanilla extract is relatively cheap and easy to source for most hunters depending on where you live.

This article will examine how vanilla extract works as a deer lure, as well as other smells that will draw the deer to your tree stand. Continue reading to learn all about the best ways to lure a deer. 

How Do You Mix Vanilla Extract for Deer?

Vanilla extract is easy to use, and you can find it in any store. You can just spray it right on the tree stumps and trees around your stand, and the deer will come. You can use plain vanilla extract or mix it with something else, such as peanut butter. It is inexpensive, and the deer love it. 

Deer have a keen sense of smell, and it is always part of the challenge for hunters. They try to find a way to cover up their scent. Bowhunters have passed down some recipes for many generations. The key is to cover up the human odor and find a scent that attracts the deer. Vanilla extract is one of these scents. 

You can mix the vanilla with water in a spray bottle and spray the tree’s trunk and the stumps around your stand. You can also mix the vanilla extract with peanut butter and smear it on the trees’ trunks. This is a great way to overpower the human scent and create one that makes the deer come to you.

What Smells Are Deer Attracted to?

There is an art to using scents to attract deer. Some people say that using urine from a buck is the best way to attract deer, and others have many different theories. The truth is that you need to understand the deer and the different situations that leave a scent and the impact they have on deer. 

You need to use a scent to cover your tracks. Remember that your feet will kick up leaves and dirt when you are walking in the woods, and there is a scent already built-in. It could smell like a fox or a squirrel that has left its scent behind. If the ground is disturbed and there is an unfamiliar scent that accompanies it, the deer can become suspicious. You should try to make sure that you leave a scent behind when you kick up the leaves and dirt. In this case, you can use doe urine.

As far as scents that draw deer to your hunting stand, you want to use something irresistible. You can buy fancy concoctions from a hunting store, or you can make your own using something that the deer find irresistible. Vanilla is one great option, but there are others as well.

You can make an apple-scented lure at home. You can take a plastic tub and fill it with pine needles and dead leaves. Then, you can chop up some apples in your blender and blend them until it is creamy. Pour some water in with the apples, and then you can soak a cloth in the mixture. Leave it there for an hour, and then you can put it into a Ziploc bag and seal it until you plan to use it. 

Another mixture is peanut butter, which is something that deer love. You can use it alone or mix it with vanilla extract. The best thing to do is hang an open jar from a tree about five feet off the ground.

You can also use other types of fruit or corn, and you can mix any of these ingredients with molasses. This is another lure that deer can’t resist. Any of these ingredients make a great deer lure. You can place the lure around your tree stand, and it will attract the deer.

Can Vanilla Scare Deer Away?

Deer have a very strong sense of smell, and it is one of their best survival instincts. Although vanilla will attract deer, it needs to be a subtle scent. You can spray a bit of it on your boots or your tree stumps near your tree stand, but you need to be careful not to overuse it. If the scent of vanilla, or anything else for that matter, is too strong, it can frighten the deer away. 

You can use different lures, including vanilla, to attract deer, but too much of anything that doesn’t belong can make the deer suspicious. There are scents that deer expect, such as other animals that live outdoors, and food that smells delicious to them will attract them unless it is overpowering. Be sure to use vanilla as a lure in moderation to avoid frightening the deer away.

What Is the Best Cover Scent for Deer Hunting?

Since deer have such an amazing sense of smell, choosing a cover scent is an essential part of deer hunting. The reason is that deer can smell human odors, and they will stay away. The most difficult part of this is that the deer’s sense of smell is almost 60 times that of a human, so you can’t tell if you have covered it by smelling. 

You can use an aerosol spray or wax because both can linger in the air for a long time. When you shower before you go hunting, you can use odorless soap and try not to use things that give off unnatural scents, such as strong scented shampoos or soaps. Choose shower supplies with neutral or natural scents so that you don’t startle the deer while you are out.

When you use a cover scent for yourself or anything close to you, don’t use one that attracts deer because they will likely notice you before they reach the scent. For your cover scent, use one that keeps them away from you, such as doe urine. You can make your own out of materials that exist in the area naturally, such as acorns, leaves, and pine needles. 

You can gather materials from your hunting spot, take them home, and then boil water. You can run the water through these items and then put it into a spray bottle. Then, use it to spray your clothing when you are out hunting.

You can also use smoke to cover your scent. The smoke has carbon molecules that absorb scents and can overpower the deer’s nose. The important thing to remember is to use something that will cover your scent so that the deer doesn’t realize you are there.

What Is the Best Way to Use Vanilla to Attract Deer?

The best way to use vanilla to attract deer is to dilute it with water and put it into a spray bottle. You can also add it to boiling water and then soak a cloth in it. You can put the cloth into a sealed Ziploc bag, and it will hold the scent until the next time you go hunting.

When you get to the area where you plan to hunt, you can take the cloth out and run it on the trees and stumps. This will be just enough to attract the deer without frightening them away. You could also use the spray bottle to spray this area. You can also mix a little bit of vanilla with peanut butter and hang the jar from a tree. Any of these tactics will attract the deer to your stand.

Final Words

Last update on 2024-04-27 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Controlling scent is an important part of your deer hunting strategy. Deer have a really good sense of smell, so you need to cover your scent while using a scent around your stand to attract them. One of the best ways to attract deer is also one of the most affordable: vanilla extract. It smells delicious to deer, and as long as you don’t use too much, it works well as a lure.

You should not use vanilla to cover your scent because it will attract the deer, and they are likely to see you before they reach you. You can use doe urine mixed with scents from the area you hunt, such as leaves and branches. This is an effective way to cover your human odor. 

You should make sure that you use neutral or natural scented shampoos and soaps before you hunt. This is the best way to make sure that your vanilla extract lure draws the deer close enough to get the one you want when you are out hunting.

Steven Lines is a hunter and outdoorsman from Safford, Arizona, USA. Since he was a child, he has been hunting and fishing and has over 20 years of outdoor experience. Steven works as a hunting guide in Arizona during his spare time and runs a Youtube channel dedicated to sharing his outdoor adventures with others.

References

• Deer Hunting 101: Scent Control in 10 Steps
• Common Sense with Cover Scents