John's Journal...

Depend on Trail Cameras to Make You a Better Deer Hunter

Day 4: Dave Parrott Explains How to Bring Deer into Your Trail Cameras

Editor’s Note: Dave Parrott of Louisville, Kentucky, one of Mossy Oak’s pros (www.mossyoak.com), decided he could build a better trail camera. Parrott got involved in building trail cameras when the switch was made from 35 millimeter cameras to digital cameras. Because digital cameras ran $500 or more when they first were produced, Parrott decided he could build a better and less-expensive trail camera, if he built it himself. He became fascinated with what trail cameras could do, and what he could learn about game movement with the trail cameras. This began his lifelong obsession with developing game cameras and learning more-efficient ways to use them.

Click for Larger ViewClick for Larger ViewIf you’re checking your trail cameras every 3 days, your human odor has saturated the area where your trail cameras are. So, in states where you can use attractants or bait, I make up my own scent attractants. The spray I mix up has apple juice, flavoring, molasses, sugar and anything else I can think of that has a fruity sweet smell. I dump all those ingredients into a pot and cook it like a stew. After my attractants cool-down, I add distilled water to my smell-good stew. After this mixture cools-down, I put it in a spray bottle and use it as both a cover scent and an attractant. I spray that attractant all over the trail I walk in and out on, also around my cameras and the trees holding my cameras. I use the BioLogic deer attractants. There are a wide variety of choices of sprays you can use. I want this spray not only to kill my odor, but to be an attractant to put deer in front of my camera. Let’s say I set-up a trail camera in the corner of a soybean field. I not only spray the trail I walk in and out of to get to my camera, but I spray the base of the tree where my camera is mounted, the ground and bushes in front of my camera and the soybeans in the corner of that field. I spray up high as well as down low. When the deer smell this attractant, they’re going to come in and browse heavier than they do anywhere else. So, I’ll have better pictures than I’ll get if I haven’t sprayed everything.

Click for Larger ViewClick for Larger ViewI did some research using my homemade attractant and cover spray. I learned that if I put corn out in front of my camera, a buck would stay in front of the camera about 3 minutes and then leave. When I used my spray, as I recommended and put it on everything, the bucks would stay in front of my camera for 8 to 10 minutes. So, my spray attractant is causing bucks to stay in front of my cameras twice as long as they will if I just put shelled corn in front of my camera.

For more deer-hunting tips, get John E. Phillips’ Kindle eBooks “How to Hunt Deer Like a Pro,” "How to Hunt Deer Up Close: With Bows, Rifles, Muzzleloaders and Crossbows,” and “PhD Whitetails: How to Hunt and Take the Smartest Deer on Any Property,” Go to www.amazon.com/kindle-ebooks, 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.

About the Author

John Phillips, winner of the 2012 Homer Circle Fishing Award for outstanding fishing writer by the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) and the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA), the 2008 Crossbow Communicator of the year and the 2007 Legendary Communicator chosen for induction into the National Fresh Water Hall of Fame, is a freelance writer (over 6,000 magazine articles for about 100 magazines and several thousand newspaper columns published), magazine editor, photographer for print media as well as industry catalogues (over 25,000 photos published), lecturer, outdoor consultant, marketing consultant, book author and daily internet content provider with an overview of the outdoors. Click here for more information and a list of all the books available from John E. Phillips.

Tomorrow: Using Trail Cameras to Learn What Animals Live in Your Suburban Backyard with John E. Phillips


Check back each day this week for more about "Depend on Trail Cameras to Make You a Better Deer Hunter"

Day 1: How to Fight the Biggest Enemy of Your Trail Camera with Dave Parrott
Day 2: How to Position Your Trail Cameras to Make Them the Most-Effective They Can Be for Seeing Deer
Day 3: Don’t Buy Cheap Batteries for Your Trail Cameras to Watch Deer
Day 4: Dave Parrott Explains How to Bring Deer into Your Trail Cameras
Day 5: Using Trail Cameras to Learn What Animals Live in Your Suburban Backyard with John E. Phillips

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Entry 738, Day 4