Here is an artical from Field Staffer Ted Peck
There is a plastic sport drink bottle in the basement deep freeze tagged with a crude skull and crossbones on a piece of masking tape. The bottle contains about two ounces of WDM’s—Weapons of Deer Manipulation.
You wanna talk “powerful buck attractant”? How ‘bout fresh urine from a doe in full-blown estrus with nodules from jet black tarsal glands on the doe’s lower legs!
This doe was shot on opening day of the firearms season with a buck in hot pursuit . The buck was nothing special. But the earn-a-buck potential which may be realized three weeks from now from this doe extends far beyond the buck tag it earned.
By my purely subjective calculations a large number of does were at peak estrus on Nov. 17, judging by the game of perpetual tag of bucks chasing does out there in the woods that day.
Twenty-eight days from this date—essentially Pearl Harbor Day— those does not yet bred should be in estrus again. Muzzleloader season will still be open. Not that this matters if you hunt primarily in the “Kill ‘Em All” zone of Rock County.
The Game Plan for deer hunting during the first week in December revolves using the contents of that sport drink bottle to create a scent trail which will lead ol’ Bullwinkle to an eventual encounter with taxidermist Don Rich, Jr.
Of course, Bullwinkle didn’t get all those points on his rack by being a dummy. Using the products of this doe in heat before female whitetails go into estrus again would probably throw up a red flag…or more accurately a white one.
When does start coming into estrus again the freshly thawed contents of the sport drink bottle will be dolloped on a scent-free sock, tied to a scent-friendly boot by a three-foot tether and dragged in an obtuse trail to within easy gun range of my treestand taking into consideration variables like wind direction.
Dragging this scent trail in a direct path to the treestand would be a mistake because Bullwinkle might see me in his quest for the “hot doe” before I could bust a cap on him.
Human scent on the rubber boots should be minimized by doing a little shuffle on a cowpie in the pasture on the way to the stand. (Note to self : place hands on beams of ladder, not rungs while climbing into stand) .
The ultra-powerful , fresh and natural doe-in-heat wasn’t the only gift from this yearling earn-a-buck whitetail.
Most field dressing instructions begin with a careful incision in the belly after the animal is properly tagged. Big mistake. The first cut should be whacking off the animal’s tail for future use in bucktail jigs.
The tail should be placed immediately in one of several gallon-sized Ziploc bags so it doesn’t get tinged with blood. Next, the tarsal glands should be removed and bagged.
One of those little T-handle saws with a cap on the end is ideal for cutting thru the animal’s pelvis without rupturing the precious contents of the bladder, which is removed and bagged with plans of transferring the contents to a plastic bottle. (Note to self : Don’t put this bag back in the fanny pack)
After field dressing the deer another Ziploc is used to store the best-eating part of the deer : the tenderloins , which are carefully removed from the body cavity and placed with the rest of the harvest on a hand towel which is part of my field-dressing kit.
Initially the hand towel serves as a drop cloth to keep the knife , bone saw and other stuff readily accessible for the field dressing process. All of the stuff—towel, plastic bags, gloves, saw and knife in sheath can be carried neatly in a bag in the fanny pack or a six gallon bucket seat prior to use.
This year one of those “Cat’s Eye” high intensity lights which affixes to the brim of your hunting cap is part of this kit. Deer often come in right towards dusk. And your knife will get misplaced even quicker in the dark than it does in broad daylight.
Six out of seven voices in my head say that all the preparations and precautions will be necessary for an eventual and fatal encounter with Bullwinkle.
The seventh voice says those doe tenderloins which were marinated in teriyaki sauce and wrapped in bacon were sure good on the grill. And the jigs which will be tied from this critter’s tail will certainly produce a 10 pound walleye next spring.
This seventh voice would rather fish than hunt . Eventually persistent whispers will win the other muses over and the rod will replace the gun again.