The unmistakable aroma of a rutting buck stopped me dead in my tracks as I slipped through the woods on a midmorning hunt. Somewhere near, but as yet unseen, stood a musty rutting buck. It smelled a lot like Paul Meek’s Super Blend scent attractant which has a combination of rutting bucks and doe in heat scent.

I was deep in the woods searching for fresh buck sign when I smelled the unseen buck and it made me realize how quiet and peaceful it was. Squirrels were scurrying around feeding on the ground and an occasional hawk or pileated woodpecker flew by overhead. However, there was none of the noisy hustle and bustle accompanied by the roar of engines, as people travel the roads to and from work in the early mornings.

Though it had recently rained, bucks had already been out and working on their territorial markers and leaving calling cards as fresh rubs and scrapes were almost everywhere I looked. As I made my way along a small creek, I heard the tell-tale whistling of wood ducks and crept slowly and silently until I spied them.

A group of colorful drake wood ducks and hens were busy feeding, cavorting and preening in their peaceful sanctuary. Such are the added pleasures gained from stalking silently through the vacated mid-morning woods.

My mid-morning jaunts taken during mid to late season deer hunts allow me to enter a seemingly new world as most of the animals have long ago patterned the hunters and now move about freely during midday hours in places where the woods had been silent. Moving along I spotted a group of does feeding on acorns seemingly without a care in the world.

My routine included walking a scant three to five steps, scanning the surrounding woods for any sign of a deer, and moving again. This stop and go technique was taught to me as a youngster by my grandfather J. P. Nolen and has provided me with many unusual animal sightings and kills on my scouting trips.

Some of my biggest deer have been taken in this manner, in areas that I have never hunted before. If you will take notice, undisturbed deer and animals will always move a few steps, stop and look, before moving on. One mistake and they may pay with their very life.

As I stood overlooking a creek bottom, a young buck suddenly strode into view. From my vantage point, I watched him rake his antlers on an overhanging limb and then make a scrape. This went on for a few minutes before he decided to move on down his scrape line to find another doe or freshen up a scrape.

Slowly moving uphill, I was met full force with the musty smell of a rutting buck. He was close, but had he spotted me? Hopefully, the buck hadn’t seen or smelled me, if he was still over the crest of the ridge.

Standing still for a full five minutes, I determined that the buck was straight over the peak of the ridge as the wind blew steadily from that direction. When I could stand it no longer, I moved a scant four steps forward and waited. I could see the crest of the ridge but saw no deer. Moving a bit further, perhaps another four or five steps, positioned me where I could see the top of the ridge. And still, not a deer was to be seen. The smell never wavered, though I had yet to see anything.

As I moved forward and stopped once again, the rutting buck suddenly appeared like a phantom from out of nowhere and disappeared behind a downed pine top a scant 10 yards to my left. Though I could see beyond the brush top and on both sides of it, the buck seemingly vanished into thin air. I raised my rifle in the direction of the top where the buck stopped for a few minutes. It seemed like an eternity. Had he spotted the movement of my rifle through the pine top?

Muscles began to tighten and burn, as I wondered if I could hold out until he made his move. Finally he turned and emerged from behind the top, and I centered the crosshairs and squeezed the trigger. Tic-pow roared the .270 Browning as the 8 point buck collapsed in a heap, a scant 20 feet away.

If you’re searching for that trophy buck you’d be well served to put on some of Paul Meek’s Vanilla Musk Cover Scent and attractant as you head into the woods in the coming weeks. Meek’s cover scent smells good to humans and bucks alike and is just the ticket for masking human scent. And for good measure you might better take some of Meek’s Super Heat doe in estrous scent. But don’t take my word, try it for yourself.

Call Mike Giles at 601-917-3898 or email mikegiles18@comcast.net.