Being from a trapping background I believe scents are effective in the right situation but there is a lot of gimmicky stuff out there as well. I like them more to position an animal more than to actually draw an animal any distance.
Its funny you mentioned about rubbing yourself on the cows. I remember one time many years ago I had just got out of the barn and didn't change because I didn't have much time. I hurried to my stand and climbed in. About an hour later I heard something coming in the trail I used to get to the stand. I thought it was my brother coming to get me for some reason as I could hear it coming for quite a ways and it was following my exact path. Then I saw the antler. Here was a young 2 year old 7pt buck coming along my trail with his nose to the ground sniffing every boot track. That buck came right to the base of my stand. He still had his nose in one of my tracks when I shot him.
I know some guys who clip Trarsal glands on there pants when they still hunt. I do use scent eliminator but there is no way to totally eliminate your scent and it always plays to play the wind whether from a stand or still hunting. I won't even hunt a stand if the wind is wrong and that's why I always have a couple set up for any wind condition we may get.
We have a traditional scape up back and I always stop and "freshen" it when I go by. I found that human urine works as well as any deer urine. I even start it some years when I get to it early enough. I've got some picture of nice bucks using that scrape in October.
Its funny you mentioned about rubbing yourself on the cows. I remember one time many years ago I had just got out of the barn and didn't change because I didn't have much time. I hurried to my stand and climbed in. About an hour later I heard something coming in the trail I used to get to the stand. I thought it was my brother coming to get me for some reason as I could hear it coming for quite a ways and it was following my exact path. Then I saw the antler. Here was a young 2 year old 7pt buck coming along my trail with his nose to the ground sniffing every boot track. That buck came right to the base of my stand. He still had his nose in one of my tracks when I shot him.
I know some guys who clip Trarsal glands on there pants when they still hunt. I do use scent eliminator but there is no way to totally eliminate your scent and it always plays to play the wind whether from a stand or still hunting. I won't even hunt a stand if the wind is wrong and that's why I always have a couple set up for any wind condition we may get.
We have a traditional scape up back and I always stop and "freshen" it when I go by. I found that human urine works as well as any deer urine. I even start it some years when I get to it early enough. I've got some picture of nice bucks using that scrape in October.