kool-aid

[fattymd]

has anyone used kool-aid to bait deer. A guy at works says they love it! does anyone know if this is true?

[Brian Pfleuger]

I've never heard of Kool-Aid for deer. I heard that genuine vanilla extract was a deer magnet..... and then I had a veritable herd of them walk right by a whole bottle of it that had been spread on leaves and acorns and various plant life, downwind, and not so much as stopping for a sniff.

My opinion, if anything so simple as kool-aid or vanilla extract worked very well, or very consistently, then EVERYONE would have known it a LONG, LONG time ago.

[davlandrum]

I would guess it might work in 2 ways - curiosity and as a masking scent.

But I don't see myself trying it.

[koolminx]

I don't get the whole baiting a deer thing....

Is this practice around because nobody knows how to hunt, or is it some weird tradition?

Please no flames about me not baiting, because I will win in that particular firefight....

[Brian Pfleuger]

Originally Posted by Koolminx

Is this practice around because nobody knows how to hunt, or is it some weird tradition?

Ok! You've got 14 acres, about 8 of it wooded. Go, show me how to "hunt"!


Come on man, we don't all have 100,000 acres on which to practice our spot and stalk hunting skills. We don't all have populations of game animals that even guarantee SEEING an animal in the ENTIRE season.


I agree, on these game ranches that are packed with deer, baiting is ridiculous. On the other hand, some of us hunt 14 acres with 4 other hunters and we might be lucky to SEE 10 or 15 deer in an entire 3 week season. There's also several places that I hunt where there are small windows of huntable land due to the location of houses and business in VERY close proximity. Deer can only be shot in those small areas. Your choice is sit and wait or sit and wait with some sort of attractant. You choose.

[davlandrum]

Drifting dangerously off-topic....

Koolminx - During my years with Uncle Sam, I had the opportunity to hunt a lot of different parts of the country. When I was stationed in Texas, I learned what a pain it is to run a corn feeder for months on end, when I was on the east coast, I learned how miserable it is to sit in a tree stand, freezing to death for hours on end. I came back to Oregon, and am again hunting the way I enjoy, still-hunting, once in a while spot-and-stalk.

It is very easy to think the way you hunt is "the right way and the only way" when you have not done it any other way.

Like the line in "Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be Cowboys": He ain't wrong, he's just different, and his pride won't let him do things to make you think he's right

[koolminx]

Hey now! I never said my was was the right way or the only way!

I asked WHY, and I got a few weak answers which ALMOST make the cut as an excuse...

What state in our wonderful country only has several acres in which to hunt?

I've hunted in wonderful Deer and Thug infested Maryland, I've hunted in Pennsylvania, I've hunted in Colorado, I've hunted in Washington state (by far the hardest place to find local hunting acreage, but findable still) and I've hunted Utah.

Not once have I found it necessary to bait. (nor did I come home with game every time... Who does? seriously!)

Now, when hunters that I am familiar with go hunting, they generally go to where a deer would likely be found. They do not go to a 20 acre tract just because someone saw a deer there once...

So please give me a VALID and or ACCEPTABLE reason other than Physical Handicaps that would render one incapable of bagging some game were it not for bait.

Is that so hard to ask? You may or may not take note that in my original post I did ask if it was as simple as it being a weird (that's my tag name) tradition!
That's a simple and easy out for those of you that are offended by me thinking that baiting game is cheating. Take ANOTHER note that I said it was Cheating, but did NOT say it was unethical, hunting ethics have no priority to me in this instance.


Come get me guy's

[Sportdog]

I used vanilla extract, 50/50 mix with water and sprayed several trees and the ground one evening while hunting out of my bowstand. A smallish buck was working the edge of the creek and when the vanilla scent hit him he went on alert. He did start to come in and closed the distance from about 120 yards or so to about 40. At that point he slowly turned away and went about his earlier business. I can't say for sure but I'm thinking that a mature buck would not have closed in. If I ever get my lazy behind out bowhunting I may try it again on one of the major trails that my stand overlooks. I think that a small amount of it will cause a deer to stop and maybe offer the shot that I need. I won't use it during the rut when the big boys come on my little hunting parcel in search of hot does.

[teeroux]

Ive seen kool-aid marketed as "hog coccaine" to bait hogs but haven't herd of it being used for deer.

[gun nut]

Don't know if this will draw in all areas but deer in my area are drawn to salt. Where ever I have put out salt (typically for cattle) deer will come to that area even to get trace amounts out of the ground where the salt had been.

[Willie Lowman]

Never heard of vanilla or kool-aid for deer. Salt licks and corn work.

A guy I know talked about a mixture of jello mix and corn to bring in hogs.

[treefarmernc]

Is this practice around because nobody knows how to hunt, or is it some weird tradition?

First of all there are endless ways and strategies that can be used by the hunter. Baiting is a method of hunting. Baiting can be a way to alter the traffic and/or habits of game to the hunters’ advantage. The question can be asked all day why do people bait (or Not), just like the same can be asked about every other aspect of hunting(Why use guns when you can use bow and arrow? Is this practice around because now body knows how to shoot a bow?...throw a spear?...use a pocket knife… Taekwondo. Baiting is a preference. Some people have better luck hunting with bait. Some people (like me) are suited better to picking out spots with natural attractants.

On the other hand, some of us hunt 14 acres with 4 other hunters and we might be lucky to SEE 10 or 15 deer in an entire 3 week season. There's also several places that I hunt where there are small windows of huntable land due to the location of houses and business in VERY close proximity. Deer can only be shot in those small areas. Your choice is sit and wait or sit and wait with some sort of attractant. You choose.

Peetzakilla makes a valid point here where certain hunters are restricted and can not or do not want to travel further to hunt. Some would rather bait their 14 acres to attract game from surrounding lands and hunt in peace rather than hunt on overcrowded public lands or pay outrageous prices to lease larger tracts of land or join hunt clubs. The list goes own to the reasons some hunters use bait. Lifestyles and individual circumstances change from hunter to hunter, just like yours have lead you to hunt the way you do. Some bait, some do not. All are hunters and all have differing views on what hunting is.

[treefarmernc]

O yea, so far as the actual topic of this thread…
No I have never heard of using kool-aid.

[fisherman66]

So please give me a VALID and or ACCEPTABLE reason other than Physical Handicaps that would render one incapable of bagging some game were it not for bait.

Why should anyone feel compelled to justify baiting? Should Brent justify using dogs? Should I justify using a rifle over a bow? Hunt the way you feel is appropriate within the rules and regs. I'll do the same.

[si vis pacem, para b]

I usually go fishing without bait but never seem to come home with anything.

[fisherman66]

You should try noodling!

[ZeroJunk]

Never heard of Kool Aid. One way to find out I suppose.


I used to bait, but it's easier just to fence them in.

[troy_mclure]

ive used squashed apples and pears successfully, but never heard of kool aid.

however, a squirrel did gnaw thru a capri sun i had left in my blind overnight.


as far as koolminx's anti baiting, it really helps when you live 3+ hrs from the nearest public hunting land, and dont have the time to go scout frequently(if at all) before season.

[BIGR]

An older gentleman swore that whitetail deer just loved grape kool aid. He was atruthful man that had deer around his house and I have no doubt that he was telling me the truth. He was not known to tell lies. I have never tried it (kool aid) so I can't advise it works or not. I can tell you though that deer will absolutely lick a trophy rock into the ground and after the rock is gone they will dig a crater to get the minerals out of the dirt.

[Art Eatman]

koolminx, I don't know where you live and hunt. I can tell you as fact that in much of south Georgia and in parts of Florida, these last ten years or so of people buying five- to ten-acre tracts for both residence and hunting has seen thousands of such subdividings. I know from observation that much of it is forested with jungle-like underbrush. So, for many of these newbie hunters, it's a case of "Don't bait Bambi, don't see Bambi."

Now let's move west: West of I-37 (San Antonio to Corpus Christi) and south of US 90 out to Del Rio, Texas, is the "Brush Country"; J. Frank Dobie's "Brasada". Cactus. Mesquite. Catclaw acacia. Gently rolling country, mostly. Not all that many big trees except along the creeks and down in the draws. The brush varies in height from head high to twelve or fifteen feet.

Walking through it is a challenge. So is hunting. The best way to see a deer, in many cases, is for him to stand on his hind legs and wave at you. Okay, you figure out how to hunt that country. Of course, you could emulate the carnival side-show act, Jojo the Dog-faced Boy: "He walks, he talks, he wriggles on his belly like a reptile!" A snake can get through that country just fine. Maybe that's why they have so many rattlers around six to seven feet long.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Koolminx,

You clearly have no idea what conditions some of us hunt under. I'm sorry if sitting in a tree stand or using attractant (not bait) isn't real hunting to you. Some of have no choice. Yes, we do hunt 20 acre pieces of land, and smaller. Yes we do come home without animals, more often than not. MUCH more often than not. No, many of us do not have a choice, for any number of reasons. No, it's not a matter of being lazy or not knowing how to hunt. If you can't or won't understand that then I feel no further obligation to explain it to you. That's the end of my "weak excuses".

[fattymd]

I'm taking my 8yr old son this year. I thought maybe the koolaid will stop the deer long enough to give my boy a good shot. We hunt on 100 acres of land with 5 other people and i dont always bait. It's all pine so the deer dont stop moving. I was just wondering if the koolaid would slow them down or scare them off because of the fake fruity smell. Corn doesn't work because the eat it at night and that doesn't do us any good.

[fattymd]

O.k. i got another one. I live in Arkansas and have always heard salt was only useful in the summer, that in the winter the deer wouldn't touch it.

[Hunley]

Gotta agree with Art on this one. Come to the Southeast and the territory (and deer behavior) are quite different. I've talked with people from out West and up North who swear that the deer down here are more timid than anything they've encountered in their home states. Add to this the fact that "long range" shots on deer around here are 100 yards. I've often heard deer no more than 150 feet away and been unable to get a clear shot due to all the dang pine trees and grass. This is brush country. You aren't staking out rolling plains and making 500 yard shots.

Add to this the wildfire of subdivisions we experienced thanks to some bad hurricane seasons (03 and 04 saw many Florida residents and Katrina victims moving to southern GA), and you have issues. This is before you look at the fact that the "greater Atlanta area" now takes up a third of the state. Leases are impossible to find these days. Everyone that has one is holding onto it. Same goes for large tracts of land. This massive urban sprawl doesn't help with deer attitudes.

[OttoJara]

What size test would you use when using bait for deer? Would you use a bait caster or will a spining reel work OK?