do these really work? things like "love potion number 9" and such? looking for what is used and where you use them at. thanks

This past weekend I traveled back home to do some bowhunting and see some family.
The weather report had the wind all weekend at 20-30 miles per hour,not exactly what I wanted for bow hunting,but I decided to go anyway.
Saturday morning about 10 am found me shotgun in hand,doing some grouse hunting,because of the wind.I was sneaking along a old trail I used to frequent,when I jumped a large buck out of his bed at 40 yds.
He stood there and tried to figure out what I was for a good ten minutes,before I let him see me and ran off.I decided maybe the best strategy would be to get some doe scent and let the wind carry it into the swamp,and maybe he would come out again,so I drove to town and procured the nasty stuff.
I set up near by,and constructed a small blind out of camo burlap and some sticks,so the wind would carry the scent into the swamp,and hopefully,they would smell it before smell me.
Shortly,it was getting close to sundown,I spied movement from the opposite direction,then another.A doe and fawn were traveling downwind at an angle about 100yds or so away,soon to cross paths with the scented air flowing downwind.I thought they had passed by without detecting the lure,but a look through the binos, I could still see glimpses of them.Pretty soon I could see the doe had turned ,and was heading my way,soon the fawn was coming too.The doe advanced to about 50 yds and spotted my makeshift blind and stopped to stare at me while the fawn continued cautiously to advance.It came all the way in to the scent wick,about 35 yds,where if I could have drawn the bow without the doe seeing me,would have presented a broadside shot.It cautiously circled the scent and started to track me to my blind.
I had had to cross a downed tree and it scented me there at about 22 yds.
I was unable to get a acceptable shot off and they went back the way they had come, unscathed.But the scent had brought them back
upwind at least 50 yds,proof enough for me they work,at least sometimes, anyway.
The buck never showed the rest of the weekend,but the wind didnt co-operate,swirling and changing direction constantly.I wont be back there for a few weeks,but do have other places closer to home to go,and I will try the scent again,hopefully this time I will able to draw one in again,one like the 8 pointer I saw last time.

The first time i used Tinks 69 i shot a 9 pointer right at daylight!!!
The first time i ever tried to rattle with antlers... i shot a buck and could hear him running up the mountain to me wide open hell bent for leather and just had enough time to lay the antlers down ...get my rifle ready and steady the crosshairs for the up close shot,,,hit the safety and pull the trigger...Dropped him Johnny on the spot at the base of my tree stand!I have been hooked ever since!That was also the first time i had ever used a cell phone,,,,i called home and told my wife i would be coming home late cause i had been Lucky & had a good buck to drag off the mountain top!!! I always have used red fox pea for a cover scent and have been super close to deer and not get busted....The no-scent spray has worked very well & my all time favorite anytime is acorn/autumn cover scent by Hunters specialtys & there soap really works well,this year iam also useing the earth scent waffers and have had good luck not getting busted so far....Had a friend one time that hunted Alabama and swore that peppermint sticks candy canes was the cats trick on deer,he claimed they loved peppermint...I have never tried this.... but did try vanilla for scent and it didnt work for me or my friends/but Dan Fitzgerald sales a nilla killa scent type lure and they stack them up on his videos like cord wood/Dan Fitzgerald has some awsome hunt videos/hes pure death on game with a Bow & arrow.....I would forsure try the doe in heat type lures in the rut!!!
Good Luck & hope you get a big buck!
P.S...byf42... I love your quote at the bottom!!Thats Good one

I've used Tinks 69 for years. It has worked for several bucks, but doesn't work 90% of the time.

Good Luck

Reloader

I don't think scents work often enough to warrant the cost. I've had deer blow and leave the county when using scents as often as I've had them show curiosity. I do use tarsal glands from freshly killed deer but beyond that I won't waste my money.

I do believe that if one could get pure estrous urine and use it during the peak of the rut as a drag trail it would work.

Scents work very well in my experience BUT, if used at the wrong time have a powerful negative effect. For example, one season I walked in to my stand in a pine tree with estrous urine on my boots. A few minutes after I climbed up in my stand and settled down in the dark I could hear something very heavy walk right down my trail. The buck stopped quite literally under my tree. I could hear him heavily breathing in the scent as he stood there for several minutes before walking away (alas-- before legal shooting time!) A few years later I tried setting a whole bottle on a trail a few yards from my stand. A yearling doe came walking along quite calmly-- until she smelled the estrous scent. Then she jumped as though she'd hit an electric wire and ran off snorting. The main difference between the two experiences was not the sex of the deer but the time of year they occurred. The first was in the middle of the rut, one early November morning. The second was in mid October, a few weeks before the rut. The scent was very much out of place.

I have taken several deer that I know were responding to the scent. I was also using scent on one hunt that a doe literally came and put her nose nearly on the scent bomb I had hung in a tree near my stand. You do have to use the correct scent for the time your hunting. If you use an estrus scent too early in the season, before the rut begins, it may spook deer.

I'm not sure about all scents (food scents and other non-sexual scents). I have used them but I never saw a deer that really acted like it made much difference.

I don't use it anymore, nor do I use camo..I just got tired of dogs pissin on my leg and getting thrown out of the coffee shop!