Feature Stories
Informative articles and feature stories written by Rex Holmes, Jr., CEO
of Vapor Trail Scents LLC; inventor of The Vapor Maker & Scent Authority
  








Did you know that the rut has happened as early as October in
Illinois?  There is one factor that will start the rut a month or
month
and a half early. Do you know what the reason
is?
                                Temperature!
The reason the cold temperature will trigger the rut early is
because that is how nature helps put the scent of does in heat
all over the woods.
  This is how nature helps the bucks find the does.  When a
deer smells you 99% of the time what does he smell?   He
smells your perspiration.  He also smells it in a liquid state.  In
fact, all animals smell in a liquid form.  Even a snake runs his
tongue out to pick up the moisture from the air to help him
determine what is around him. When you are really hot and it is
very cold outside, you give off a lot more perspiration.  The
same is true with does in heat.  This is why it is called “in heat.”
  I believe a doe’s temperature rises to about 112 degrees
when she is in heat.  An example of this theory can be seen if
you have ever peed outside when it was very cold.  Steam
from the warm liquid goes straight up and then down and all
around.  A deer has a normal body temperature of 104
degrees.   When she is in heat, the scent steam is coming off
of her private parts and everywhere she goes it floats all
through the woods sticking to every bush, blade of grass and
tree it comes in contact with.
   If you have ever owned a female dog that has come in heat,
you will notice every male dog around – most of whom you’ve
never laid eyes on before is at your house trying to find your
female dog.  How did they know where to come?  Scent.  
Specifically, the scent of the dog in heat which has been
carried throughout the neighborhood and deposited on every
bush and blade of grass around.  That is why male dogs go
around smelling every bush they come by.
  This is identical to the steam or perspiration coming off of
the doe in heat and being carried down through the woods by
prevailing winds and sticking to every bush it comes in
contact with.   When a buck smells this scent, especially a 5 or
6 year old, he smells the liquid form of the scent and knows it
is the real thing.  He won’t question scent in a liquid form that
is disseminated through the air.  He will come straight to the
source – or doe – to mate every time.
  This is where The Vapor Maker® comes into play.  The Vapor
Maker® is the only scent dispersal system on the market that
you have total control of.  It requires no batteries because it is
a pump up bottle that holds 16 oz. of liquid.  It has a special
atomizing tip that will take any kind of scent and put it in the air
exactly like nature does.  It also has a 3 foot hose with a clip to
hook to a limb down wind or out to your side in a tree stand.  
Because the bottle is made of a durable plastic you cannot
hurt it or break it if you drop it from the tree stand. You can
turn the bottle on by turning the ball valve, and with a 3 mph
wind it will carry the scent 1/8 of a mile through the woods.  
The more wind, the further the scent will go.  As you walk
through the woods you can spray the bushes and low hanging
tree limbs to lay a scent trail straight to your stand.  Because
scent in the air in a liquid form is the natural way deer smell, it
needs to be watered down.  A deer can smell 1000 times better
than you and I.  If it is strong to you it will overpower the
sensitive olfactory system of a deer.  You have to make the
smell the same as nature does in order to fool the deer.
  Deer are naturally inquisitive and may do anything at any
time, but we want them to do it all the time because it is a
natural instinct.  So a 1 oz. bottle of a strong scent would need
about 8 oz. of water to make it smell natural.  At Vapor Trail
Scents, L.L.C. our scents are 100% natural – made from a food
source deer and other animals love.   We gather the food
source and make the scent ourselves. All of our scents,
attractants and cover ups come in 4 oz. bottles and sell for just
$7.00.  We have found that 8 oz. of water to 4 oz. of our scent,
My Shelia Doe in Heat, is perfect to fool all the bucks in your
neck of the woods.  
  We also make the only cover scent and attractant – 33 Point
Buck – that will eliminate the smell of gasoline.  We have
tested it against all the top scent killers on the market and the
33 Point Buck consistently beat out the competition in
eliminating all types of scents.
  We are confident the 33 Point Buck will totally cover up your
scent.  Used with the Doe in Heat, these two make an
unbeatable pair to optimize your hunting experience.  We
recommend 4 oz. of 33 Point to 4 oz. of water.  You can also
spray it directly on your clothing using The Vapor Maker®.
  Our company also makes Dominant Buck and
Wapiti Scents.  Read about us and our products

at www.vaportrailscents.com
How Animals Really
Disperse Scent
Speaking Topics

Charles (Rex) Holmes, Jr. is now available for
speaking engagements and seminars at any of your
deer or outdoor expos or regional hunting events.  
Rex is a life-long hunter, avid outdoor enthusiast
and inventor of The Vapor Maker®.
Topics to be covered include:
1. Teaching people how animals disperse their
scent into the woods and how other animals smell
and interpret that dispersed scent.
2. Teach hunters why and how all animals smell in a
liquid form.
3. Teach hunters that scent is not real to any animal
if it is not in a liquid form.
4. Teach hunters how to lay a scent trail that will
lead the animal to the hunter’s location.  This
includes all animals, not just deer.
5. Teach hunters how a female deer disperses her
scent all through the woods to attract the bucks.
6.  Teach hunters how to use Doe-N-Heat to their
advantage, even though the rut has not started or
has already ended.
7. Teach hunters that the rut is more than just a few
days long.  The rut can be as much as 90 days
depending on conditions.
8. Teach hunters how to totally conceal themselves
from any animal in the woods.  Today, there is no
reason for an animal to smell you.  Chemicals are
not the answer; all natural scents are the secret to
covering your odor.
9. Teach hunters how to walk into the woods without
leaving their scent any- where.  When you leave
scent in the woods you let every 4 ½ year old deer
know you are there.  It is nothing to sit on a sendero
and shoot a deer at 200 yards.  When you can walk
into his “bedroom” and kill him, then you have
accomplished something.
10.  Teach hunters the secret to never having to
worry about which way the wind is blowing.
11.  Today, total scent control is not rocket science
and does not require a great deal of effort.  Scent
control just needs to be done the proper way which
I can teach hunters.
12. Teach everyone who hunts that confidence in
what you are doing is the best way to succeed in
killing a deer. You have to believe in what you are
doing and success will generally follow
Vapor Maker in Camo
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system is now available
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It was January 2010 when I decided to embark on a hunt on
public land in Mississippi. This hunt included a walk-in of
about a 1 mile with 2 hills to climb that I’m sure were as big
as Wolverton Mountain.  Believe it or not, we do have some
big hills and gullies in Mississippi. Needless to say if you go
hunting at this particular spot you are not looking at getting
a small deer. If you kill a deer here you are looking at 4-5
hours to get him out of the woods.
Because of all the gear - like my tree stand - I had to tote
into the woods with me, I didn’t take the video camera.  After
the walk in with all my stuff I was soaking wet with sweat
even though it was a cool day.
The tree I was climbing was a sycamore about 20” in
diameter, straight and tall.  It was located right at the base
of a big hill where 3 ridges came down to a swampy area.
The water was about 50 yards out in front of me.  I put the
stand on the tree facing straight to the west toward the
water.
The wind was out of the SE and about 5 yards to the right of
me was a switch cane thicket about 6 feet by 4 feet and
about 6 feet tall.  When I came to the tree, I came in from
the east using The Vapor Maker to spray Doe-N-Heat as I
came.  I sprayed the bushes out in front of the stand using
the Vapor Maker and thought, “what the heck, I might as
was well spray the switch cane.”  When I finished, I climbed
up into the stand and got all settled in.
In a few minutes I looked out to my right to the NW and saw
a buck coming toward me.  I could tell he had plenty of horn,
but it just didn’t look right.  He was walking into the wind on a
trail coming out of the swampy area. He came straight to my
stand and walked right in front of me at about 10 yards.  He
was about 14” wide with plenty of horn, but it was like he
had an extra main beam on the right side.  There was 3
points that came out of the right side that looked like a
shovel on a caribou.  I got my phone out and took a picture
as he walked by.  He turned and headed straight for the
swampy area and I thought he was gone.  I looked up and
he was coming straight back to the tree looking and smelling
everywhere.  He walked back to my left, then to the ridge
about 30 yards away to rub on a small sapling. Pretty soon
he came back around in front of the tree and finally went
went on out to the swampy area and left.  I have never
been a fan of deer with messed up horns and had only
seen one deer uglier than this one. I could have shot him
probably 10 times over, but with messed up horns he wasn’
t worth hauling out of the woods.
I settled back in and about 15 minutes later I heard a deer
in the thicket to the right and behind me.  I stood up (mostly
because I was tired of sitting) and faced so I could see
down into the thicket.  It was a spike walking straight toward
the switch cane.  I was standing watching him come to me
when suddenly he made a u-turn and went the other way.  I
just stood there, totally puzzled, and watched him go up the
ridge.  I was certain he didn’t know I was there.   That’s
when I heard something to my left coming down the same
path the messed-up horn deer came. He was coming
straight at me and because my attention had been on the
spike he was already within 10 yards of the tree when I saw
him.
He had his head straight up in the air and I can’t believe he
didn’t see me.  He had to have had his mind on that Doe-N-
Heat. He walked up to the switch cane – head up in the air
slinging his head from side to side.  I’m standing looking at
him – a beautiful, perfect 10 pt with a nice set of brow tines,
about 6” G2’s; but only 13“ wide. I’m thinking he isn’t big
enough, but it would be the first deer I would have killed
with a bow and arrow while using The Vapor Maker.  
I’m thinking what a hard job it will be to get him out of here
and asking myself if it is worth it. So, I make a bargain with
myself.  I decide if he gives me a perfect quartering away
shot that I’m going to shoot him.  He finally lowers his head
out of the switch cane for just a moment.  I slowly pick up
my bow and hook on my release.  I have to say it was
probably one of those God things, because he just turned,
quartering away and stopped dead in his tracks as if to say
go ahead and shoot.  I drew back the Mathews and put that
pin right behind the last rib and released.  That arrow went
behind the back rib and straight through the heart.  I
watched him go no more than 20 yards and it was all over
with.
I thanked God for a perfect hunt that day, I just wished he’d
come down and help me get that 10 pt out of the woods.
Here is the first buck killed by Rex Holmes Jr
using The Vapor Make
r
My First Buck Killed using The Vapor Maker
My Shelia Doe-N-Heat
33 Pt.Buck Cover
& Attractant are
available for just
$7.00 for 4 oz.  
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