I have been watching the emergence of the various brands of attractants over the last couple of years beginning with C'mere deer. Some are more hype and marketing than others. Some really do work and have a sound basis for attracting the animals. I have been blessed with the opportunity to visit with some of the manufacturers directly and candidly talk about contents and why theirs are better than others. This has been enlightening. This current year I visited with the manufacturer of "Chestnut Magic". Chestnut Hill Outdoors has a large tree farm and produces the Dunston Chestnut which is a hybrid of a Chinese chestnut and an American chestnut. This hybrid is not susceptible to the chestnut blight that wiped out the American chestnuts all along the Eastern seaboard in the 1930's and 40's. Their product contains a high percentage of ground Dunston chestnuts which contain little or no tannins which gives red oaks their bitter taste. These nuts are sweet and not bitter. This is why they are preferred over red oaks and white oaks. How do I know, because the manufacturer handed me a Dunston chestnut to eat when I was at Dr. James Kroll's deer research facility in Texas this past March. The only problem I experienced was that I could only have 1 to eat. The nut was like eating peanuts or cashews. Man, I wanted more!! You could buy this product this year at Walmart. It works. The protein is 2X acorns and 4X the carbohydrates. Several friends and members of this forum purchased several of the Dunston's Chestnut trees to plant, even though it was known that we were on the border of insufficient annual rainfall, and see if we could make them grow. Most have died this year due to the lack of rain. I have 2 that survived and will plant shortly to see if I can be successful. Time will tell.
The second attractant that I was able to, directly, talk to the manufacturer was "Monster Magic" by Big Bucks Plus. I met them at the Backwoods Show in OKC this year as well. Some of you may remember their line of all metal gravity feeders. Several of my friends bought the feeders because of their quality and reasonable price. I spent quite a bit of time with the man while at the show and since then. He manufactures a high quality line of feed and a new attractant, Monster Magic". This company is following a different path with the attractant. The product can be applied to the ground like other products to attract the animals. The OTHER, and primary, use is to add it to the feeders to increase the protein content of your corn or feed AND to add essential chelated trace minerals, vitamins and fats, there are additional components that are not on the label, but are needed to prepare the deer for antler development or gestation. To me, this sets them apart from other companies who just want to cash in with attractants. This company is focused on the animals needs and health, and NOT the hunters dollars. Sure he is after the dollar, but his passion is to provide a premium product for the animals to develop. They want to provide your deer with essentials that will allow them to develop to their full potential sooner. Big Bucks Plus will be at the Backwoods show in 2015. I will be starting to add this product in my feeder and will start this upcoming year using their "Monster Bucks 20" feed.
The second attractant that I was able to, directly, talk to the manufacturer was "Monster Magic" by Big Bucks Plus. I met them at the Backwoods Show in OKC this year as well. Some of you may remember their line of all metal gravity feeders. Several of my friends bought the feeders because of their quality and reasonable price. I spent quite a bit of time with the man while at the show and since then. He manufactures a high quality line of feed and a new attractant, Monster Magic". This company is following a different path with the attractant. The product can be applied to the ground like other products to attract the animals. The OTHER, and primary, use is to add it to the feeders to increase the protein content of your corn or feed AND to add essential chelated trace minerals, vitamins and fats, there are additional components that are not on the label, but are needed to prepare the deer for antler development or gestation. To me, this sets them apart from other companies who just want to cash in with attractants. This company is focused on the animals needs and health, and NOT the hunters dollars. Sure he is after the dollar, but his passion is to provide a premium product for the animals to develop. They want to provide your deer with essentials that will allow them to develop to their full potential sooner. Big Bucks Plus will be at the Backwoods show in 2015. I will be starting to add this product in my feeder and will start this upcoming year using their "Monster Bucks 20" feed.