Gear Review: Buck Cage

If you are a whitetail deer hunter chances are you use scents, lures and urines during your season. Visit any sporting goods store and you will find all kinds to use and they can be expensive. Trying to get that shooter buck into range can put a hurt on your wallet if you are not careful. During the 2015 deer season I spent over $100 on deer urine trying to lure a big shooter into bow range. It eventually worked and I harvested my buck, a nice 125 2/8 inch 8 point, but I spent a lot of money on scent wicks and urine. There had to be an easier and more affordable way to lure big bucks into bow range.

I began searching the internet for alternatives to scent wicks and other dispensers and found some pretty cool stuff but nothing caught my eye until the, ‘Buck Cage’. I visited their website and read up on the product and wrote down the contact number. One of the best things I learned was the product was from my home state of Pennsylvania. I called and talked with the owner, Chris Walizer and he convinced me to give Buck Cage a try.

The Buck Cage is a small rubber cylinder, with holes all the way around. There is a flexible cap on the bottom that holds the polymer beads in the Cage. Lastly, there is a nice ring on the top which enables you to hang the Buck Cage from Branches. The Buck Cage is stored securely and airtight, in the small canister so your scent will stay fresh. This all makes it easy to fill, hang, and hunt.

So, how does the Buck Cage save money on urine or scents? The cage holds special polymer beads that soak up liquid. The best part is that all you have to use is a ½ ounce of your favorite scent, lure, or urine and you are set for over two weeks. A half ounce of scent can last a long time. A 4 ounce bottle of urine can now last you an entire season. The Buck Cage is easy to fill and has a ½ ounce marker on the back of the canister so you don’t overfill it. Let the canister sit overnight and the beads will soak up the liquid. Grab it in the morning and you are ready to go. No need to worry about spilling urine or scent in your house or car. No need to worry about scent wicks which soak up more urine than you want. Buck Cage makes it easy, Fill It, Snap It, Hang It, Hunt It….

There are more benefits to using the Buck Cage: Buck Cage is reusable and mess free, it is biodegradable should you happen to leave it in the woods, it keeps scents fresh and will not break down, no batteries to install, will not freeze, comes in multiple colors so they are easy to see, small and easy to pack in you pack or even pockets, easy to hang, easy to change out beads and, it is affordable. A single Buck Cage is $6.99 and comes loaded with polymer beads, ready for your scent! A three pack is $12.99 and I recommend this as the best value. A six pack of replacement beads is $5.99. Make sure you get a pack of these if you want to switch scents through the season.

Author with another nice trophy buck, thanks to Buck Cage.

I recommend the Variety Pack which gives you one green camo, one orange and one pink camo. I fill the green camo with a cover scent and hang it in the tree with me. I fill the pink camo with any doe scent and always know it is going to be a doe scent. I fill the orange with a buck scent such as a curiosity or buck urine. I like to hang the pink and orange ones over areas I am going to hunt because they are easy to see. I also strategically place them as yardage markers so I don’t have to use my range finder when the deer is closing in. My children use crossbows and they know I hang their Buck Cages at 25 yards, their maximum yardage for a shot.

Author’s son with whitetail taken over Buck Cage.

I also use a Buck Cage in Mock Scrapes to keep the deer coming back. A scent dripper works ok but will run out of liquid much quicker than a Buck Cage. I hung one Buck Cage for 3 weeks and deer were still visiting it each day. I was very impressed with using them in a mock scrape.

Talking with other people who have used the Buck Cage in the past has given me other ideas for the scent dispersal system. Some of them use the Cage for keeping their cars and homes smelling fresh. One of our favorite things to do is fill them with cinnamon scent and hang them around our home at Christmas. I have hidden a few in my son’s soccer bag so it doesn’t stink so badly.

I also use a muffin tin to cover the top of the Buck Cage to keep it from getting diluted with rain water. I highly recommend doing that if you are planning on hanging the Cage for a prolonged period of time. Usually, I hang them when I hunt and take them down when I leave so the scent is only active when I am hunt that spot.

Buck Cage. Does it work? Yep.

The Buck Cage has been a great asset to my hunting. In 2016 I harvested 2 bucks, my daughter harvested a buck and a doe and my son harvested a doe. So far in 2017 I have harvested 3 bucks and 2 does. Both of my kids have also harvested bucks as well. I do not recall being busted, winded or seen by any deer in that time. What I put in my cages is a secret but I’m sure you have yours too. Bottom line, whatever you put in them will work better than what you are doing now.