Bikes can be surprisingly stealthy contraptions. One day a couple of years ago, I was riding back to my truck after a morning hunt. As I got within sight of the vehicle, I saw that my hunting buddy had made it back before me. Although I wasn’t trying to be especially quiet, I was able to ride right up behind him without him even knowing I was there. He nearly jumped out of his skin when I skidded to a stop!

On private land, a bike offers the benefit of getting in and out without spooking the deer onto adjacent properties -- let the ATV riders push them to you! -- while on public land it gives you an advantage over other hunters, getting you well off the main thoroughfares, past gates, and away from the hunters dependent on roads and big trails, and even those willing to do some walking in the woods.

If the mountain bike excels as a hunting machine, it shines even more in post-season scouting. If you’re anything like me, you probably don’t mind venturing into bedding areas once deer season ends, but you still want to get in and back out as quickly as possible. With the bike, you can do just that.

One tactic involves using the bike to ride primary doe trails, taking note of cross-trails -- which are easy to see after the season is over -- along the way. I don’t mind if I bump a buck at this time of year, either, since my bike and I will be long forgotten by the following fall.

Of course, a bike simplifies pre-season scouting as well. One of my favorite deer-related activities is a last-minute “speed-scouting” venture undertaken about a week before the season starts. I quickly beat a path across the property, checking cameras, surveying acorn crops, and looking for bucks’ hoof prints at creek crossings. My feeling is that the less time I spend in the woods scouting, the less likely I’ll be to spook deer. Scouting by bike allows me to accomplish in a few hours what might take days to do on foot.

SCENTED OR SCENT-FREE?
Another of the bike’s virtues: It’s basically devoid of petroleum aromas and other smells associated with internal-combustion vehicles: no gas, oil, coolant or transmission fluid to leave scent trails through the woods. Think of the bike’s tires as rolling rubber hunting boots: If your bike does double duty, its tires can obviously pick up scents from roads and parking lots, but if it’s a dedicated hunting tool, you’re virtually assured scent-free passages.

Of course, a thorough dousing with scent-eliminating spray never hurts, especially on the handlebars, tires and seat, where the maximum amount of human scent is likely to be deposited.

At the other end of the spectrum, a bike can be used purposely to lay down a scent trail. Try pouring your favorite estrous-doe urine into a small pump-spray bottle and spraying it onto a small spot on a tire. Every time that tire goes around it leaves an olfactory footprint just like a hot doe’s.

Opinion varies as to the effectiveness of scents for attracting deer, but I’ve witnessed at first hand non-human predators being attracted by a trail of deer odor.