In Business: Cedar Sense Product Could Substitute Deer Attractants

This year, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources put a ban on deer feeders and attractants in some counties around Minnesota that are near areas where chronic waste disease has been found for the firearms hunting season.

“The reason that they’re banned is because our deer health people have decided that anything that draws deer together can be a possible way to pass CWD amongst deer, and so they don’t want deer to be concentrated on these scents,” said Bemidji Wildlife Area Manager David Rave.

Cedar Sense, a new up-and-coming business, discovered that one of their products originally designed to replace the mothball industry can also be used as a substitute for attractants. Owner Micheal Vail says Cedar Rings can be used as a cover scent for hunting.

“I grew up hunting the Chippewa National Forest not too far from here. Some of the biggest bucks we’ve ever seen that have been harvested out of those woods come near cedar swamps, inside cedar swamps. Cedar is a smell that does not bother deer one bit. Actually, it’s a comforting smell to it,” Vail said.

Vail says the product has other uses as well and that you can put the rings in your shoes or inside cars to help with the smell. He says he’s working with some hockey equipment from Bemidji State University to help deodorize the gear.

“Gloves, the pads, the gym bags, equipment bags. […] Our products are 100 percent natural, we don’t do anything to these rings, it’s because of the cedar and camphor for oil that the cedar tree naturally produces that causes the smells,” stated Vail.

The product is sold across the northern region in sporting goods stores as well as clothing stores.

“Either their gym bags or their shoes or even if they’re hunting clothes. It’s a good substitute to the good ol’ trash bag with a bunch of leaves and sticks. It kind of has the same natural element to it,” said Erik Jacobson, owner of Destination Sporting Goods.

“Very simply fits over your hangers in your closet. And the unique part about this is, you don’t have to worry about great big boards and the real pungent aroma of cedar in your home or your bedroom because it gives off just enough to protect the garments that’s around it,” said Bemidji Woolen Mills owner Bill Batchelder.

Vail says the product is made to last. He says the product comes with sandpaper so people can recharge the rings if the fragrance were to fade.