Some folks would really be surprised at what will attract a deer. I have used peanut butter, (very effective), licorice, Red Hots (cinnamon flavored candy) and vanilla, as well as a thousand other things.
We used to get peanut butter that was disposed of by a food bank. I would find a big flat rock and spread the peanut butter on the rock; the deer would lick it off and come back several times each day checking to see if there was more. They once gave me a five gallon tin, I spread peanut butter twice a day for weeks, and the deer loved it. I used the Red Hots just spread on the ground under a feeder, but then got the bright idea of mixing a large bag of the candy with the corn in the feeder and letting the corn absorb the smell. It works great as long as there is not too much candy, and too much rain. (It clogs up the feeder) As for the vanilla, it too was poured over corn and then put in a feeder, or left in a drip near the feeders.
The Mexican vanilla is almost the same as the vanilla extract that you buy at your local grocer. It may be a little stronger, and the Mexicans have been know to lace it with different chemicals to enhance the flavor, some of these additives can be poisonous to humans (and possibly deer) so be careful where you purchase the Mexican vanilla if you use it.
And last but not least, I do feed; I run four feeders year round, mostly with a mixture of corn and Record Rack. I do not necessarily feed to attract deer, but to help them survive the periods when there are no acorn crop, or grasses to brows on, as is the norm here in West Texas. The medication in the Record Rack also helps eliminate internal parasites, helps the doe birth by providing a health fawn, and helping her produce milk to feed her young. Over the past twenty years I have witnessed a major improvement in deer size, larger racks and larger numbers of deer.
