NATCHEZ — Rex Holmes knew there had to be something better, and he was determined to find answers.

Holmes had seen 23 deer on a hunt in Alabama, but the problem was, he wasn’t driving back to Mississippi with a trophy.

“Every deer smelled me,” he said. “That is when I learned that scent didn’t spread out like we all thought it did. I was in a shooting house with just a 6-by-12 window. I thought, ‘There has to be a way, this is ridiculous,’ and I started thinking of what I could do.”

What Holmes did from there, now has him as one of the most well known people in the scent world.

Holmes and retired game warden Sammy Corely created Vapor Trail Scents, with Corely making the scent and Holmes making the vapor maker.

“Sammy worked on the scent for 15 years, and we’ve been on it for about five more, so it has been about 20 years in the making,” Holmes said.

What differentiates Holmes’ scent from the hundreds of others, is the all-natural mix.

“All of our scents are 100 percent natural that we make in Natchez,” he said. “I don’t think we could ever make it any better than it is now.”

The product, called 33-point buck, has passed some of the most strenuous tests around.

“Once we were sitting in a tree stand in 100-degree weather, sweat was pouring off of us,” Holmes said. “I was filming, and we shot a hog at five feet. I couldn’t believe it. Hog’s can smell better than deer.”

The race was on from there, and the product blew up.

“We call it a God save,” Holmes said. “We say God gave it to us, and He did.”

Holmes’ company now ships and is used all over the world, and his product has been featured on numerous television shows.

“We’ve been on Rack-n-Roll Outdoors, Even the Odds, Antler Addiction, Hunters Addiction, Southern Legends Outdoors and several other small shows,” Holmes said.

Today, the success of 33-point buck still baffles Holmes.

“It is amazing how it all came together,” he said. “In the beginning, we knew 33 was good, but we had no idea how powerful it was.”

Holmes is also being frequently asked to look at other products from people involved in the scent business, hoping that his opinion will steer them in the right direction.

“New company’s with scent killers send them to me and ask me what I think all the time,” he said.

Holmes said he can’t stress enough the importance of scent when hunting, and that hunters will have to learn the hard way if they aren’t prepared.

“If you get busted by one deer, then every deer within a mile isn’t coming within that place,” Holmes said. “Normally, animals like to travel into the win, so they can smell. A deer can smell 1,000 times better than a human, so imagine that.”

Holmes’ aspirations don’t stop at 33-point buck, though. He said Vapor Trail Scents has nine or so projects in the works ,and he also hopes to move the company to a bigger building.

“We’ve had no negative comments so far, and that is awesome,” Holmes said. “Even the big guys in business say it is unbelievable.”