Maine Woods Mystery: Why Are Tampons Hanging in the Trees?

The Maine woods are a truly magical place.

I'm not sure there's anyone that can dispute that. We live in a state that, while basically surviving on tourism, also huge areas of forest that are basically untouched. Sure, maybe the whole state has been spotted from the air at some point, but it's entirely possible that there areas of Maine where people just haven't been.

Read More: Scientists Worry a Maine Deer Disease May Mutate & Infect Humans

Not many states can say that. And maybe I'm way off-base. But there are certainly areas of Maine that will go untouched for long stretches, of decades at a time. Hiking in the Maine woods is also an absolute gem, obviously. But sometimes, those little outdoor excursions can get really weird, really fast.

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Think of a few of those random things found in the Maine woods and trails...

Let's see... I remember that ATM machine was found out in the middle of nowhere before. I know full grown, adult-sized...ahem, pleasure dolls... have been found out there. And to be fair, those are pretty extreme discoveries. But what if you were walking along and started to spot all sorts of random, seemingly clean, tampons hanging from trees?

To the average hiker who doesn't hunt, this discovery would certainly lead to quite a bit of curiosity, if not slight unease. But in actuality, there's a surprisingly logical explanation. The tampons are being used for what they do best, to soak up liquids. But what they're being soaked in makes a lot more sense.

They're being soaked in deer scent.

Now there's this old myth that they have to be...ummm... unclean. This is bogus. If deer actively avoid human scent, why would human scent attract a deer? What some hunters opt to do is soak them in deer scent, probably pheromones or urine of some kind. Then they simply hang them from the trees, made terribly convenient by the built-in string!

What is this thing? Found off trail in the woods in southern Maine.
byu/arbiTrariant inMaine

It's funny, because someone spotted them on Reddit and posted a photo, and for every bit they were confused, soooo many people knew the answer right away. And honestly, I much prefer this explanation to some weird, Blair Witch bull crap. But still... Maybe just a cotton ball? Built-in strings are pretty hard to beat, though...