So I was at my local Gander Mountain today picking up a couple last minute items before my Missouri trip next week. I came around the aisle to the scents and was thinking of grabbing my annual bottle of doe estrus scent. Now, Gander Mountain doesn't carry my favorite brand, James Valley Scents. All they sell is the run of the mill Tink's and Code Blue stuff. Oh, and Code Blue has a $36 bottle of scent. $36 for a bottle of urine.. no thanks. Anyway, I was thinking more about scents tonight and actually had a conversation with a friend of mine who works for a deer farm not far from me. They have bottled doe estrus before and he point blank told me the stuff in the stores is complete junk. He went on to tell me how the pheromones that a doe produces during estrus cycles last about 4 hours before it dissipates. In other words, anything older than 4 hours doesn't contain these important pheromones that a buck is actually attracted to. I then asked him how I've had bucks come into these scents, sniffing and licking the wicks, etc. He asked me how many big mature deer I had do this. My answer... 0. All of the bucks were either yearlings or subordinates. To sum it all up, and I truly believe this, is that doe estrus is plain old deer urine. There is no magical attractant to it because it was taken from a doe during estrus cycle. Those attractants have evaporated into thin air before we ever open the bottle. The only thing they can do, is serve as a curiosity scent getting a buck to investigate but not getting him to key on a "hot doe". Now that the estrus thing is off my chest, I want to turn to the other side in buck scents. This is the one place that has my interest peaked more than ever. Hear me out. Given that the doe estrus is more than likely just plain urine by the time we get it, I do believe that buck urine by itself has a better chance of success than doe in heat urine. Why? Well, my thinking tells me that a buck smells another buck, a strange buck in the area for example and he will investigate this. Its another buck, no magical pheromones needed here, its another strange buck on his turf and he wants him gone. On top of this, we also have bucks urinating all over themselves (tarsel glands). We all have skinned a rutting buck and know that rank smell all too well. Its the same kind of rankness that we smell when we crack open our favorite doe in heat urine. I've used the tarsel gland/buck urine combo in the past in rattling setups and had good success getting bucks to respond. Far more than the doe in heat scents. In my mind, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Doe in heat is just plain old urine that may attract a buck out of curiousity. Buck urine attracts bucks because they simply are territorial during the rut and smell a foreigner. As a disclaimer, I do want to point out that many have had mature deer come into a setup sniffing away of doe in heat scents. In the rut, bucks get pretty stupid and do mindlessly seek out any smell that resembles a doe. However, i'd wager to bet that more often than not, they simply don't work like advertised or how we all think they do. Would love to hear everyone's thoughts on this.
I think urine is urine, so it all just smells like ammonia by the time it gets to the field. Save your money.
Tarsal glands. There are many ways to get these for free or close to it, use your imagination. Go see a local butcher and tell him you want the tarsal glands from the deer that he processes. A case of beer would probably be all the persuasion needed. Find who collects the road kill in your area. Call who ever you need to call to get permission to take them off of a road kill deer. etc. Put them in a plastic bag and throw them in the fridge between hunts. If you have a vacuum sealer cut the glands off any deer you shoot this season and freeze them. If they are vacuum sealed I bet they would last until next years season.
That is along the lines of what made me stop buying urine for any thing other than hopefully a cover scent (buck bombs), more of what separated the buck urine. What separates buck urine from doe urine? What's the difference between simple buck urine and dominant buck urine? Its all a gimmick, but a very profitable gimmick by hunters trying to get every advantage they possibly can. I also seen an episode of Larry the Cable guy's Only in America that had the very place I was buying the fresh stuff from (20 minute drive). Once I seen the entire process and heard the spiel about artificially inducing the estrous cycle for their estrous line I swore it off for good. I think tarsal glands differentiate all 3 more than anything else. If dogs can differentiate each other by smell, one would think deer would have a similar uniqueness as well.
I agree with ya, but I have found more to be more productive than others. I don't buy any store bought ones anymore. I did get introduced to one company around here that I had awesome results with, but it was damn pricey. I use buck urine only in areas with scrapes already present.
I use buck bomb and other deer scents such as Tinks for a cover scent. It does it's job if I got a not so good wind I spray some out to (hopefully) mask some of my scent. Now not to get off topic but nose jammer does it really work? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I would like to see companies that sell outright lies held responsible, then again all the TV hunters would be gone
