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Are Urine-Based Deer Scents Bad?

blake

blake

Life Member
NEWS!

W.Va. Says No to Ban on Urine-Based Deer Scents


10/21/2009

The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources isn’t considering banning urine-based scents used to attract deer to control Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).

Other states have banned the use of urine-based scents during hunting because certain proteins that cause the disease are found in deer urine and feces.

According to DNR Assistant Wildlife Chief Paul Johansen, West Virginia is not going to issue such a ban at this time.

CWD was found in 2005 in Hampshire County, but the DNR has worked to prevent it from spreading to other deer herds in the state.

While CWD affects deer and elk, there is no evidence that the illness is a risk for humans or domestic animals.
 
It was feared CWD would descimate the deer herds in the west,,where it was first discovered, but it has not. Possibly overeaction to this disease. There is a lot of $$ involved fighting it. Just a thought.
 
Off on a slight tangent here: I read something on another website about deer urine that got me thinking.

A buck can tell whether a doe is in estrous and how long ago she was at a spot and what direction she traveled by the volatile compounds in her urine. How does the whole "collect, bottle, ship, retail store, buy it/take it home" treatment of doe urine fit into this? Even if "preservatives" are added? Anything added also has the opportunity to change/add smells?

Maybe I think too much..........
 
JNRBrONC you bring up a really good question. The estrus molecule is so volitile that it dissipates very quickly, that's how a buck can tell the state of estrus. I do not really beleive that it can be bottled at all. Some lure makers bottle it in glass instead of plastic, which seems like it should help... a lot of scent can escape through plastic. Some freeze it or keep it refrigerated until it is sold. All those things are supposed to help it last longer but it seems to me it is mostly gone before they ever get the lid on the bottle. After all, how long was the urine in the trough of the holding facility before it was collected?

I had a freind who raised a few deer and his kids would hang around the deer and when a doe would squat and pee, they would run over with a tupperwater container attached to the end of a broomstick and catch the urine. He would bottle it in glass and then refrigerate it. I had a couple bottles of it and I can tell you that it smelled fresh. In facr, I have never bought anything in a store that smelled anything like it at all.

My poersonal opinion is that like most fishing lures are desinged to catch fishermen, deer lres are designed to lure deer hunters. That's not to say that I haven't had some success with them... just that I don't think it is for the reason it is supposed to be intended. I think it boils down to purely a curiosity thing on the deer's part. That's my $.02.
 
If you want a good read on information pertaining to deer urine you should follow this link and read the information he has. Stony Creek Whitetails

All of his urine is collected when you order and then shipped cold, I got some dominant buck urine ordered to try in my some scrapes mock and real.

Here is a short excerpt from his article.

The Shelf Life of Fresh Urine
We conducted a test using the urines that we collected from our deer. Here are the results we found... Using plain old aquatic Ph test strips that you can purchase at a pet store, we took two gallons of freshly collected deer urine and compared the results; keeping one gallon in the refrigerator and leaving one gallon sit out at room temp.

Within 3 days, the gallon that was left to sit out at room temperature had a ph equivalent to ammonia solution, which is a ph Level of 12....

Surprisingly the gallon that was refrigerated hovered at around 7-8 ph for about the first 3 weeks. Just for the record, urine upon being expelled has a normal Ph range of +/- 6.5 to 7.5 depending largely on the diet....

From 3 -5 weeks after refrigeration, the Ph level slowly climbed to 9 - 9.5. At around 6 weeks the urine had made it 10 and by the 8th week, the urine had finally reached 12, which again is equivalent to ammonia solution.

My unofficial findings concluded that by keeping the urine cold, the temperature did not supply the ideal environment for the bacteria to feed and reproduce, just as with the milk, but I surely would not use 8 week old milk in my coffee....
 
Well, when I see that the "information" is being provided by someone in the business, that raises a flag for me. Second, he cites Wiki, which anybody with internet access can go in and edit Wiki entries, so I don't consider it to be 100% reliable.

All that said, I think what he is doing is probably better than most manufacturers, but.......... I'll save my money.
 
That place has quite alot of Information on it, if alot is there to impress you,,who knows? I read how he uses his product. All that walking around making scrapes during the day,during the season would seem to me to leave alot of human scent around. I suppose if your deer are used to humans? I am sort of skeptical of his tactics. I still think scents work on curiosity mostly. Worth a try I guess but, I like to keep my area human scent free,,as possible.
 
Yes Im aware that he is trying to sell a product, and I thought his scrape set up was comical. As far as getting a fresh product, his collection/shipping method seems better than going to the store and buying a bottle. I havn't used deer urine for at least 9 plus years, never had results when I was young and tried them, but they always smelled nasty.

I just want to see if I get more/less pictures on a mock scrape using this compared to an already opened scrape. Thought it would be worth the $10 to give it a try.
 
Not putting you down for trying. Worth a try for 10$, like you say. I might even,,except I've spent my $ this yr already for hunting. Let me know how it works. Good Luck!
 
I know some people think this is crazy but this has really worked well for me. I use my own urine in scrapes to inventory the buck populations. Hey it's the freshest stuff available and they really check it out. I just drink a couple cans of Mtn Dew before I go out and check the cameras and freshen the scrapes. Goes right through me.
 
I've never had much luck with deer scent. I quit using it many years ago so maybe something is better now. I typically just pee in the mock scrapes I make and that gets them going good enough for me.

The only scent I have had work and for some reason I never used it again was by Dan Fitzgerald and it was called VK. I actually shot my biggest bow buck the night I used that stuff.

I remember it like it was yesterday. I put this VK out that smelled just like vanilla. I mean it actually made me hungry. I was sitting there thinking how much of an idiot I was for putting this stuff out when I noticed a upper 130s 10 pointer walking about 50 yards ahead of me. Back then I didn't know to hunt the wind and he was rapidly approaching downwind. As soon as he did he stopped and looked my way. Instead of running away he sprinted right to the base of my tree. It was almost like he was on crack. He was frantically running around the tree licking up this VK that I had dumped all around my tree. It was absolutely hilarious.

That is when I heard a loud grunt coming from the valley below. All the sudden a doe with a nice ten came running up the hill. I yelled at him to stop, I shot, then he ran 50 yds and tipped over.. I looked down and here is this upper 130s still frantically trying to lick up this VK.

To think of it, I need to find this Vk again lol.
 
Just type in Dan Fitzgerald. Quite the glitzy website. I have heard that Vanilla sometime works as an attractant. Again,,deer are curious. May work sometimes. I once bought a dried attractant,,some lady made up for her husband,, and swore it worked and started her own business. It had vanilla,,and licorice,,and who knows what else in it. I fell for it. It smelled real good. Never saw a deer however. I am sure any of this stuff works sometimes. Most times prob not. everyone's in the game to make a buck,,on bucks. If you have the extra $$ worth a try I guess.
 
Last year, after reading one of Nannyslayer's posts, I had a moment of weakness and bought a bottle of Code Blue Estrous something or other. I split it between three different scrapes today, all having a trail cam in video mode looking at them. It will be interesting to see the deer's reaction to year old urine.
 
Recently I was reading that you can use vanilla extract on your licking branches in mock scrapes. I'm to chicken to try it.
 
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