Am I missing out on something?

Doublewide

5 year old buck +
I go into sporting goods stores and I see shelves full of doe urine scents. I haven't used it for over a decade but the product must sell with all the inventory displayed. I've used it in the past as a drag scent rag and placed it near my stand as an attractant to lure deer in but never had any success with it. Has anyone used it and has success or is it just a modern day version of snake oil?
 
I’ve never used it so I can’t speak to it. But I have read that all urine basically turns to Ammonia within minutes. It’s always led me to just pee out of the stand with zero issues.
If you are using it as a cover scent don’t waste your time. Deer have the ability to distinguish multiple smells at once and since scent molecules bond at the atomic not molecular level, your scent is just as strong as without urine. They are still smelling you and whatever is in the bottle
 
I always buy an aerosol can and throw a little blast downwind every once in awhile. Can’t say I’ve ever had an old buck come in on a string but I’ve killed a few old ones while I happened to be using it.

I also can’t say I’ve ever seen a deer spook because of it. They usually ignore it in my experience.

I have a buddy who religiously drags a scent rag and he’s had a couple of dandies follow it right to their death.

So who knows?
 
I have seen it work up close. A few time where I either used a boot pad or dragged a scent rag. Saw the buck hit the scent trail, turn and follow it in.

With one exception I don't think I've ever seen evidence of them smelling it in the wind and coming in. This last trip up the young buck came charging in like gangbusters. He kept stopping, doing the head raised lip curled scent thing over and over. I know he smelled it. But he also smelled me, because I stunk by then. But in that sense they're like calls, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't, but mostly they have to be around to hear it/smell it in the first place. Where I hunt, they're usually not.
 
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They work sometimes.

I think people have to be realistic about scents. If they worked all the time, they would be illegal. If they never worked, it wouldn't be such a massive industry.

Because of the nature of an estrus scent, it will likely only work part of the year, if at all. I'm guessing the seeking/chasing phase is going to be the best time to use an estrus scent. I got the biggest buck I ever shot the first week of November several years ago by hanging a wick with estrus urine on a branch near a mock scrape I had just made, about 25 yards in front of me. The buck was following a doe, and the pair were on their way to go right behind me. The buck raised his head and sniffed the air, made a sound I've never heard from a deer before or since, and turned 90 degrees to walk toward the wick. I shot him the a crossbow at about 20 yards. I would not have had a chance on that deer without him turning to investigate the estrus wick.

I have also used estrus and other urine products on probably 10 or so other hunts. So if the product works 10% of the time, and it costs me about 7$ each time, it's about $70 per buck so far. I consider that to be worth it.
 
I think the one thing smell wise that woks is dedicated hunting boots, or rotating hunting boots and airing them out.

Sometimes I sneek in the woods for a few hours and just wear my work boots. Not a good idea.

Also, sometimes you have to wlak where they do, like cornfield edges. Think that effects the game a bit. Haven't used deer scents in years here either. However, I have been tempted to buy that fox pee cover scent for my boots, just for hunting the same trail I walked.
 
They work sometimes.

I think people have to be realistic about scents. If they worked all the time, they would be illegal. If they never worked, it wouldn't be such a massive industry.

I have also used estrus and other urine products on probably 10 or so other hunts. So if the product works 10% of the time, and it costs me about 7$ each time, it's about $70 per buck so far. I consider that to be worth it.

Perfect answer.

My brother absolutely swears by the HS Strut Estrus scent waffers as he has had some seriously good results with them (or results that are actually just luck that's he's confusing with results). I on the other hand stopped using scents about 7 or 8 years ago as I rarely found them to be effective.
 
If it really worked, like baiting does, it would be illegal.
 
Gonna give it a go tomorrow with a decoy. I'm not excepting much but I want to test it out.gonna put the decoy upwind of me with a scent wick blowing into a huge CRP field I should hopefully get to see any bucks behavior that hits the wind trail before my scent .
 
Iv'e seen it work, Iv'e also seen it fail, as when a buck walked down a way different trail than I expected and hit the ground disturbance (boot tracks) I made when I was setting out the scent wick. He turned around and walked away. Had I not walked over there I'm certain he would have just walked right by me offering a perfect shot. Maybe with a gun it woulden't matter but with a bow it did. My theiry is if something may work or may cause harm it's best not to use it.
 
Iv'e seen it work, Iv'e also seen it fail, as when a buck walked down a way different trail than I expected and hit the ground disturbance (boot tracks) I made when I was setting out the scent wick. He turned around and walked away. Had I not walked over there I'm certain he would have just walked right by me offering a perfect shot. Maybe with a gun it woulden't matter but with a bow it did. My theiry is if something may work or may cause harm it's best not to use it.

What time of year was it? If it was before the seeking phase, that is exactly the result I would expect. Likewise, if it was after gun season started, I would expect the same results.
 
Because of this, never really knowing what's going on in my hunting area at the time (not living there) I don't buy estrus/doe in heat stuff.
 
Gonna give it a go tomorrow with a decoy. I'm not excepting much but I want to test it out.gonna put the decoy upwind of me with a scent wick blowing into a huge CRP field I should hopefully get to see any bucks behavior that hits the wind trail before my scent .

What kind of decoy? If it's a doe, you should be good with that setup. There is a certain position that is more enticing, but I can't remember it because I don't hunt with a decoy.

If you are hunting with a buck decoy, make sure you have some buck urine.

My idea decoy setup would be a small standing buck decoy, with a wick hanging just under him, along with a bedded doe decoy paired with an estrus wick. I think that would drive a dominant buck insane during the chasing phase. Would it work? Maybe if a dominant buck happened to see it or smell it.
 
I am as skeptical as anyone can be about the claims of so many products guaranteed to improve your chances of success. But, before its sale became illegal here in Virginia, I was sold on Tinks 69. I had to stop hanging it on my ladder. It's is (or was) supposed to be urine from am estrus doe. I don't know it what's in the bottle is what the label says. With that I still remain skeptical.
 
I am as skeptical as anyone can be about the claims of so many products guaranteed to improve your chances of success

Excuse me, but who guaranteed success of any product?
 
If I cast a plug out into the surf and don't catch any fish, does it mean the plug is no good or that there's just no fish?
 
If I cast a plug out into the surf and don't catch any fish, does it mean the plug is no good or that there's just no fish?

No.
 
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