Post by Ron Kulas on Aug 13, 2015 6:35:11 GMT -6
Last year I made available for sale a licking branch glandular scent product I called "Draw n Hold" Sales were better than expected . This was a project 7 years in the making. Ive learned a lot along the way about using scent to my advantage in seeing and attracting deer. Below are some recent questions about licking branches and mock scrapes and scent so I thought I would share and touch on what I have learned.
Question/comment: “I have hung cams on scrapes for yrs and can say I don't think it makes a dimes worth of difference whether I put urine, tarsal gland, my own urine, or simply nothing at all in the scrape.
My reply: “I agree which is why after years I have come to the conclusion that there is little value in messing with the dirt under a licking branch and urine. (with the exception of interdigital glandular scent and the earth below a branch)”
Question/comment: “My question to you would be why do you think the licking branch is more important than the scrape under it? “
My reply: “Because it’s the actual signpost to communication between deer (both bucks and does). The forehead gland and the preorbital gland allow deer to communicate and leave their own communication scent marker unlike that of urine.”
Question/comment : “I've always had a tough time deciding what to do with cameras in Oct. We are not allowed to hang cameras on plots and scrapes don't pop up until the end of the month.”
My reply: “You can encourage earlier scraping by making the licking branch. Its worked for me for years.”
Additional info: As to the ground below the branch, there is a misconception about how a buck trails a doe (or any other deer) from a scrape. We have been told that a doe pees in a scrape, a buck comes along and follows her urine/estrous scent from the scrape to her. That is not entirely correct and is only the smallest component of what is happening. What is actually taking place is the buck picking up the estrous scent at the scrape and identifying that particular deer via her interdigital gland (between her hooves) It’s a waxy scent gland that is comprised of 47 different compounds that are unique to each deer and all the compounds produced by the interdigital gland expire/dissipate at different rates allowing one deer to not only identify another deer but how long ago they were in the area.
The hot doe (despite common thinking) is not leaving a trail of estrous urine (she would have to have a bladder of many many gallons to pull that off) While does do have some urine components on their tarsal glands, unlike a buck that can pull off a rub urination by directing a urine stream by positioning his hocks (tarsal glands) together below his thingy and then allowing the urine stream to run over his hocks while doing what looks like a side to side/tip toe rubbing together of his rear legs, a doe does not have that option. Have you ever seen a urine soaked doe? Most likely not and the white hair on her rump is clean and white. That’s because its not urine running down her legs or being deposited by her while she walks. Male cattle, horses, dogs, etc can detect when a female (even a female human) is in heat without those species leaving a urine trail but they need to be relatively close (or down wind). Here is what is happening and why the dirt below the scrape is important and why Urine soaked drag lines used by hunters is folly (even though it has worked even for me just not like we think it worked)
The buck is really trailing the hot doe via her trail left by her interdigital glands between her hooves. If he could follow her by her urine/musk, he would just keep his nose in the air. Look at that first video I posted in this thread and all the activity by the very first does and young buck prancing and depositing a ton of interdigital scent on the ground. Then watch tat bachelor group of 3 bucks and how much time they spend sniffing the ground. If that doe were in heat, those bucks would be able to identify her as being in heat and then pinpoint her via the compounds in hie interdigital gland scent and then simply trail her like a bloodhound via her tracks (not her urine)
As a hunter interested in deer communication and glandular scents you will want to read this on the role of deers glandular communication
www.woods-n-waternews.com/Articles-i-2010-06-01-205048.112113_The_role_of_skin_glands_in_deer_odor_communication.html
Forehead glands in white-tailed deer and their role.
www.jstor.org/stable/1380266?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
An interesting video from the University of GA and Dr. Miller talking about deer scent communications.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGJJvSXQohQ
While I have just provided readers with a boat load of data and info about deer communication, it does represent some amount of reading on the part of the hunter that I hope people will take advantage of. The goal to pass along the info about THE OVERHEAD BRANCH AND THE ROLE IT PLAYS AND THE IMPORTANCE VS THE DIRT BELOW AND HOW HUNTERS CAN USE THAT BRANCH TO THEIR ADVANTAGE. If you must play with the dirt under the branch, just rake away the debris and bare the earth. Deer love raw and newly exposed dirt and will investigate that as well. That may be why some folks get deer activity near a mock scrape, its just that deer are curious and like to investigate new raw/exposed earth. IF you think it will be to your advantage to pee in your new scrape, go ahead, it will cause no harm nor will it be of any benefit but if you have to go you have to go. IN a few short hours, your urine (or that of any other animal) will be reduced to urea and some minerals left in the soil but it wont result in deer creating a scrape there. If tht were the case, every place your ever peed in the woods would magically become a scrape. LOL
The long and short of it is this. You want to draw deer to a specific location and hold them there long enough to leave scent (which is how I came up with the name of Draw n hold because it is also what a bowhunter has to do to kill a deer with his bow)
You want to attract both bucks and does and since both are drawn to scent communication via a licking branch, its hoped that all the local deer will visit to get the latest status update on the other deer. Then when does come into heat, those does visit the branch and then bucks come by and pick up the trail of that doe’s interdigital gland and follow her until be can breed her.
They can't talk so scent communication is all they have. Use that to your advantage and make them come to you. Couple that with video trail cams and gain an edge in the preseason and continue through the rut. Knowledge is power.
Question/comment: “I have hung cams on scrapes for yrs and can say I don't think it makes a dimes worth of difference whether I put urine, tarsal gland, my own urine, or simply nothing at all in the scrape.
My reply: “I agree which is why after years I have come to the conclusion that there is little value in messing with the dirt under a licking branch and urine. (with the exception of interdigital glandular scent and the earth below a branch)”
Question/comment: “My question to you would be why do you think the licking branch is more important than the scrape under it? “
My reply: “Because it’s the actual signpost to communication between deer (both bucks and does). The forehead gland and the preorbital gland allow deer to communicate and leave their own communication scent marker unlike that of urine.”
Question/comment : “I've always had a tough time deciding what to do with cameras in Oct. We are not allowed to hang cameras on plots and scrapes don't pop up until the end of the month.”
My reply: “You can encourage earlier scraping by making the licking branch. Its worked for me for years.”
Additional info: As to the ground below the branch, there is a misconception about how a buck trails a doe (or any other deer) from a scrape. We have been told that a doe pees in a scrape, a buck comes along and follows her urine/estrous scent from the scrape to her. That is not entirely correct and is only the smallest component of what is happening. What is actually taking place is the buck picking up the estrous scent at the scrape and identifying that particular deer via her interdigital gland (between her hooves) It’s a waxy scent gland that is comprised of 47 different compounds that are unique to each deer and all the compounds produced by the interdigital gland expire/dissipate at different rates allowing one deer to not only identify another deer but how long ago they were in the area.
The hot doe (despite common thinking) is not leaving a trail of estrous urine (she would have to have a bladder of many many gallons to pull that off) While does do have some urine components on their tarsal glands, unlike a buck that can pull off a rub urination by directing a urine stream by positioning his hocks (tarsal glands) together below his thingy and then allowing the urine stream to run over his hocks while doing what looks like a side to side/tip toe rubbing together of his rear legs, a doe does not have that option. Have you ever seen a urine soaked doe? Most likely not and the white hair on her rump is clean and white. That’s because its not urine running down her legs or being deposited by her while she walks. Male cattle, horses, dogs, etc can detect when a female (even a female human) is in heat without those species leaving a urine trail but they need to be relatively close (or down wind). Here is what is happening and why the dirt below the scrape is important and why Urine soaked drag lines used by hunters is folly (even though it has worked even for me just not like we think it worked)
The buck is really trailing the hot doe via her trail left by her interdigital glands between her hooves. If he could follow her by her urine/musk, he would just keep his nose in the air. Look at that first video I posted in this thread and all the activity by the very first does and young buck prancing and depositing a ton of interdigital scent on the ground. Then watch tat bachelor group of 3 bucks and how much time they spend sniffing the ground. If that doe were in heat, those bucks would be able to identify her as being in heat and then pinpoint her via the compounds in hie interdigital gland scent and then simply trail her like a bloodhound via her tracks (not her urine)
As a hunter interested in deer communication and glandular scents you will want to read this on the role of deers glandular communication
www.woods-n-waternews.com/Articles-i-2010-06-01-205048.112113_The_role_of_skin_glands_in_deer_odor_communication.html
Forehead glands in white-tailed deer and their role.
www.jstor.org/stable/1380266?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
An interesting video from the University of GA and Dr. Miller talking about deer scent communications.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGJJvSXQohQ
While I have just provided readers with a boat load of data and info about deer communication, it does represent some amount of reading on the part of the hunter that I hope people will take advantage of. The goal to pass along the info about THE OVERHEAD BRANCH AND THE ROLE IT PLAYS AND THE IMPORTANCE VS THE DIRT BELOW AND HOW HUNTERS CAN USE THAT BRANCH TO THEIR ADVANTAGE. If you must play with the dirt under the branch, just rake away the debris and bare the earth. Deer love raw and newly exposed dirt and will investigate that as well. That may be why some folks get deer activity near a mock scrape, its just that deer are curious and like to investigate new raw/exposed earth. IF you think it will be to your advantage to pee in your new scrape, go ahead, it will cause no harm nor will it be of any benefit but if you have to go you have to go. IN a few short hours, your urine (or that of any other animal) will be reduced to urea and some minerals left in the soil but it wont result in deer creating a scrape there. If tht were the case, every place your ever peed in the woods would magically become a scrape. LOL
The long and short of it is this. You want to draw deer to a specific location and hold them there long enough to leave scent (which is how I came up with the name of Draw n hold because it is also what a bowhunter has to do to kill a deer with his bow)
You want to attract both bucks and does and since both are drawn to scent communication via a licking branch, its hoped that all the local deer will visit to get the latest status update on the other deer. Then when does come into heat, those does visit the branch and then bucks come by and pick up the trail of that doe’s interdigital gland and follow her until be can breed her.
They can't talk so scent communication is all they have. Use that to your advantage and make them come to you. Couple that with video trail cams and gain an edge in the preseason and continue through the rut. Knowledge is power.