Conversation about glandular deer scent and licking branches

[Ron Kulas]

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.

[Ron Kulas]

As the Bow season approaches, I thought it proper to continue dealing with the tactic of licking branches and scents as a way to both catalog bucks and does before season with trail cams and as a conditioning tactic to increase sightings (shot opportunities) during early season as well as a way to encourage deer sightings (shot opportunities) during the rut.

I hope to only generate thought on the tactic as its something I have been playing around with for 7 years and I thought I would share. What follows (my videos) will come from a sales pitch point of view as they were produced by me last year as I rolled out a scent product but as I will explain later on.

We often read about guys creating mock scrapes. Ive long contended that there is no need and that a hunter is better served by creating a licking branch which always results in the local deer creating a natural scrape exactly where I want it. You end up with a deer social networking sight (via the licking branch) and a scrape in a location that works for your land layout, wind and hunting style and available ambush point. In short, I am saying, don’t focus on the ground and dirt and liquids to pour on the dirt or peeing yourself into the dirt and all the things related to the dirt. Rather focus on the branch above.

I think people have unrealistic expectations when it comes to mock scrapes. Bucks (especially young bucks) make them all over the place. They cast a wide net and don’t always come back to revisit. Deer densities and buck-doe ratios play a huge factor in Scrape hunting. They do however (both bucks and does) utilize a licking branch to communicate more so than a scrape because the licking branch is a quadruple threat consisting of just about every scent gland the deer have. (Every deer has 7 glands but a buck has an 8th)

The Preorbital gland and forehead gland and even saliva are deposited on the overhanging branch and then the interdigital gland secretions (Between their hooves) gets deposited while they are under the branch and then (but not always) they may urinate under the branch but whether they urinate of not, the scent on the overhead branch is the scent calling card that deer use and they can tell one deer from another but (and this is only an assumption) deer cant tell one deer’s identity from another by urine scent which is why Hunters peeing in scrapes also works. They just cant tell pee from pee but the scents deposited on the branch are unique.

Most scent sellers over hype and make bogus claims that don’t hold up in the real woods. I tell folks what I have been doing is not magic. It cant make deer appear where there are no deer. It wont draw deer off your neighbor’s land and it wont call deer in from great distances. I use scent on a licking branch where I hunt because I scouted and am already seeing sign and I want to direct the deer in the area to a specific spot for trail cam video/pics or for a shot with a bow. If you have low deer densities and little deer traffic, you’re going to be hard pressed to make any lure work but to read some scent maker’s claims, you would think their product makes deer pop up out of the ground like magic.

What I do with scent and a licking branch is to get does and bucks to continually return to the social networking branch and a scrape naturally occurs (as well as rubs on nearby saplings) and at every branch site I create I not only get a natural scrape but its usually the first scraping activity in the woods. I like to use trail cams (set in video mode) to capture the reaction of the deer that encounter the licking branches and its clear both bucks and does spend a lot of time on the branch but buck tend to also focus on the ground below (due to interdigital scent deposits). The amount of time these does work the branch is amazing and attracting does is good news for hunters because she brings in the bucks. Smart hunters want to attract does because where the does are, the bucks will congregate trying to hook up during the rut.

What I do is scout and use satellite photos and all the other tactics bowhunters use to estimate the most likely stand locations based on deer activity, then like all bowhunters, I look for the best ambush location based on approach, prevailing winds, bedding and feeding and all the other factors related to stand selection, then I create a licking branch (usually in mid to late August because the WI rut takes place in Late Oct, early November.) This gives the local bucks and does plenty of time turn the branch into conditioned site and eventual scrape site.

I use Oak saplings I cut from the same area and then transfer that sapling to where I want it based on the above mentioned criteria. I lash that oak to a sturdy tree with light rope and then anchor the base to the ground because the deer are going to tear the out of the branch and you want it to stay put. I position the limb tips/leaf cluster about 48 inches above the ground and apply preorbital/forehead scent. It goes without saying that you want to go to extremes to reduce human scent on the branch. I wear double rubber gloves.

Then I set 1 or 2 trail cams (in video mode) near the branch so I can observe not only which and how many deer visit the site and when but how they react to the branch/scent. Trail cams set in still photo mode are not really of any value to me. Im banking on learning from how they react. The next thing I do is back out and stay away for a month or so (I normally don’t return until the season opens and check cams as I hunt certain stands)

The videos I will include here were made last year as I was rolling out my scent and as I said earlier have a clear sales pitch message in them. Disregard that and know I will not sell scent here so plese dot send me a pm asking for scent as I will not sell it. There are several brands available to you from a variety of scent makers.

There is a lot of yakkity yak at the beginning of this first video but you will see how the deer react to the branch. My cams shoot 30 sec or 1 minute videos with a 15 sec pause. I take those and stitch them together to creating this footage.



Here is another video from that same location.



Here is a video from a product tester I worked with in Ohio. He works for covert trail cams and we agreed to an “in-kind” exchange of scent for video footage. Initially he was going to email me the footage he got but he ended up with 120 videos so he mailed the SD card to me instead.



Another video a little later in the season.



A video I took while on stand of a buck visiting my branch (the same branch from the same two videos) I did not shoot this buck.



Here is a buck that came into one of my licking branches last fall. Im on stand up a steep slope about 30 feet above this buck up only 10 yards away. The trail cam kicks in and runs for 30 seconds while the buck is under the licking branch. It turns off only a second before I released my arrow. I aimed low but still hit the buck very high and despite two days of searching did not recover this buck. Based on later hunts and the gun season, it appears this buck lived.



So, why not sell my scent here?? Last year I produced a great deal of scent and sold it via facebook, Ebay and other outlets with much success. The interest grew and the videos spread. I was contacted by a party asking to purchase my entire stock of 2015 scent with a few stipulations (such as I cannot sell to anybody else). I agreed to this for one year (2015). It saved me the hassle of bottling, packaging, mailing as well as the costs of bottles, labels, packaging and postage and it resulted in a lot less labor on my part. I will evaluate if I want to do that again next year.

[Ron Kulas]

As I stated earlier, I started this about 7 years ago (back before I was posting about it online.) Here is a blog post I made about early trials back in 2011. Over the years I have experimented by placing the scent on rocks and sticks and pads attached to trees, etc. Ive come to the point where studying and reading and trials have led me to the licking branch. Here are some of my early records from 2011 and 12.

2011.

“For the first trials, I placed the scent in known travel corridors to ensure deer would be likely to encounter the scent. This way, I could hopefully determine if the scent attracted them or scared them away or had no effect at all. Also, I hoped to see if the scent made the deer skittish or nervous and whether they would visit the scent post only at night or during the day or both.

Site #1 is in a swamp, near a small creek. I cut a tree the year prior for a shooting lane so I placed the scent on the cut end of the small tree to get the scent off the ground and because after viewing many many trail camera photos on the web, pictures of deer with their heads buried in the ground look as though those deer are eating something (Food, minerals, etc) so I wanted to avoid the appearance of deer at a mineral or food site placed on the ground.

Below is a small sample of the hundreds of pictures I got. I have many many more including deer sniffing the ground around the tree which makes me think they are smelling the scent of the other deer that visited the area. Between June 23 and Aug 13, 2011 I got just over 300 pictures.





































These two pictures sparked my curiosity.






Site #2 is on an intersection of a few well used trails I have hunted for 35 years and along the same river but about 400 yards down stream and in more of an open hardwood. The available trees in proximity to the trails meant I had no post to put the scent on so I broke off a piece of weathered wood and set it on the ground in front of the camera. I figured the deer would not be interested in eating a piece of punky wood and it would absorb the scent better than pouring it on the ground. From June 25 to Aug. 13, I got over 600 pictures. The increased traffic to this spot coupled with rains made the area look like a mineral site. All the vegetation was getting trampled and it was beginning to get muddy. I moved the camera and removed the remaing piece of wood with the scent on Aug. 13 . Most of the piece of wood has been consumed and each time I checked the cameras, the piece of wood was in a different spot within a few feet of where I had first placed it.

3 weeks had elaped since the last time I checked the cameras which speaks to the staying power in the scent . Here are some of the pictures from site #2.























































That doe might have been winking at this guy. I have lots of pictures of him over many days. I have no pictures of him at night. He seems to only come in during the day time.











I also got a picture of a passing bear. He doesnt seem too interested in the scent. This is the first and only bear I have gotten a picture of.



At one point I experimented with scent pads rather than licking branches. Here are some pics of how that worked out.

I left a scent pad on a tree after hunting with my homemade scent on it and got a few pictures of curious deer.



















And a picture from the other location of the same 10 point just passing by.





Here are pics from 2012

“I added 2 more trail cams and have them in 2 different counties. I started much later than last year.

At the first site, (Site I used last year) I created a scent post by taking a deadfall branch and pounding it into the ground with a rock. I covered the top of the post with the scent. I also covered a rock near the stick. You can see the rock better in the night time pictures. It is to the right of the scent post. The deer seem interested in the post but not the rock.

This sight had over 200 pictures and since I dont check my cameras but once a month, the batteries were dead so I missed about 10 days with no pictures.









I dont know how this cub didnt tip over the post but it remained standing.



















This is a new sight I didnt have last year. At this sight I aimed the camera at a small pine that I had stripped the branches from. I sprayed down the bark. In the past I used dead scent posts and wanted to try a live scent post. I susspect this is not a high traffic site but I did get a few pics. I had an issue with a spider web in front of the lens but it only messes up the night pictures.

This buck has a nice tall rack that is easy to see on the full size photo on the card but its tough to see in this reduced image.













Another new spot didnt allow for pounding in a post. The ground was hard and rocky so I built up some deadfall debris and leaned the post against it. It didnt stay standing very long. I didnt know what to expect with this new sight but still got a few images.

Here is the post leaning against the pile of dead wood.



It didnt last long and fell over.









I should have known this guy might have been the culprit. Since this is a food based scent, I suppose it will attract all manner of game.



Or these little guys









The last sight is one I used last year and got some good pictures but I had a camera issue this time. The camera turned off after only 3 pictures. The batteries were fresh and I dont know what caused the camera to turn off. This is the only picture I got at this sight.



Ive learned a great deal over the years. I hope its of some value to readers.