More Beginner Questions

[StillHunting804]

1. How do you tell a fresh rub??
2. When calling, how long do you blow? How Many Calls each Time? How long between calls??
3. Fresh Urine, if you smell it....does it mean its Fresh?

[Bowhunters]

1. How do you tell a fresh rub??
2. When calling, how long do you blow? How Many Calls each Time? How long between calls??
3. Fresh Urine, if you smell it....does it mean its Fresh?

1. By how soft and fresh the wood feels and smells, a fresh rub on a tree will have a soft fresh look to the peelings in the material that is hanging onto the tree, it may be slightly wet from tree sap in the wood and depending how early in the season you may be able to get tree sap on your fingers when touching it.

An old rub the wood will look dry, scared, similar to an old cut off limb looks like.


2. It really varies with the situation, I call mainly to get deers attention and when I see they are coming in I start shutting up and let his or her curiousity help do the rest, maybe call once or twice to regain their attention if they appear to lose interest. You don't want to call when they are close, especially if you are up in a tree.

You can get cd's or cassette tapes of calling being done or watch a whitetail deer hunting show and see how they do it, either will give you a good idea of what good calling sounds like.


3. I have no doubt that to the super developed sense of smell of a deer that they can tell fresh urine from some that is several hours old. When urine is in contact with oxygen it starts changing in smell and while you and I can't tell a difference for maybe a day or two I have no doubt that an adult buck or doe can tell within a certain window of hours how old the urine is when they smell it. I have no idea exactly what that window is where a deer smells urine and knows its old but its probaby 3-5 hours.

[KwackWacker]

I gotta agree with Bowhunters. The man is wise.

[huckones]

This thread is old but I'd like to revive some interest and perhaps start fresh dialog. Maybe, on the topic of "More Beginner Questions" we can all reconsider how we think about deer.
I gotta wonder whether deer regard the difference between fresh and weathered scents as significant. Does a deer understand today, yesterday or last month? If they smell an familiar scent do they remember the last time they smelled it or just that they recognize it? Deer are smart but they don't understand the concept of reality. Anthropomorphism is the human tendency to attribute human characteristics to animals or other objects (like cartoons). We can only guess what goes on in the deer "mind". Certain chemical molecules break down at different rates so components of a scent might disappear but a deer still recognizes the origin of the scent as buck or doe urine or eye gland etc and so another deer has been in the area.
I submit deer are interested in both old and new scents - as in either familiar or unfamiliar, whether the scent is fresh or weathered. They understand a new scent (as in urine from a bottle used for the first time in an area) as an unknown deer is or has been in the area. They'll react with interest and given the season they'll either just sniff or leave a marking scent of their own depending on the context of the scent.
As far as their ability to detect scents - a human can touch a pane of glass with their fingertip, the pane left in the outside weather for a week and a deer can still detect the human scent. So fresh or not, deer find interest in scents. Deer smell rubber or latex gloves, boot leather, deodorant, human skin cells and every other scent molecule that was deposited in the area within the last week. It's a matter of keeping extraneous molecules to a minimum and keeping the deer distracted with the use of deer based scents. Fresh or "stale".
I hunt from the ground (on public land so no blinds or tree stands allowed). I do set up a couple of mock scrapes by raking dirt with my boot and hang a doe scent on a wick. Guaranteed the deer smell my scent but they're distracted by the scent wick. Pre-rut, rut or post rut this grabs attention and causes does to linger. If a buck is with her you'll get a shot. Or hell, shoot the doe if she's alone and you have a tag!

[bowhuntingpro]

That's an interesting concept of fresh or not so fresh scents. Of course we are all trained by big advertising dollars that fresher is better but you make a good point....does it really matter? So say you have some not so fresh doe urine and put it in a scape, if a buck can detect old from new is he really intelligent enough to think okay I just checked this scape yesterday and this old pee wasn't here what's going on? I don't really think so. I guess it's feasible to think he may just get nervous or get suspicious because in general something doesn't smell right, but he certainly isn't going to paint a picture in his mind of what's going on.

These scents that are like $80 an ounce are a joke. Guys fall into this trap that they can buy themselves a trophy buck. I believe a scent is a scent for the most part. I was always told that the molecule that makes doe pee hot (estrous) dies off within 24-48 hours if it isn't frozen. So according to that concept, estrous is just doe pee and nothing more. Can deer detect between doe urine and buck urine or is it just pee from some other deer? Who really knows.

My opinion is that scents all together are overrated mostly because they are overused. Every hunting season guys use doe urine, doe estrous, buck urine, scrape scents, curiosity scents, and so on. They carelessly apply these scents to anything and everything along with their human scent. It doesn't take long for deer to associate these weird scents this time of year with human scent or danger. I hunt with a guy that hangs some scent out every time he hunts and then forgets to take it with him when he leaves. I laugh when I walk by because it looks like a freaking Christmas tree with ornaments all over it. Needless to say, he hasn't killed a good buck in years. It's more of a money maker for scent companies than it is an advantage for hunters IMO.

When I do use any scent it's just a cover scent like the earth wafers and that's it.