I'm wanting some opinions on something. We own 18 acres of river bottom land in western Ohio. I've hunted it for over 20 years and the deer population has really tanked the past few years in this area. Do you think if I was to spray regular doe urine around certain areas of this property a few times a week, several weeks before the rut, would that help bring in more cursing bucks during pre-rut/rut? Maybe making bucks think there is more does around...

Nope.

Agree with Pearl. Those bucks will be cursing when they find out there isn't any real does around, and will have no reason to cruise through there.

Probably attract more coyotes than deer. Any deer urine here nowadays is verbotten since we are in a cwd impacted area.

George...general curiosity: how is deer urine related to cwd?

Plant some pear and apple trees.

Prions can be present in CWD-infected deers' urine and go into, and stay in the ground and soils for a long time. Deer and other ungulate then eat the grass growing from prion-infected soil, and transmit the disease. In theory. Probably in actuality too.

agree with pearl, if they are not there to begin with, urine will not bring them in. maybe a food plot would help, no experience with food plots personally though.

I have a 1/4 acre imperial clover field already. I also have a large area hinged cut. I do get some night time pics of a few bucks but never the same buck more than once and hardly any during daylight. I don't over hunt this place either. I guess the numbers are just too low.

Trapper..thanks. Amazing that cwd hasn't spread further than we know, tho controls on Colorado elk farms have reportedly worked.

The DNR has finally brought the deer herds back down to like it was in the early 1970's. But they will tell you that by shooting more antlerless deer, there are more "quality" bucks. Myself, I don't care about huge bucks and antlers. I let them live so they can breed more. One nice big fat doe is good for my freezer.

The crops and hunting practices in surrounding lands can really impact an area as small as you have, trust me I know all too well as I hunt a 5 care lot, its what I have. Might take some time for it to cycle around again.

24 hours after it's exposed to the air it all turns into ammonia anyway.

Like others have said, if they had a reason to be there, they would. If you have does around, then you will have bucks.

Ohio had around 40k in the early 70's as compared to 700k now. I can't believe a neighboring state went that far back. Anyhow back to the op ,you're either overrun with coyote or you have a neighbor giving em better candy. What the limit in your county. That will tell you if the county population is down also.

I once took the urine from a doe we had just seen being bread by a buck we ended up killing both and when I dressed her I found the bladder very full . I went home and got a clean glass jar and filled it over half full. I thought I would really have something. I dumped it over my blind and the ground around it and never seen any extra activity there. I thought bucks would come from all around since it was the middle of the rut and I had the honest to God real stuff. It was just like any other deer peeing on the ground none of them paid any attention to it . Deer pee everywhere, they are used to it, the deer urine ,buck lure trade is mostly just a fake.

I think I read somewhere that deer urinate/defecate on average every 18 minutes. That's a lot of stink everywhere.

Your hinge cuts and food plot are the first steps towards habitat improvement that will yield results you want. I also like Apple and persimmon trees. Some can yield in as little as 2-3 years.

Here in NC I know the Wildlife whitetail biologist for the state is always willing to take calls from property owners wanting to improve their habitat. You may want to give yours a call and see if they have any recommendations. They can also let you know if the population decline you are experiencing is localized or widespread.

Jerry

No urine, focus on food and cover. Give them a reason to hang out there or just to come there to feed. What's the population around your property? Have you seen deer running else where in large numbers?

I used to apply urine liberally to my boots, sleeves and pants, but kind of gave up on it. Now I have bottles of it left over in the freezer and don't use it that often because it never made any difference in my seeing any big game, deer or elk. In some cases, I think it is counter productive in having deer or elk come around... IOW, it scares them off.

I notice that some major scent companies now offer synthetic deer urine & estrous urine.

Like mentioned, continued food plots, maybe a spring and fall plot strategy, and fruit trees. Good luck.

I am quite surprised by the comments re doe (estrus) urine being of no value. I have killed a lot of bucks in the past 25 years who apparently did not get that message. I will admit that none of the bucks were more than 2 1/2 years old, certainly not old wise patriarchs, but they definitely keyed on the doe estrus I placed out. If WI should outlaw its use I will regret it, but do understand the science. Deer grunts and antler rattling works for me as well

Grunting has resulted in deer kills for me. I brought a running doe in by grunting last fall. She stopped her forward progress and turned right for me when she heard it. Had a buck come in on a string with a grunt a few years ago. I have never had any deer do that with estrus doe urine. I think they sneak in to the smell and get downwind, and it they don't like the smell, they git. Many of these deer we hunt interact all year with the same local deer and they recognize their smell like we recognize faces. They know who is around. They know the smells of their rivals too because they spend all the rest of the year hanging out with them in bachelor herds. If they get a whiff of some doe urine from a bottle that in no way resembles what lives around there, I speculate they become very cautious and get the hell out of dodge esp. when they have already encountered humans during the open seasons or those out scouting early.

When you have threads like this you will get " It doesn't work for me" and " It works for me." So try what you want and see how it works out for you. Good luck!

I just made mock scrapes that I pee in. Had bucks come pee and scrape right over mine. Matter of fact I shot a seven point right in my scrape. John

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