Thoughts ?

[southernhunter]

I set up a deer decoy the other day , sprayed it down with some doe in heat scent , had to bucks come into the field . One 4 point and the other was a 3 year old with only half his rack , both was going to get a pass either way , the 4 came in at 7 saw the decoy and turn and walked away , the 3 year old came in a hour later and did the same thing . No interest at all ! I thought they would at least check it out . Why didn't they ?

 

[catman529]

store bought scents is my guess, you hear mixed results from them. sometimes the deer come to them like its crack and sometimes they are afraid of them and sometimes they dont even care. If you killed a hot doe and put the fresh urine on the decoy I'd be willing to bet it would work better, but I dont really know. Never had any desire to use a decoy especially with all the public land hunting I do. haven't bought a bottle of doe pee in over a year... haven't felt the need for it.

 

[Josiah]

I wonder if they got nervous when the decoy didn't move. I have never really seriously entertained the thought of using a decoy as I hunt public land and I am worried I would be shot.

 

[BSK]

Decoys chase deer (including bucks) away far more often than they attract deer/bucks.

 

[southernhunter]

interesting bsk. i been trying alot of diffrent techniques this year. experimenting i guess you would say , to try and fully understand the deer on my place. why or why dont they do this or that on any given day . i plan on playing around with the decoy alittle more this year . when i first heard you talk about using your on pee for scrapes .i thought you must be crazy {i was always taught to hold it till you got home or it would run ever deer in the country off} but my curiosity got the best of me.so i tryed it and found i got my best pics over those scrapes. which brings me to another point . have you or any one else ever tryed any thing other than urine in a scrape ? just trying to think outside the box and wonder what the deer's reaction would be to it .

 

[BSK]

which brings me to another point . have you or any one else ever tryed any thing other than urine in a scrape ? just trying to think outside the box and wonder what the deer's reaction would be to it .

Yes, a study done years ago tested numerous substances in scrapes, everything from doe-in-heat through human urine, and even "new car smell" just as a test. The only substance that produced more positive responses than human urine was "dominant buck lure" (whatever that really is).

 

[swhackmaster]

I am originally from MI. There was a PBS program called Michigan Outdoors. Fred Troust was the host of the show and found himself in lawsuits with Tinks 69 for showing that synthetic dont work as well as natural pee. There was one show in particular that showed them using straight ammonia and a young buck about climbed into the brush blind with him and camera crew. my dad still uses ammonia to this day!

 

[in the dog house]

I tried peeing in a scrape this year that was not too far from the house that i park at to access my hunting land just to see what would happen. The scrape has'nt been freshened since. Wonder why, my diet maybe.....

 

[bowriter]

As an addendum to BSK's last post above, in that same test, salt water also scored very high.

 

[ROVERBOY]

Well, I've tried differnt things over the years and nothing has worked real good. I suppose if it was a older buck that was rutting pretty hard, he might take offense to his scrape being pissed in by another rutting buck. I've tried the "my pee" thing and no luck.

 

[Hunter 257W]

I bought a decoy several years back and didn't use it much for the same reason as stated above i.e. I didn't want to get shot! But might try it again now that I have more places with no other hunters. One issue I have with my decoy is the color. It is brown like a deer's Summer coat rather than the Fall gray. That surely has to look unnatural to another deer. It can be made into a buck or doe. And I riveted a piece of white sheet onto the tail so it will sway in the breeze adding some movement. I don't recall which company made it. It's s solid welle built decoy though....the color is my only issue.

One thought I have had with using it is to put it on an edge so it is partually obscured by brush but still visible from across a field with approach cover to make a buck feel safe coming in. My thinking for putting it in cover was that it wouldn't be so obvious that it wasn't moving if it was partially hidden from view and the cloth tail flickered every now and then. Just some thoughts.

I could easily test it by putting it out at night and leaving a camera aimed at it but I don't want some eager buck tearing it up beyond repair.

 

[Vermin93]

Decoys chase deer (including bucks) away far more often than they attract deer/bucks.

I had a pair of Montana doe decoys out last week in Kansas and a group of does approached from upwind and blew and stomped at the decoys from about 60 yds away. When they got no reaction from the decoys they turned around and went back the way they came and my doe tag went unfilled for a few more days....

 

[BSK]

Well, I've tried differnt things over the years and nothing has worked real good. I suppose if it was a older buck that was rutting pretty hard, he might take offense to his scrape being pissed in by another rutting buck.

All scrapes are communal, in that once made, every buck in the area will use it.