Human Urine - Mock Scrapes - Study

USN_Sam1385 · August 18, 2012, 06:21:00 PM

Well,

I am always telling people that deer do not mind human urine at all. In fact I urinate right off of my stand during the season and have had several deer lick the actually urine underneath me. I think somehow our kidneys filter it and it is just urine, not human urine to them.

Anyhow, I know a lot of people make mock scrapes, and now is a good time to start making them as deer utilize them year round.

This study found the following: (Excerpt from the article.)

"Now before I go any further, how many of you carry a bottle with you to your deer stands and I don't mean a whiskey bottle either. I mean an empty bottle to use because you feel the smell of human urine might scare deer away form the area. Well, human urine was one of our treatments in the second study. Because the first study showed better success combining scrapes with scents, I dispensed with using scents alone.

Treatments for this study included mock scrapes with rutting buck scent, mock scrapes with estrous doe scent, and mock scrapes with human urine. Interestingly, I photographed just as many bucks on mock scrapes with human urine as I did on mock scrapes with store bought deer urine. Also, the age and antler quality of bucks was no different between the scents.

There was no indication at all that human urine in the scrapes scared anything away. So much for that old wive's tale, huh? We are currently researching other scents to determine their attractiveness to deer. In the meantime, I still contend commercial deer scents are not arousing the animals and luring them from unknown places. I believe it is more of a curiosity behavior of the animals investigating andy strange and non-threatening smell that occurs in their environment. While deer scents may not work in the way we want to believe, they can attract animals that come within range of the scent."

The rest of this article can be found at:

http://www2.huntinglease.com/f/Article/ladArticletArticlec0/5

If you are interested.

Bjorn · August 18, 2012, 07:12:00 PM

Thanks for posting this. I have long been a supporter of 'pee where and when you want' but sometimes I have had to do otherwise just to keep the peace.

RedShaft · August 18, 2012, 07:13:00 PM

i do too, unless a deer seen you pee and walked directly over and smelled it to associate it with a human would they know that it was human urine. id be more concerned of the scent i left behind from my boots than the urine.

Hoyt · August 18, 2012, 07:17:00 PM

I don't think it bothers them either..may start peein on my boots before I go in.

Brazos · August 18, 2012, 07:42:00 PM

I have had deer show up right after relieving my self like anyone else but I have done some experimenting and w/o a doubt have determined deer do smell human urine and will leave the area when they smell it. Briefly, I have on several occasions poured a bottle of fresh urine out with large groups (10-20) of deer 150-200 yards away with an ever so slight breeze to carry the scent of the urine to them. Once I poured the urine out there was a 15-20 second delay and all the deer happily feeding w/o a care in the world would all look up in my general direction very concerned and w/I seconds would all leave the area in a quick orderly fashion (no flagging of the tail or snorting). So don't kid yourself if you think deer don't mind the smell of human urine. Deer have great noses but sometimes they screw up. I have 2 top bird dogs and sometimes they walk right by a bird and never pick up on the scent. so just because you just peed at the bottom of you blind and shot your trophy minutes later doesn't mean deer like human pee. It means you didn't get caught.

Iron Man2 · August 18, 2012, 07:53:00 PM

One beauty of using urine that hasn't been mentioned yet is that you have a constant, year round supply of it - a high quality, nitrogen-with-trace elements. Store bought diluted deer products and more so the concentrated ones, are very expensive and have a shelf life. But your urine you can count on getting pretty much effortlessly every day of the year. Doesn't matter whether you live in the city or in the country either. If you are taking medication, however, that is passed through also, therefore, that might have a different taste or smell that might be offensive to the wildlife?

I have tested my own also in similar fashion as mention before and had deer smell and even scape on top their own (or freshen-up my mock scape).

JL

jsweka · August 18, 2012, 08:01:00 PM

I use to try to hold it until I was away from my stand and then one day I thought to myself, "Hey, I'm out here to enjoy it and I can't enjoy it with a full bladder." Unzipped and let 'er rip and don't think twice about it now. My only thought now is please don't let a buck come by while I'm in a compromised position.

USN_Sam1385 · August 18, 2012, 08:14:00 PM

QuoteOriginally posted by Brazos:
Briefly, I have on several occasions poured a bottle of fresh urine out with large groups (10-20) of deer 150-200 yards away with an ever so slight breeze to carry the scent of the urine to them. Once I poured the urine out there was a 15-20 second delay and all the deer happily feeding w/o a care in the world would all look up in my general direction very concerned and w/I seconds would all leave the area in a quick orderly fashion (no flagging of the tail or snorting). So don't kid yourself if you think deer don't mind the smell of human urine.

I respect your observation. However, it may be an incorrect perception. You stated that you poured urine out 150 yards away from a group of deer with the wind BLOWING TOWARD THE DEER to carry the scent.

Your observation is that it is the smell of the URINE that scared the deer.

I would perceive that it was the smell of YOU downwind of an entire herd of deer that got you busted.

I would be more inclined to trust the observations of a study where only the human urine vs. synthetic/deer urine was used vs. having a human variable present, such as in your case.

I won't disagree that standing 150 yards away from a herd of deer with wind blowing toward them is going to scare them away.

Try it with a cup of water next time and see what happens...

Just a thought...

T Lail · August 18, 2012, 08:19:00 PM

I have peed in active scrapes before and covered with leaves and EVERY time the scrapes were cleaned out and refreshened.....did it spook those bucks ???????

DoubleB20 · August 18, 2012, 08:34:00 PM

QuoteOriginally posted by Hoyt:
I don't think it bothers them either..may start peein on my boots before I go in.

I was thinking, now I have an excuse to pee on my hunting buddy's boot.

Fish Finder · August 18, 2012, 08:42:00 PM

I've been on te fence about it for years but last year set it in stone that they don't mind it.

Ive been playing with scrapes and human urin for the last 3 years and find better success with me peeing in it than the bottled stuff.

I shot a 150" 8pt last year on an active scrape I peed in several times including the knight before. He came in killing the area to refreshen it and tore the area up. I'm a believer and will no longer use a pee bottle.

I read a study where all urin will smell the same not long after excreted from the body due to the neutralizing of bacteria meaning they begin to smell identicle on a molecular level to deer.

owlbait · August 18, 2012, 08:45:00 PM

I wonder how they would react to cougar or wolf urine? I still say human urine MAY be useful but a lot depends on diet, medication, and health.I will continue to make my lures from combinations of scents, with DEER urine being the base for those scents.

joekeith · August 18, 2012, 09:18:00 PM

I don't believe it bothers them at all. You want some action, have your favorite female pee in a jar that time of the month. That makes a difference.

DoubleB20.....I like your way of thinkin',

Brazos · August 18, 2012, 09:25:00 PM

I truly don't have the time or energy to explain all my human urine experiments in detail. It one of those things you would have to have been there as to try to type my different observations in detail would be hours of typing. Quite honestly I know how these types of threads ultimately turn out where everyone believes they are right and the other guy is a fool. Personally I don't care as I don't hunt with any of you. If you want to pee on yourself, blind, scrapes it really makes me no difference.

mountain lion · August 18, 2012, 09:30:00 PM

Pee is pee, whether it's coon, human, or Sasquatch. I don't think that deer can tell the difference

Mike Bolin · August 18, 2012, 09:33:00 PM

Have made mock scrapes with human urine (mine) for years and they have been "hit". Last two deer I have killed have walked right thru where I had just deposited my morning coffee.

njloco · August 18, 2012, 09:36:00 PM

As far as I know, if it's healthy, it's all sterile.

August 18, 2012, 09:38:00 PM

i had a buck walkin on me a few years ago directly down wind of me while i was peeing out of the tree, i was more concerned with the sound of it hitting the leaves than i was with sent,
i also peed in a scrape and climbed up a tree, 20 minutes later 2 bucks came in and worked the scrape like nothing was any different..
human urine contains no pheramones, so its just pee! your body odor is the offender!!

customcrester · August 18, 2012, 09:43:00 PM

I know human urine works in mock scrapes, i tried it for the first time last year. My mock scrapes were reworked every time i checked them and i have trail cam pics to prove that.I killed my biggest buck yet the fist season i tried it and i watched him rework two of my scrapes before i shot him.I already have my mock scrapes open and can't wait to see what this season will bring. Human urine works!!!

owlbait · August 18, 2012, 09:46:00 PM

I'm headed to the nursing home and collect all the Depends I can! Watch out Pope and Young! :D