Mock Scrapes

[Musky Buck]

I forgot the classic mock scrape story, my best friend who we call "Mock Scrape" made the most beautiful mock scrape last season, he had so much doe urine in it he wanted to forgo his usual stand and hunt from ground blind where his scrape was.....so another friend and he switched opening day stands, of course mock scrape got shut out and never saw a deer and in his usual stand our friend dropped a 160" buck, largest ever taken on the farm chasing a doe in the opposite direction of our buddy mock scrape, his heart sunk as he knew we only shoot 3.5 year olds or older, that one hurt lol, he didn't even want to go out again lol, I've heard that story for near 11 months now lol.

[leech~~]

I'm with you Bear and the other 25 of us in our hunting party.

With 25 guys in a Hunting party I can only think your hunting area is saturated in Hunter-in-heat urine scent! You should all bring rakes and start from one end racking to the other peeing all the way! You would have every Buck in the state over there!

[Fever]

Wow. I bet there isn't 25 guys within an 8 mile radius of my stand. I'm starting to think if there is too much scent out there that non of it is good. I'm saying if you are out in the middle of no where, planning on sitting from dark to dark in some very thick timber, very low human populated area some scent placed near high traffic areas and sign has simply got to increase your odds.

Years ago I hunted in the southern part of the state on Mn river bottom land and there is no way any type of scent would work because its like a war zone and the deer are being pushed every which way and are constantly running tougue out of mouth... dont think those deer really care if there is any hot does around at that moment.

Bassically the use of scents and there effectiveness has got to be just situational. Alot of people on this thread seem a bit too skeptical. I find that odd. But to each their own. It's not like I have a bunch of huge trophies on my wall... I'm far from a professional. I wish I had more time to be out there. It's just not in the cards for me at this point. 3 young kids and not many days off during school year.

[TRZ II]

I have poor pressure and usually pee on my boots, maybe that is why I shoot so many deer. It must make a regular scent trail! LOL

[Musky Buck]

Roger that leech, the part I left out is we don't do our stand hunting much together, I have 1,000 acres to myself roughly, realize about 600 is open farm field, most of my uncles farm so they have in that 200-400 acres. etc. But we get together to cut up deer, drink, cut up more deer, drink some more and the non-hunters primarily the women do the wrapping and labeling of the meat, we have quite the operation. We also put a dollar per shot into a kitty for processing fees or whatever (beer fund). I can't say I've seen all of us together at one time really either, some are dragging out deer etc. It's a zoo once the season kicks in. I'd say we all hunt within about a 15 mile radius. When you have 14 uncles it doesn't take long to add in some kids to get to 25. We should do 1 mass mock scrape in our centrally located area. We have the usual issues at times, so and so didn't stay to cut up so why should he get his fair share etc. I shot at a skunk, why should I put in 4 bucks in the beer fund etc. Bunch of adult children at times lol.

[Archerysniper]

I have poor pressure and usually pee on my boots, maybe that is why I shoot so many deer. It must make a regular scent trail! LOL

HAHAHAHAH thanks that was a good one.

[bottom-bouncer]

This might come off a little strong but I feel the entire Scent (Buck/Doe) and Scent Free stuff is the biggest scam the hunting industry has ever pulled. We as hunters give thses companies millions if not billions of $$$ for products that migth work once every 10 or 20 years, even then you probably could have shot that deer anyway because you were in the right place at the right time.

Scout like crazy in the off season, hunt hard, and play the wind and you will have success. Learning how the deer use the woods for travel, bedding, food is the best way to hunt them. Magic bottles of pee and scent free everything is a short cut to nowhere. Get out in the woods like our ancestors did, those guys could hunt.

I agree with most of what you said bear. There is no substitute for scouting and knowing the habits of the deer in your area. I use no cover scents and rely on playing the wind. I do use mock scrapes though I have had fair sucess with them during the last two weeks of october. I think the main thing alot of people dont realise is that when the bucks lock down with a doe there is nothing you can do to pull them off of her and like you stated that is were scouting and knowing were the deer are traveling to and from pays off.

[certified jumbo]

i also agree with most of what you said bear!!!

it is a scam and people are making lots of money on it, but thats what makes a good business man.

for those who pee around your deer stand, keep doing it:)

[goblueM]

i pee off the stand all the time, havent noticed it affecting anything.

i too think the scent stuff is a bunch of marketing. I have "scent free" clothing, but mostly because its very quiet and camo. I put a heck of a lot more stock in scouting and wind, like Bear said.

Sometimes you'd think man never shot a deer before scent-lok clothing was invented...

[DHost21]

Just got done filming for David Healy from Scent Shield Wind Pro products and they have a dominate buck powder that is used for mock scrapes. Also has a bunch of other scent products and scent elimination products. Tonight had a six point stop in the mock scrape and do his thing. Then he proceeded directly down wind and didnt smell us at all. Never been a huge believer in mock scrapes but after this I definitely am! One of the coolest things i have ever seen

[Bear55]

Bassically the use of scents and there effectiveness has got to be just situational. Alot of people on this thread seem a bit too skeptical. I find that odd. But to each their own. It's not like I have a bunch of huge trophies on my wall... I'm far from a professional. I wish I had more time to be out there. It's just not in the cards for me at this point. 3 young kids and not many days off during school year.

Fever I am only skeptical from experience, I used scents and cover scent for years. I got a few young bucks to show up but a lot of the times they straight up ignored the scent or acted a little skittish. Now if the young bucks are skeptical you just know a wise old buck isn't going to buy it. That is not to say big bucks never come into scents because it does happen, but it is a very rare event. The companies that sell this stuff only need it to work 1 out of a 10000 times for the word to get out about scent and to get a pile of people to buy their product.

Think of it this way, deer like all acorns but prefer white oaks over the rest. If they can smell the difference between acorns they will have no problem determining a real deer from a bottled deer. Same for cover scents, I use to use fox pee, sure the deer smell the pee but they also smell you at the same time. Their whole world revolved around scent, lets say you are downwind of a fire and all you smell is smoke. Well a deer smells the fire, the guy putting wood on the fire and the hot doe 200 yards on the other side of the fire.

[Bear55]

I agree with most of what you said bear. There is no substitute for scouting and knowing the habits of the deer in your area. I use no cover scents and rely on playing the wind. I do use mock scrapes though I have had fair sucess with them during the last two weeks of october. I think the main thing alot of people dont realise is that when the bucks lock down with a doe there is nothing you can do to pull them off of her and like you stated that is were scouting and knowing were the deer are traveling to and from pays off.

BB

I guess I can somewhat agree with that, it does seem like people have fair success with mock scrapes. I'm not sure anyone is consistantly shooting big deer over them but they can drum up activity and present you with shot opportunities under the right conditions. I guess I just prefer to find and hunt the real thing, that way I am not stinking up the area if I make a scrape or deposit some scent. Drippers would certainly help but overhunting that spot is going to cool things down or turn them nocternal fast.

Like someone had mentioned earlier if you are going to company a mock scrape with a lot of scouting you might be onto something there. At least you are strategically placing your scrape and hunting the right location isntead of just putting a scrape next to your stand or pouring some pee into a random scrape line.

There are those certain areas in the woods that can get torn up every year with scrapes and rubs, if you can find and hunt those with scents it might just work. Now if you can find where the buck is bedding and put yourself in between his bed and those scrapes I think your odds go up even more.

[slimngrizzly]

I dont believe in the scent deal much either, and generally hunting scrapes is unpredictable at best as they are primarilly used at night. I have however made mock scrapes for the purpose of getting deer in for pictures at night. Its worked, and often times the deer continue to use them on thier own.

I had one nice buck coming to my "mock" scrape at nights with about 4-5 other bucks. 2 seasons ago on Oct. 11 we had wet snow and it covered all the scrapes, I killed him that night when he went early to reopen it. Snow and rain is the time to kill on a scrape! I cant say the scent is going to help you though?

[Musky Buck]

I'm still with you Bear, I gave it more than a fair chance with no success, but, but maybe our areas aren't as conducive to it being successful, I can see that, best scent killer for 0$ was to spend that 5-5:45 AM in grandpa's barn when dairy cattle were all around the section, now if I did that the deer would go there aint a dairy farm for 30 miles, somethings fishy. I hate doe in heat scent actually, drips/leaks down the side of the bottle, on your hands, gloves etc no matter how carefully I tried to pour it out. After eating 5 alarm chili and smelling that stuff, I pretty much had the look of the dumb and dumber guy clenching after slurping down the turbo lax. I mean really all those that do buy it, why not take the bladder out of the does your party gets and store it up for the next season somehow or is that against the law ? I know a guy who wants buck tarsal glands although I think he's close to being admitted in a halfway house it might be a theory.

[ClownColor]

I'm still with you Bear, I gave it more than a fair chance with no success, but, but maybe our areas aren't as conducive to it being successful, I can see that, best scent killer for 0$ was to spend that 5-5:45 AM in grandpa's barn when dairy cattle were all around the section, now if I did that the deer would go there aint a dairy farm for 30 miles, somethings fishy. I hate doe in heat scent actually, drips/leaks down the side of the bottle, on your hands, gloves etc no matter how carefully I tried to pour it out. After eating 5 alarm chili and smelling that stuff, I pretty much had the look of the dumb and dumber guy clenching after slurping down the turbo lax. I mean really all those that do buy it, why not take the bladder out of the does your party gets and store it up for the next season somehow or is that against the law ? I know a guy who wants buck tarsal glands although I think he's close to being admitted in a halfway house it might be a theory.

All good points!

Collecting urine though? Just like anything, sometimes buying the stuff is just easier. I don't trap my own minnows or leechs and I think I even purchased crawlers one day (hush now). Mocks scrapes (which I use) are not expensive and can be used for many many many years. the fluid inside I beleive is $9.99 and I use one bottle which last two weeks.

Nothing hunting or fishing is black and white or can be said with gaurantees.

What ever you choose, good luck and stay safe!