Pee Jug

When I post on here, which is not very often anymore, I never try to disparage or belittle. I also make no claims of being anything other than a hunter.
I made a stupid post about what I do, nothing more than, right or wrong, point of discussion.

As to the Swan Hills of Central Alberta... I have hunted here since 1980. Perhaps you know more about this area than me. Certain 'experts' on here seem to.

Obviously somebody that doesn't live here, has never been here would know more about this area me, right?

It's wilderness! It is overrun with coyote, cougar, bears and wolves. Due to the elevation, it is severe winters, deep snow. Where you 'experts' live may be over populated with deer. Not here.

Have a good day gents.
 
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My personal modus operandi is to leave as close to zero footprint as possible while pursuing game. Not to disparage the experience of others urinating from their stands or defecating into scrapes or wearing their oil soaked mechanics coveralls into the field. There is something pure in the observation of nature and wildlife from a non-influential perspective, where you have not polluted the scene before and around you with your human presence. Of course, this cannot be done completely, we leave scent, we make foreign sounds, even our shape is incongruous... having said that, I pursue net-zero on foreign influence. Having this as my focus for in excess of four decades, going onto five decades of time spent in wilderness, bow in hand, I have experienced more than my fair share of very cool interactions with the natural world, and encounters with wild animals. I won't trot out a photo album to prove my prowess and the veracity of this statement, suffice it to say that this has been my guiding principle or perhaps "philosophy" in my personal field endeavors.

An exception to the net-zero principle would be my fondness for calling and communicating with wild animals.
 
Hoyt, respect. I've seen what you are about... that canoe trip monster bull moose.

So I'm sitting in the bush as I type. Just had a leak and completely filled the dang jug!

Oh and trying to be as unobtrusive as possible seems to be working.
Just had a great experience with a young 4x4 whitetail that just walked up within 25' of me, cut into the bush right behind me, and didn't spook. Video'd the whole deal.

That buck is sprouting the G4's, if he lives another 3-4 years he's gonna be something.

Hey I apologize for resorting to the album thing.

Later.
 
Demonical said:
Hoyt, respect. I've seen what you are about... that canoe trip monster bull moose.

So I'm sitting in the bush as I type. Just had a leak and completely filled the dang jug!

Oh and trying to unobtrusive as possible seems to be working.
Just had a great experience with a young 4x4 whitetail that just walked up within 2t' of me, cut into the bush right behind me, and didn't spook. Video'd the whole deal.

That buck is sprouting the G4's, if he lives another 3-4 years he's gonna be something.
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Nice... so many cool things happen, and more regularly, when you spend even more time in the woods
 
I was watching Michigan Outdoors years ago and over the span of a bunch of shows they were doing experiments with deer attracting scents. The most effective that got more deer to investigate when was when they would use their own urine and either pour it on a buck's own scrape or make their own and pour their own bottled urine on it. Every year there is a couple acrapes within twent yards of my blind location under the same two overhanging branches. I pee in them every time I'm there and every year we shoot a deer or two within a few yards of the blind. Just have to play the wind right when you're sitting in the blind. Peeing on the scrapes doesn't bother them in the least and from my trailcam pics maybe even attracts extras?
 
the spank said:
I was watching Michigan Outdoors years ago and over the span of a bunch of shows they were doing experiments with deer attracting scents. The most effective that got more deer to investigate when was when they would use their own urine and either pour it on a buck's own scrape or make their own and pour their own bottled urine on it. Every year there is a couple acrapes within twent yards of my blind location under the same two overhanging branches. I pee in them every time I'm there and every year we shoot a deer or two within a few yards of the blind. Just have to play the wind right when you're sitting in the blind. Peeing on the scrapes doesn't bother them in the least and from my trailcam pics maybe even attracts extras?
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I saw those episodes as well , really eye opening!
Cat
 
I'm pretty OCD when it comes to scent control on clothing and body and in the past I did pee into a pop bottle like a long haul trucker lol. I have been peeing out of my tree stand for the past 5 years and the deer don't seem to care so peeing in bottles is a thing of the past for me.
 
iron cat said:
I saw those episodes as well , really eye opening!
Cat
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Fred Trost is a moron, and those "experiments" were conducted from a permanent stand where deer were baited year round and were habituated to human scent... they were curious about which human was delivering dinner... I would not use those particular shows as the basis for a hypothesis. Trost was trying to prove that scent doesn't matter... is there any hunter worth his salt who believes that?
 
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Those Michigan Outdoors episodes were the demise of Fred Trost as the host. He kept on going on that commercial scents were a scam, doing the peeing in scrapes etc...
One(maybe several?) of the big commercial outfits that make that phoney doe-in-heat stuff sued, and Michigan Outdoors said, "Sorry Fred, your on your own on this..."

And of course the commercial scent manufacturers easily won in court, Trost got ousted. It used to be called 'Fred Trost's Michigan Outdoors' prior to that.

Yes, I remember that whole deal. I remember at the time thinking Trost was gonna lose, and why didn't he just shut up about it?
 
hoytcanon said:
Fred Trost is a moron, and those "experiments" were conducted from a permanent stand where deer were baited year round and were habituated to human scent... they were curious about which human was delivering dinner... I would not use those particular shows as the basis for a hypothesis. Trust was trying to prove that scent doesn't matter... is there any hunter worth his salt who believes that?
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I have used my own pee in mock scrapes since with great success.
Cat
 
Demonical said:
Those Michigan Outdoors episodes were the demise of Fred Trost as the host. He kept on going on that commercial scents were a scam, doing the peeing in scrapes etc...
One(maybe several?) of the big commercial outfits that make that phoney doe-in-heat stuff sued, and Michigan Outdoors said, "Sorry Fred, your on your own on this..."

And of course the commercial scent manufacturers easily won in court, Trost got ousted. It used to be called 'Fred Trost's Michigan Outdoors' prior to that.

Yes, I remember that whole deal. I remember at the time thinking Trost was gonna lose, and why didn't he just shut up about it?
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Some guys just don't know when to quit!
I was very surprised that he kept at it as well.
Cat
 
hoytcanon;[URL="tel:18469827" said:
18469827[/URL]]Fred Trost is a moron, and those "experiments" were conducted from a permanent stand where deer were baited year round and were habituated to human scent... they were curious about which human was delivering dinner... I would not use those particular shows as the basis for a hypothesis. Trust was trying to prove that scent doesn't matter... is there any hunter worth his salt who believes that?
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Much as they are in most farmland areas and where I hunt is no different. They are used to human scent, vehicles, farm equipment, farm pets, livestock etc. The farms I hunt there is as many deer tracks around the equipment sheds, calf sheds and seed bins as anywhere else on the farms and often deer wandering the laneway and yard. Peeing in scrapes doesn't concern them in the least. As I said I only have to be aware of wind direction and getting into my blind quietly and unobserved. Last year I parked my truck along a row of bales near an open gate in the dark to access the field I wanted to cross to be on the downwind side to walk to my blind. I heard something as I passed through the gate opening and turned in time to step out of the way as a buck came running through the gate in my direction full throttle passing not 6 feet from me and continuing on and running the length of the field. In the moonlight and with a foot of snow on the ground I watched him run 1/4 mile to the next gate to the bush leading to my blind and sail right on past it. It was an interesting moment. Another morning I awoke late and was late getting to the farm. I pulled in the lane and as i did I looked over to see two bucks laying with a doe next to a bale in the middle of the field. The three got up and ran to the bush 100 yards or so from my blind. I made my way to the blind going slow staying downwind and way wide of the bush using a dugouts bank to help block my view to slip in without being seen. I got settled into my blind quietly and 30 minutes or so later the three deer crossed the opening between two bush lots I overlook from the blind. I had a good shot at the larger of the two bucks and screwed up shooting over his back! f:P:2:I bet not many on here would admit they screwed up on an easy 170 yd shot! Lol

Last year and the year before my wife shot both her deer within a few feet of a trailcam overlooking a mock scrape I make in the same spot each season only 18 yards from another location I have a blind set up on the same farm. I have two set up so that we always have a spot to hunt from regardless of wind direction on any given day.

So yes I agree scent and playing the wind are critical to success but from what I have seen the deer do not seem to be bothered by peeing in a scrape of their making or making a mock scrape of your own.
 
Today one of my strategies was to make a mock scrape, at a trail where 2 does had come out yesterday. I was hoping for more deer at that same trail, there was crazy amount of fresh tracks this morning. I was hoping it might attract deer and at the least hold the attention of any buck that came out.

But I was using Tink's 69 to do the mock scrape.
I did the mock scrape, liberally sprayed Tink's in it, plus hung a small rag soaked in Tink's in the tree above the mock scrape.

Well at 13:00 a 4x4 whitetail came up the trail, walked 20' from that Tink's mock scrape and never reacted to it, don't know if he scented it at all? Then to really make it weird, that buck proceeded to walk up the little knoll I was sitting on, until he was 25' from me.
And I don't know how the heck he didn't scent/react to me at all, scent-wise.
He did see my motionless form and realized something was not right, which made him turn and cut into the bush. But he never snorted or alarmed at all.

Very weird to me that he was so close to A) the Tink's B) myself and never detected either.

It was dead calm though...

Oh ya, and get this. I had to put a new small piece of rag back in the bottle, to recharge with some more Tink's tonight. Not so sure it's gonna work of course after today's experience...

And you know how that crap stinks! Our house cat came along after I had done that, and I still had some of the Tink's on my hands, on the bottle etc, before I could wash off the residue. The cat went nuts checking out the Tink's aroma.
 
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Hoyt, here is a perfect example of game animals being habituated to human scent around farmland areas...I walked into my blind one morning and got settled in to watch for deer. This cow and her two calves were downwind of me about 100 yards when I walked into my blind. In the early dark of morning I could see something that looked as if it didn't belong where it was but I wrote it off to just being a part of the bush corner in the overcast and dark sky of the predawn but as it got lighter out I kept an eye on it as I kept thinking "I don't recall that dark shadowy spot there?" Well that shadow turned into a cow moose and then a calf and then a second calf. They were downwind of me where they were standing when they first appeared in my clear view. The cow seemed quite intrigued by "what" was over where the blind was and eventually made her way toward it with the calves following. She moved to a point where she was out of the wind direction and then moved back into it and walked right up to the blind after about 20-30 minutes of cautious approach and almost stuck her nose right in the blind to see what was in it. It was quite an experience. Now to clarify, I do not wash my hunting clothes in scent free soaps or use any scent eliminator products. I had a buddy heater turned on and was wearing just a toque on my head in the blind, no face mask and the wind was blowing from the blind to her as she stood in front of the window looking in. After she walks past and off in the video she went into a thick spot in the bush lot and a couple hours later was there thinking her and her calves were hidden from me as I walked past them back to my truck. I was 50 yards from them pretending I didn't see them continuing to walk without pausing and as I rounded the end of the bush lot the wind was again i her favour yet they never moved an inch...I texted pics to the landowner and said "they are headed towards the bin yard"....later as I was putting my gear in my truck he walked out of the house and asked why I didn't shoot them? I said "no tag". Anyways check out the video I put together from the encounter. It's pretty cool, they were within 8 feet of the blind for at least 5 minutes...

https://youtu.be/uZaf6ObzOhk
 
There are many reason why an animal will miss smelling you... most understand wind directions but many don't recognize the effect of thermals and streamlines (slip streams). In the morning as the air warms the thermals are rising and often will take your scent up into the air above an animal approaching from down wind... conversely, cooling air in the evening will often cause your scent to fall to the ground rapidly, even if you are high in a treestand. Slip streams and objects such as draws and brush walls can bend wind so that scent swirls around animals that appear to be down wind. Being in an enclosed blind can also pool your scent within the blind and make it more difficult for an animal to scent you. I guide hunters, often by water or in mountainous terrain, where the prevailing winds can actually blow in every direction seemingly from the same point of origin, which makes it difficult at times to predict a down wind approach, but at other times works in our favor.

With regard to the Fred Trost situation, if I recall, part of his hypothesis was that he had experienced animals approaching from down wind and his (assinine) conclusion was that wind direction and scent don't matter... his series of tests were to prove that, and he further took a run at commercial scents, naming a specific company in the process, which launched the lawsuit.

Nobody who has hunted big game for any length of time would suggest that scent and wind direction don't matter, unless of course they prefer "tag soup." I have countless examples of being scented by game hundreds of yards away. Just my opinion based on my experiences.
 
the spank said:
I was watching Michigan Outdoors years ago and over the span of a bunch of shows they were doing experiments with deer attracting scents. The most effective that got more deer to investigate when was when they would use their own urine and either pour it on a buck's own scrape or make their own and pour their own bottled urine on it. Every year there is a couple acrapes within twent yards of my blind location under the same two overhanging branches. I pee in them every time I'm there and every year we shoot a deer or two within a few yards of the blind. Just have to play the wind right when you're sitting in the blind. Peeing on the scrapes doesn't bother them in the least and from my trailcam pics maybe even attracts extras?
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Don't know if its the same guy but saw a video years ago whete a guy poured a jar of his pee on a decoy deer. Never seemed to affect the interest in his decoy.


Do what works for you.
 
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