Paul Z. writes for help relative to using deer urine. "I live in the area of Pennsylvania where chronic wasting disease was found on a game farm and deer urine products are now banned. Do you have any ideas on what I might use that would be legal and attract deer to scrapes?"
You bet I do, and what I'm about to tell you works really well. In fact, I believe that preorbital gland lure, particularly one from Smokey's (http://smokeysdeerlure.com/preorbital.html), works better than doe-in-heat urine to attract bucks to scrapes!
The preorbital gland is located in the corner of a deer's eye. Bucks rub this on the overhanging branch that is located over each active scrape. We now know that bucks visit these overhanging limbs year-round and does do, too. There is a lot of communication going on there.
Here is how to use the preorbital gland lure. Take a drop or two and start in early August by placing it on the branch over a scrape that you find in the same location year after year. Then every week or two, replenish that odor by adding a few drops of this lure.
You can also create a mock scrape using the preorbital gland lure and replenish it every week or two. Keep doing this weekly, especially at scrapes that have obviously been hit since you first put out the lure. Stop using the lure after you've shot that big buck. Save it for next year because this stuff works!
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Dr. Dave writes a weekly column for sportsmansguide.com. If you have a question for Dr. Dave, e-mail your question to Dr. Dave in care of Tom Kacheroski, manager of Guide Outdoors & Social Content at www.sportsmansguide.com to tkachero@sportsmansguide.com. Dr. Dave studied deer for 30 years as a wildlife management professor at West Virginia University. In addition he has been a bowhunter for over 40 years, with deer being his main prey. He's also an outdoor writer and has been with "Bowhunter" magazine for 31 years.