A note from Stonys Desk:

Without trying to be a "know-it-all" or presenting myself as a "professor of deer", I have to confess that I am a student of the deer and I try to learn as much as I can. I don't know everything about deer but I have a deep down desire that drives me to understand the inner workings of the animal that I so passionately pursue...

With that being said, I will try my best to explain what I have learned over the years.

I am not being prejudice with what I say nor am I considering myself any better than any other hunter or scent manufacturer. However, with being fortunate enough to make my living and be around deer 365 days a year, plus spending the whole month of November and December each year traveling around the United States, Canada and Mexico Artificially Inseminating Whitetail Deer, I have a whole new understanding of the seasonal and life cycles of the deer.

-Forewarning - This is going to be a long and informative read...

On the roof of a buck's mouth is an olfactory organ called the vomeronasal organ... this organ is not connected to the sense of smell as it connects to a different area of the brain... As a buck walks along he is constantly licking up samples of urine from both buck and doe and performing a flehman sniff or flehman response...

Lets take a closer look at the Vomeronasal Organ, the olfactory bulb and the accessory olfactory bulb...

The Vomeronasal Organ (VMO) is actually an "accessory olfactory system" (AOS). The VMO is a fluid filled organ lined with similar cellular structures that are found in the nasal cavity known as sensory epithilium. The axons of neurons (nerve fibers) lining the vomeronasal organ are bundled together to form the "vomeronasal nerve". The VM nerve then transmits the information to the accessory olfactory bulb.

The "Accessory Olfactory Bulb" is defined by Wikipedia as follows:
"The accessory olfactory bulb, which resides on the dorsal-posterior region of the main olfactory bulb, forms a parallel pathway independent from the main olfactory bulb. It is the second processing stage of the accessory olfactory system. It receives axonal input from the vomeronasal organ, a distinct sensory epithelium from the main olfactory epithelium that detects pheremones, among other chemical stimuli. Like the main olfactory bulb, axonal input to the accessory olfactory bulb forms synapses with mitral cells within glomeruli. However, mitral cells in the accessory olfactory bulb project their axons to targets in the amygdala and hypothalamus where they may influence aggressive and mating behavior.

Unlike in the main olfactory system, the axons that leave the accessory olfactory bulb do not project to cortex but rather to targets in the amygdala and hypothalamus where they may influence aggressive and mating behavior".

I hope this information helps clear up the sense of smell and helps someone understand what is taking place the next time they see a buck doing a lip curl - AKA flehman response, whereby exposing urine to the VMO...

Now why would this information on the VMO be so important for hunters to know and understand? Let me explain the reproductive physiology of the doe and it will paint a clear picture as to what is really going on when a buck performs a flehman sniff or lip curl....

Whitetail doe are seasonally polyestrous animals and are considered "short-day breeders", just as are fox, goats, sheep and elk, whereby they are only sexually active in the fall & winter.

Photoperiod plays the largest roll with short-day polyestrous animals, such as deer, due to the shortened amount of daylight in the fall and winter due to the fall (autumnal) equinox.

As the amount of daylight in the fall decreases and the amount of darkness increases, the optic nerve stimulates the pineal gland and in turn stimulates larger amounts of melatonin production. According to Wikipedia "the production of melatonin by the pineal gland is under the influence of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus which receives information from the retina about the daily pattern of light and darkness. The production of melatonin by the pineal gland is stimulated by darkness and inhibited by light. [8] The retina detects the light, and directly signals and entrains the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus."

The hypothalamus is responsible for synthesizing and secreting neurohormones, often called releasing hormones, as needed that control the secretion of hormones from the anterior pituitary gland. Among many of the different hormones the anterior pituitary gland is responsible for, only two are of any real importance to the reproductive physiology of the whitetail deer during the rut; Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and Luteinizing Hormone (LH).

Follicle Stimulating Hormone directly targets the ovaries and testes of the deer. In the doe, FSH stimulates the ovary and triggers the development of a follicle (egg cell). In the buck FSH triggers spermatogenesis in the testes. That's right, buck do NOT produce sperm cells during the summer months!!

Luteinizing Hormone also directly targets the ovaries of the doe and the testes of the buck. LH stimulates the ovary to produce estrogen and also helps trigger the release of the egg cell when she is in Estrus. In the buck, LH triggers the testes to produce testosterone.

Hormonal Cycle of the Doe

As the fall equinox settles in on or around September 22nd, there is more darkness in a 24-hour period than there is daylight. This triggers the production of a hormone the initiates the start of the estrous cycle in the doe. A doe cycle is 26-28 days in length and is a 2-phase cycle. The first 13-14 days of her estrous cycle is controlled by the reproductive hormone "progesterone". The last 13-14 days of her cycle is controlled by the reproductive hormone "estrogen".

Picture if you will chemical messengers circulating through the blood stream, feeding information from the ovaries back the hypothalamus located in the brain. The kidneys doing what they are designed to do, filter the chemical ketones and they ultimately end up in the urine the doe passes.

Now as the buck is walking along and sampling urine via a lip curl, he is able to detect the estrogen that starts to show up in the urine at about 14 -16 days into the doe's estrous cycle. Now the buck knows that the doe are approaching "estrus" and the chase phase has begun.

As the doe are nearing their 12-24 hours of estrus or standing heat, they are peaked at their highest levels of estrogen production, which triggers the behavioral signs of heat. Although the doe is not fully into the corpus luteum phase (ovulation), she is peaked and just about ready to allow the buck to mount her. Just as the estrogen levels start the decrease, the doe is triggered into ovulation by a sudden increase of a hormone called luitinizing hormone = LH. This is the time during the estrous cycle that you see the bucks locked up with a doe and in a few hours the doe will stand and allow the buck to mount her....

Now with the basic reproductive physiology explained, this process in the doe is known as the estrous cycle. The estrous cycle is a 26-28 cycle, all-leading up to estrus, which only last for 12-24 hours. Should the doe not be bred during estrus, she will start her 26-28 day estrous cycle all over again. She will keep cycling though until she is bred or the production of melatonin drops off in the spring due to the spring equinox and increased day length.

The peak breeding stages of the rut are about the same each year and that is 100% factual. However, I don't believe the peak breeding stages of rut are spread out 3-4 weeks. I agree with peak breeding being +/- 1 week but 21-30+ days has no scientific explanation other than unseasonable weather and the health of the doe. A doe is genetically programmed to a cycle 26-28 days for her estrous cycle, just as a woman in her menstrual cycle. These cycles are closely related in time frame of 28 days. However, doe are seasonally polyestrous where woman are not. There is a trigger by Mother Nature that induces the estrous cycle of the doe. What is it you ask? I strongly agree with the moon theory only as a timekeeper. Let me explain. The lunar cycle of the moon is a 27-29 day cycle. If the doe were to start their estrous cycle on a new or full moon, they would cycle again on the next new or full moon simply due the relation in cycle lengths -- 26-28 for the doe and 27-29 for the lunar. So yes, I can see some relevancy in the lunar cycle matching the cycle of peak breeding activity during rut. Do I believe the moon triggers the breeding activity of deer, absolutely NOT!!

Going back to the reproductive physiology of the doe and the optic nerve, melatonin production, etc, I have come to believe that 12-13 hours of darkness is the trigger that initiates the onset of the estrous cycle. Remember, the doe is the one that control the breeding - NOT THE BUCK... Looking at sunrise and sunset times here in Pa the first day of 12 hours of darkness is September 27th. Just for example purposes lets say the conditions are ideal and the doe starts her cycle. 26-28 days later she will be in estrus. This would put the doe being in estrus on October 25th, which coincides with what most hunters see in the woods. Although this peak in breeding is not all that intense, there is breeding taking place. I personally believe that the doe that lost their fawns or did not have fawns in the spring are the ones that will cycle first. I believe this simply because doe that are with fawns are still producing milk in their mammary glands and this is controlled by increased prolactin, which prolactin represses the normal levels of sex hormones.

Say the doe didn't get bred on October 25th and she cycles through again. That would put her in estrus again on November 22nd and if she were bred her fawns would be born around June 9th 2008. These are real numbers and fall well within the time lines we each see in the woods each year, at least here in Pennsylvania that is.

Deer Urine, How fresh is it?

Fresh deer urine, when collected and used as a tool, will produce results, period!! Look at deer urine as an animal by-product just as the milk you pour in your coffee each morning or dump on your bowl of favorite cereal. You would not think of going into a store and buying a gallon of milk that has been sitting on the store shelf for months and years on end at room temperature? Heck no you wouldn't.... So why would you buy urine (another animal by-product) that has been sitting on the shelves at room temp for months or years? I don't know why either, but millions of dollars are spent each year on old stale deer urines.

The Shelf Life of Fresh Urine

We conducted a test using the urines that we collected from our deer. Here are the results we found... Using plain old aquatic Ph test strips that you can purchase at a pet store, we took two gallons of freshly collected deer urine and compared the results; keeping one gallon in the refrigerator and leaving one gallon sit out at room temp.

Within 3 days, the gallon that was left to sit out at room temperature had a ph equivalent to ammonia solution, which is a ph Level of 12....

Surprisingly the gallon that was refrigerated hovered at around 7-8 ph for about the first 3 weeks. Just for the record, urine upon being expelled has a normal Ph range of +/- 6.5 to 7.5 depending largely on the diet....

From 3 -5 weeks after refrigeration, the Ph level slowly climbed to 9 - 9.5. At around 6 weeks the urine had made it 10 and by the 8th week, the urine had finally reached 12, which again is equivalent to ammonia solution.

My unofficial findings concluded that by keeping the urine cold, the temperature did not supply the ideal environment for the bacteria to feed and reproduce, just as with the milk, but I surely would not use 8 week old milk in my coffee....

The smell of fresh deer urine?

 I can attest to the fact that "fresh doe urine" definitely has a perfumery smell to it and the buck urine has a harder musky smell to it. Nothing even remotely close to the smell of the pungent odors that we are used to buying from the shelves.... Trust me, after 6 months of bottle fresh deer urine each year; I know what it smells like....

I do have one question for you to think about.... When was the last time you stood at a urinal and urinated the color of coffee? I have had some binges and even drank the green beer to urinate green, but I have yet to pee the color of coffee and have it as thick as tar... I also have yet, after 6 years of collecting deer urine, seen a buck or doe urinated any other color than real light golden brown from the doe to a reddish tint of testosterone in the buck...

The Scent Industry and Marketing
Most scent companies don't raise or own the deer in which the urines come from. Instead a large portion of the big name scents companies rely on deer farms to collect the urine in large shipping containers and ship it to the scent companies bottling facility. At the bottling facility most companies have large bulk tanks where all the urines are dumped in and mixed together, where it loses the deer specific smell of the urine. These bulk tanks then feed automated bottling machines that can fill in excess of 200 bottles a minute or more. Not only do some of the scent companies buy their urine from deer farms, they don't even take the time to ask what type of urine or collection stalls the urine will be collected in.

How Most Deer Scents are Collected
Now lets take a look at how urine can be collected from the deer. I have been to uncountable urine collection facilities and in my estimation I feel that 75% of the collection stalls used today are constructed on slopped concrete floors. Although this method works, the porous nature of concrete allows the absorption of the urine and promotes bacteria growth. It's real hard, if not next to impossible, to completely sanitize or disinfect concrete. So the urine that is collected off of concrete floors will have much less of a shelf life because of the bacteria contamination it has picked up from the floor. Just look at it this way, would you drink your milk if you knew it was collected off of concrete where the cows walk and defecate?

Another bad thing about concrete collection floors is the fact that the urine and dung all share the same floor space. What I mean is, when a deer defecates it is able to walk and track through the dung. This mashes the dung pellets into small pieces and then when the deer urinates, it mixes with the dung and ends up in the collected urine, this is usually where the deep dark color comes from. Dung also contains a large amount of bacteria that will break down and destroy to quality of the urine that was collected. Besides concrete floors allowing the contamination of dung, it also allows the contamination of dirt that is brought into the collection stall on the feet of the deer, and again this drastically adds to the dark color of the urine. As you can see right off the bat the urines collected off of concrete floors is of poor quality and is easily contaminated by feces and dirt, which ultimately weakens the quality of the urine dramatically.

One of the best collection stall setups I have seen is the elevated collection stall. The floor of the roomy collection stall is a mesh type floor suspended above a collection tray. The use of small screens is used to separate the feces and urine, never allowing it to come into contact with or contaminating the urine. These stalls are constructed of nonporous plastic material or stainless steel to help minimize bacteria contamination and are easily disinfected. These are the types of stalls we use in our urine collection facility because we can control the quality of the urines that we collect from our deer.

I feel that the method of collecting the urine greatly affects the results you will see when using it in the woods. Deer don't pee and poop at the same time so there should never be the mixing of deer dung and urine.

So the next time you buy deer scents, ask yourself this question; did this scent company outsource for the urine or do they raise there own deer? Here's another question to ask yourself; How fresh is the urine inside the bottle and how long has it been sitting on the shelf or in a warehouse at room temperature? Remember, 100% pure urine only has about a 2.5-month shelf life when properly collected and kept cool. Another question to ask is what type of collection stall was the urine collected in - an elevated floor system or off of a concrete floor?