Question: I’ve heard a lot about deer scrapes in the past and my hunting buddy swears on urinating in them while whitetail hunting. Will human urine attract bucks to real or mock scrapes? And will it work with mock scrapes?
Answer: In the past hunters would hear a lot about mock scrapes. At one point, it seemed like everyone whitetail hunting on a TV show could teach how to make a mock scrape. However, it seems whitetail bucks are not as picky as we once thought. I know of one mock scrape study in particular where human urine as the only scent placed in some of the mock scrapes.
The researcher’s cameras recorded whitetail bucks using these mock scrapes and always left their own, real urine on the bare earth. This research showed that buck visits to mock scrapes with human urine were used at the same rate as those where buck urine had been used.
In another mock scrape study, the fake scrapes covered with human urine actually attracted more bucks than the mock scrapes baited with doe deer scent. And that does not surprise me because I don’t think deer know what human urine smells like. They also do not know the smell of the “other” buck, such as in a scrape switch, that visited their scrape. Any urine added to the scrape by any buck would smell different.
In short, there is no indication that human urine scares deer. So next time you head out whitetail hunting, take along a bottle or two of water because while your sitting there killing time you can be making your own buck attractant. Just don’t try to sell it.