How far do you think a buck can smell a doe in heat under good conditions? The other day I saw a spike trailing a doe at 7:30 AM and another buck trailed the same doe at 4:30 PM. It may not seem extreme but it had rained all day pretty hard. The second buck had a hard time but still stayed on the trail for the 200 yds I could watch him. God Bless, Louis

This should be good.

Well, I guess I'm a little confused by the question as you asked "how far." I took that to mean, if he happened to be downwind of her, under good conditions, what would the distance be for him to pick up her scent. In that regard, since I've had deer smell me at over 400 yards downwind across a cotton field, I'm sure it is much further than that, so long as the doe is there. Her scent trail would likely be different...in that case, I'd say he'd have to be within 50 yards to pick up where she walked, but that is just a guess.

Now, as far as time lapses b/w when she traveled somewhere and when he picked up the trail, I suppose it could be days under good conditions.

I was hunting in the south one time with a friend's dogs. He'd put the dogs on what appeared to be a fresh track and away they'd go. Since a deer's nose is likely just as good, I suppose the same would go for a buck.

An outfitter in CO uses dogs for bears and lions. They've put them on tracks that were fresh to a day or 2 old as I'm told. I've always heard how good a deer's nose is, so if she's leaving a distinctive estrus scent, I would guess maybe a couple of days anyway.

I have seen several bucks crossing a large cornfield 1000 yards square with the nose to the ground and no doe in sight. Rut is in full swing here now!

Hey Doc, Didn't mean to be confusing. I did mean downwind but just used the trailing experience to show an example of the great sense of smell deer have. Thanks for the input. God Bless, Louis

Long way. I was sitting on top of a ridge one day and say a buck trailing a doe on one side. All of a sudden a buck came up from the other side about 250 yards on a run. He had to come over the top to even see the doe. Probably 500 yarde total.

Speaking of smelling, I went hunting this evening. At 5pm, 4 Does showed up at my stand but one of them was very nervous. They were to my left (I shoot LH). After about 30-40 seconds, they split, and quickly. They never stomped or blew out either. About 30 minutes later, an 8pt shows up that I would not have shot anyway, but as soon as he crossed that doe's path, he bolted too. The wind was in my favor but it was kind of rainy. He took one whiff where she stood and did a 180 and that was that.

So much of interdigital gland scents. That doe has to go. She's spooked out every time I've seen her and no other deer do. She's very smart, so I have to kill her.

I've ran into a few does like that; a couple I could recognize by the white around the eyes and such. These does are a trophy worthy of bragging rights, especially with a bow. I killed one a few years ago that barely had teeth at all. Too old for me to age. It took a couple years to get her. Thanks for the input, Louis

Doc, the interdigital glands do NOT leave a fear scent on the ground. There was something else they were smelling there. One of the biggest offenders is if you drop your hat or set your pack down or any article of clothing.
I have never had them smell where I walked but they darn sure bolt if something was dropped.
I have played with and studied deer most of my life and had deer pound the ground HARD because I was in their way. I fool them into thinking I am another deer. If they want to go past, they get agitated if I don't move and really pound the ground. They will not walk past strange deer or even a decoy. They will walk out around them. Not once in years and years has another deer shied from where the doe pounded the ground and never have the other deer paid much attention or left.
I have had as many as 17 deer feeding around me as close as 10 yd's once I calm them. I once followed a herd as it fed for 500 yd's across a winter wheat field. I was 30 to 40 yd's from them the whole time. I can tell you it is hard to keep up because they nibble, nibble, step, step.
There is just nothing on a deer that will smell like fear.
The surest way to scare the deer and make them bolt is to freeze when you are spotted. They won't run far and will hide to watch you. As soon as you think they are gone and start to move, they will blow out of there.
The funniest thing that ever happened was when I tracked a bunch of does in the snow. I looked up and they were all standing there watching me so I played with them until they settled down. I raised my revolver and took a bead on a large doe, then put the gun down, didn't want one. All of a sudden a young buck went tearing past me, pounded out of sight behind me and in a few minutes came running back. He stopped right next to me and looked at the does. He wanted to play.
You fellas have an awful lot to learn about deer!

By the way, all the years I spent hunting from tree stands, if I have to urinate, I just do it out of the stand. Not once in 47 years has it spooked a deer and many have been right under me. I also spit baccy juice from the stand and pee in buck scrapes.

Furthest I have ever seen one catch the scent occured last season. I was hunting a 1 acre clover patch on the edge of a 200+ acre wheat field. A small buck was chasing a doe around around the clover patch but she wasn't having much to do with him. Across the wheat field, my guess would be 5 or 600 yards or more, I saw a few more deer come out; including a decent buck, a smaller buck, and a doe/button head. When the deer across the field got dead down wind of the doe in front of me, the two bucks heads snapped up almost simultaneously, they turned and started running right across the field as if on a string. The larger of the two, a 120" 8pt, ran the other two bucks off and chased the doe all around the clover patch and eventually back into the woods. I find this pretty amazing since the wind was very, very light that day and from where they came out of the woods they should have picked up my scent before they caught that of the hot doe. Based on what I witnessed I would venture a guess and say that in an open area with a good wind and a relatively stationairy doe, a buck could wind her in excess of a 1000 yards.

quote:

Originally posted by bfrshooter:
Doc, the interdigital glands do NOT leave a fear scent on the ground. There was something else they were smelling there.

I don't know what scent she left or what he smelled but I didn't walk anywhere near there. In fact, where I approach my stand, the deer are always in front of it--they do not cross my path. I personally have smelled where deer were when I shot them and where they ran off too but what that buck picked up on was right where she was standing. I do not have much knowledge of deer scents or what caused what happened but I'm certain it was a scent left by the doe.

quote:

Originally posted by bfrshooter:
By the way, all the years I spent hunting from tree stands, if I have to urinate, I just do it out of the stand. Not once in 47 years has it spooked a deer and many have been right under me.

Me too...been pissin out of stands for over 20 years, never had a problem. I still get amused to this day when I see guys take piss bottles with them to their stand. I killed 3 or 4 bucks who were smelling my urine right under my stand.

My first year bowhunting was on a lease with 3 other guys. The one guy, who was an absolute DICK, went ape shit when I told him I pissed on the ground from my stand. He said I totally fcked up the whole moutain side and ruined everyone elses hunts b/c I was doing this. Not that it mattered that the neighbors on either side of us had hunters who were doing the same thing. Also, I'm still amazed that I ruined their hunting and I had 7 deer on the ground in the first 10 days of the season (Alabama), yet my pee was f'ng everyone's hunts up.

Doc, you are smart! Not like the guys that read books with no real experience.
I will tell you one smell deer can't stand, that is skunk.
They are attracted to fox urine and will even lick it. They used to dig up all the fox traps in Ohio a friend set. Fox and deer actually play with the fox snapping at the deer's legs while they dance around.
But I am still convinced something else was on the ground that they didn't like. Someone else could have walked through there and set something down long before you got there.
Don't blame the doe!

quote:

Originally posted by bfrshooter:

But I am still convinced something else was on the ground that they didn't like. Someone else could have walked through there and set something down long before you got there.

could have been the neighbor's dog. I saw her heading back to my spot when I left. maybe the doe and the buck smelled the same thing...I don't know. There are 3 dogs that I'm aware of that head back there from time to time.

quote:

Originally posted by Doc:

quote:

Originally posted by bfrshooter:

But I am still convinced something else was on the ground that they didn't like. Someone else could have walked through there and set something down long before you got there.

could have been the neighbor's dog. I saw her heading back to my spot when I left. maybe the doe and the buck smelled the same thing...I don't know. There are 3 dogs that I'm aware of that head back there from time to time.

And they are still among the living?

quote:

Originally posted by Rub Line:

quote:

Originally posted by Doc:

quote:

Originally posted by bfrshooter:

But I am still convinced something else was on the ground that they didn't like. Someone else could have walked through there and set something down long before you got there.

could have been the neighbor's dog. I saw her heading back to my spot when I left. maybe the doe and the buck smelled the same thing...I don't know. There are 3 dogs that I'm aware of that head back there from time to time.

And they are still among the living?

well, yea, as 2 of them belong to people who have also given me permission to hunt. can't bite the hand that feeds you so to speak.