Two trophy bucks in one day, both on video.

It doesn’t get much better than that when you’re out to prove the effectiveness of a new deer hunting product, and that’s exactly what happened last January at White Oak Plantation in Alabama when Code Blue personnel tested Standing Estrous.

Alabama has the latest rut in the nation. It kicks in sometime in January and peaks toward the end of the month. Code Blue invited a small group of writers to White Oak to document the testing of Standing Estrous. Like all Code Blue urines, Standing Estrous is "one-deer-to-one-bottle," which means hunters get the pure urine from a single animal in each bottle, never a blend of urines like you get with other urine products. That’s not the only thing special about Standing Estrous, though. When one of Code Blue’s estrous does is observed standing for a buck, those two deer are separated and the doe is quarantined, and the urine she produces then is bottled for Standing Estrous.

This obviously means a limited availability and a high price on this product, because a doe can be in estrous for several weeks, but only will stand for a buck for a matter of 6 or 8 hours.

On Friday morning, Denny Snyder, executive producer and host of the outdoor television program USA Outback, accompanied legendary outdoor writer Jim Casada to his box blind overlooking a green field. Snyder pulled a deer drag soaked in Standing Estrous across the middle of the field and joined Casada in the blind. When daylight broke, a trophy buck entered the field as if on cue. As it was crossing the field, the big buck intercepted the scent trail Snyder laid down, stopped, and turned to follow the scent trail. Casada executed a perfect shot and the buck claimed its fame as the first trophy buck to fall for the promising odor of Standing Estrous.

That afternoon, Snyder accompanied another respected outdoor writer, Kathy Butt. Kathy knows more about deer, elk and just about any game animal than most, and would be a very tough sell.
Snyder again laid down a scent trail down the middle of the green field and sat back with Kathy to watch, and video tape, the show. He became frustrated when Kathy refused to take a shot at a nice buck that showed interest in the scent, but the deer simply wasn’t the trophy she was looking for. She was still questioning her decision when a big doe entered the field at the far left corner and began feeding. Then, a beautiful 10-point hops the fence at the opposite corner of the field and begins eyeballing the doe — a perfect situation for testing the scent, as the scent trail was midway between the two deer.

Were it not for the video, Kathy might have shot the buck as soon as it hopped the fence. But after a few steps, the hunter and videographer noticed a problem. The field crested toward the middle, and as the buck walked the opposite fenceline toward the doe, the land dipped down to where there was no safe shot. Only "head-and-horn" showed as the buck walked purposely toward the doe. From the box blind the two watched the buck intercept the scent trail. The buck stopped, head up, nostrils flaring wide. It looked toward the big doe at the corner of the field. It turned its head and looked the direction of the scent trail. After several minutes of this indecision, the buck LEFT THE LIVE DOE to follow the scent trail into the center of the field — and the center of Kathy’s crosshairs.