OK at the local fair (Canfield Fair) is a guy selling all sorts of deer pee scents, cover scents, etc (KeyStone Scents). I'm just happy to be away from the pumpkin and needlepoint display, so I strike up a converstaion.

I ask him how he determines Dominant and Subordinate buck scents. In his herd it's easy, the dominant buck is easily distinquishable.

How does this relate to me using his dominant scent in the field? How can a buck tell by smell alone that another buck is superior without ever seeing this buck? I've asked this before, and even this gentleman, a Deer breeder, couldn't answer me. I'm sure a deer can identify other deer by urine smell if they know them, so to speak. I'm also sure that they can identify buck vs doe pee...but I want to know how, by smell alone, they can comprehend dominance.

Possibly testosterone levels? Why do teenage boys stink worse than young boys or grownups? (I mention this because I have two boys... may need some lye soap) To aswer your question I don't know but probably has to do with hormones and phermone levels. Fight or flight reflexes are controlled by hormones such as adrenaline, and we know that testosterone makes a bucks neck swell. Anyways thats my best guess.

Thanks critr gitr, goodanswer BUT:
Doesn't dominance also bring into play Antler size? In your scenerio a small racked buck could be dominant. Or even better yet,say a big 10 point buck, had some misfortune and broke his antlers off. He still has dominant urine, but wouldn't some 4 or6 point, shove him around and chase him off some hot doe? Thus dominance is ever changing and cannot be advertised on a bottle??? I dunno!

Also good points, but I have seen a smaller racked but more agressive buck run off a larger one. Dominance is not always about size, I've also seen some very aggressive alpha does that could defend territory against smaller bucks, pawing at them with their front hooves.

Read you post again, didn't answer it completely. Yes, dominance is every changing, especially with bucks that are fairly equal in size. BUT, what they are selling in the bottle is the possibility that this guy is a player. He's got the grownup scent (from the hormone that gives him his aggression), but it is the question of whether he is "a" bad boy or "the" bad boy that makes the stud hoss in your area want to find out.

A dominant buck produces higher levels of certain hormones than a lesser buck . Rack size plays only a small role in dominancy attitude,age,body size,and buck to doe ratios play larger roles. Say for instance you have a 10 doe per 1 buck ratio even a smaller buck may be dominant in his area due to not having much compitition for a doe. In a deer pen they can observe which are dominant . but just because a person has a deer farm doesnt mean they are experts on deer behavior .

When i use scents i kinds look at it like this....the scent orthe "new" buck that just happened to wander into your herds territory, maybe that new one is the BIG daddy that was never seen or smelled before.so i think my bucks will probably wanna check this new guy out. on my farm we kill bucks never seen before cause when the rut kicks in they come from all over.

What are you using scents for? Scents have 1 pourpose for me. To get a buck or doe to stop long enough for me to get a shot. I use 6 canisters and put them at places that I want to shoot a deer at around my stand. Alot of time I use the cheep coon or fox pea. They stop and sniff it most every time. When they do. Whack

makes you think doesn't it? did they really get it from the boss him self or did some guy in the bottleing plant take a whizz and save it to bottle later while no one was watching..[][&:][8D]

I have some synth. gland and pee on several spots for the same effect , but using scents of other critters never really occured to me . I even have a phony blind set up to distract them from the fatboy on the other side of the trail tucked into a downed treetop . If they circle wide they'll actually reduce the distance of the shot for me .