Urine/Smell from Rutting Elk or...?

[lifeisgoodsteve]

Hi All,

This part weekend, still hunting in the same areas where I located a bull or two last week, I started to smell that musky scent I've previously associated with bull elk when hunting cows. First year hunting bulls so am curious:

Is that strong musky urine smell indicative of most certainly bull elk or do the cows or mule deer also make the same smells with their urine?

With the bulls being quiet the past few days I've been still hunting a lot and looking for an edge.

Thanks,

S

 

[p_ham]

Deer smell different than elk. Bull elk are much more pungent than cow elk.

 

[Gila]

A wallowing bull is a smelly dude!

 

[IEATELK]

You will know a bulls smell. You cant mistake it…. Cant…

 

[lifeisgoodsteve]

Thanks guys. Ok, then it sure smelled like the bull elk beds I was in last year.

 

[diamond hitch]

Cow elk urine is kind of sweet while the bulls are stronger and rank by comparison. In snow the bulls pee in the middle of the bed while cows tend to pee on the edges.

Deer is rank on bucks and I have never paid any attention to does. Usually you can tell what you are following by scat and tracks.

On elk, you can usually smell them if you are reasonably close or downwind. I can't smell much of anything but I can smell elk.