I used some a few days ago and the two yearlings with the "momma" smelled me out and didn't seem to mind coming directly to me, after grunting to them they sniffed and came even closer. the momma froze though, maybe she smelled me through it, maybe the buck smell spooked her as she wouldn't want herself and kids to be harassed if she wasn't in estrus. I don't know.
What I do know about them, with experimentation this year: If they're soaked in natural urine from the deer they're taken off, they stink worse, though the same smell. If you add store-bought urine it gets stronger and weirder. If you add your own 20-something healthy male urine to the glands and leave them soaking in a bag for two or three days (refrigerated to prevent decay) the stench is almost exactly the same as buck urine and tarsal gland but stronger and nastier. No matter what the deer interpreted me to be that day, they came right up to my stand and I KNOW they winded me to a degree also. They didn't run hard (immediately) after I shot one either. Do those things usually work that good?
Yes, the smells hangs onto you for a bit...... so do the memories of shooting one in the neck from roughly 20yds.
