KFVS12 News & Weather Cape Girardeau, Carbondale, Poplar BluffDongola, IL family "bucks" the trend, sells deer urine

Dongola, IL family "bucks" the trend, sells deer urine

By Crystal Britt - bio | email

DONGOLA, IL (KFVS) - A local family's new hobby might actually turn out to be a real money maker.

The Cox's from Dongola have some new four-legged friends who are very "deer" to them.

Turns out though, one of the best things about their new investment is what comes out of the animals.

"We started out with a little bit of fence, and then it went to a big fence in no time," said Kevin Cox. 

"This was Kevin's hair brained idea," said Kevin's wife Tricia.

"There's phenomenal money involved, but work too," said Kevin. 

Eight months ago the Cox family started out with three deer.

Then they went out and bought a monster 25 point buck.

"We couldn't buy a small buck, had to have a big buck," said Kevin. 

Now they're up to seven does, four fawns and a mature buck.

"The thing we're into is the breeding of the mature bucks," said Kevin. 

That's where the money is he says, but let's just say they don't let anything go to waste.

"It's kicked off really well."

Something hunters will pay big bucks for to help them score those big bucks is something some call liquid gold.

"The hunters like the so called, doe in heat," said Kevin. 

We're talking about deer urine.

"There's a period when they're (does) in estrous," Kevin said. "We put them on the floor, and when I say on the floor I mean in a grain bin. It's got a sloped floor. We'll feed and water them. The pee runs into a drain and goes outside. We collect it, filter it and it's ready to be bottled."

He calls that side of the business, Drop Tine Creek Fatal Attractants.

They're not making a killing at it yet, but there's promise.

"We've had hunters call us from Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, and the northern part of the state," said Kevin. "We've got pictures of deer that have been harvested from the scent part of that."

While there's money to be had, this family seems to be in it for something else too.

"Each one has their own personality...like having a pet," said Kevin. 

When Kevin's wife Tricia was asked if she ever thought she would be helping raise deer she said, "No never, honestly if someone would have asked me a couple years ago. I can't believe though how I fell in love with them."

Kevin, once an avid deer hunter, has even turned soft.

"Now I don't care anything about it," he said.

It's a family affair, something their children and granddaughter enjoy as they help make the nightly trip to the pen to feed the deer animal crackers by hand.

"It's been great, really has and I don't regret it, never regretted it from day one," said Kevin.

The Cox's do have to have a permit.

The deer are all tagged and regulated by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

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