I found a couple scrapes this offseason that stood out more to me than the average scrape. I’ve learned not to pay attention to scrapes that aren’t near bedding or areas without good security cover. One of the scrapes is in a hub area off a creek bottom on a worn trail that has doe bedding on the one ridge above and buck bedding on the opposite ridge with the scrape in the valley between the two. I found it in early March and looked like it was still being hit and went to check it again today and it still appears the ground is being pawed at. It’s not tore up like it’s being hammered all day but it doesn’t look like it went cold like some of the rut scrapes I’ve found that you can tell hasn’t been hit in several months. The scrape is about the size of a couch cushion and there’s a licking branch about 5-6 ft over the scrape and there’s some missing branches broken off the main branch.
I know this might be too vague to get a definitive answer but I was just curious how everyone qualifies scrapes. I imagine the bedding above is getting the rising thermals during the day and they’ll come down to feed in the evening after the thermals drop down. I put a cell cam 25 yards away from the scrape to confirm how or when it’s being used and what’s traveling through. I’m more interested in intel as I already have a lot of the immediate bedding areas located but I’m not opposed to hunting it if I’m getting activity before or at sunset. The reason I think it might be a community scrape is because it’s off a well worn trail with good security cover that connects doe to buck bedding (probably 40 yards to doe bedding and 60 yards from buck bedding) so any deer using that trail has to walk by the scrape. The main exit trails from the buck and doe bedding areas lead right to it. The doe bedding doesn’t look like it’s been used recently but there’s a circle of several smaller beds with hair in them. There’s a ton of browse and white oak clusters in the bottom by the scrape. I’m thinking this could be a good early season/pre rut location but time will tell.
Scrape pics never look the same as they do in person but I figured I’d post it anyway. Curious what your thoughts are and your experience qualifying community scrapes.
I know this might be too vague to get a definitive answer but I was just curious how everyone qualifies scrapes. I imagine the bedding above is getting the rising thermals during the day and they’ll come down to feed in the evening after the thermals drop down. I put a cell cam 25 yards away from the scrape to confirm how or when it’s being used and what’s traveling through. I’m more interested in intel as I already have a lot of the immediate bedding areas located but I’m not opposed to hunting it if I’m getting activity before or at sunset. The reason I think it might be a community scrape is because it’s off a well worn trail with good security cover that connects doe to buck bedding (probably 40 yards to doe bedding and 60 yards from buck bedding) so any deer using that trail has to walk by the scrape. The main exit trails from the buck and doe bedding areas lead right to it. The doe bedding doesn’t look like it’s been used recently but there’s a circle of several smaller beds with hair in them. There’s a ton of browse and white oak clusters in the bottom by the scrape. I’m thinking this could be a good early season/pre rut location but time will tell.
Scrape pics never look the same as they do in person but I figured I’d post it anyway. Curious what your thoughts are and your experience qualifying community scrapes.
Attachments
Last edited: