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Lets talk scrapes

Dmathews87

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2022
Messages
759
Location
SE Louisiana
I took a trip to an area up north and found more buck sign than i have ever seen....some spots had 3-4 scrapes in the same spot with maybe 20-30 yards between them, some were the size of a basketball while others were very large. I did manage to see the biggest buck of my life trailing a doe on this trip ( 70 yards) but never could get close enough to him....down here in the south our rut will be coming up mid-late December and it got me thinking about how i would hunt the sign i found. Generally i like rubs in the same area as the scrapes i find, i like to setup on the larger ,fresher ones with licking branches...whats everyones take\experience?
 
Man the surest way I know for you to get a shot at a good one is to hang about 40 yards from me. They are going to be within 20 yards at that point for you. 40 yards is the effective range of my deflector shield this year. Never knew there was such a thing and no idea how to turn this fricker off.
 
Man the surest way I know for you to get a shot at a good one is to hang about 40 yards from me. They are going to be within 20 yards at that point for you. 40 yards is the effective range of my deflector shield this year. Never knew there was such a thing and no idea how to turn this fricker off.

you and me both
 
You are going to get a lot of different opinions on this one.
I don't hunt scrapes because of the scrape. I use them to show me where the does travel. I hunt funnels.

I figured i would and thats ok...to clarify a bit, i dont setup directly on a scrape.....if theres an area that has a nice fresh one and has rubs all through as well then yeah im going to be somewhere in the vicinity and try to find something that funnels his travel a bit....i dont see alot of buck sign down here ( i see sign just no where what i saw up there) Is it common for this many in one area? how\when do they come back? etc
 
This weekend I hunted the intersection of 2 scrape lines which was just off somewhat of a pinch point, not very tight. The area has some dewberry and other browse so there was travel, food and cover all convening right there again with E/W and N/S scrape lines intersecting there. Saw a lot of deer and saw 3 no doubt shooters, just not in longbow range. I will hang near or on scrapes if there are other reasons that make sense like food, cover or both. Otherwise I just note line of travel and see if there is more strategic spot along that line one direction or the other.

Edit: that has always worked pretty well for me but this year it has led to deer watchin not killin.
 
The location of the scrape in relation to cover is what sets them apart, if your after mature deer, I break scrapes down into 2 categories, perimeter scrapes and community scrapes. Give me a big community scrape on the edge of thick big buck bedding surrounded by monster rubs every season and I will be happy. Those little scrapes found on an old logging road, wide open hardwood ridge or on a field edge do nothing for me, I call those perimeter scrapes made by little satellite bucks, others may disagree but I won’t change my mind after 15 years of using trail cameras. It’s also my belief most bucks scent check scrapes down wind some 50-100 yards when they truly are cruising than actually working the scrape, I think of a community scrape more like a fire hydrant in a dog park.
I’d say you are spot on. I will add that the big guys won’t get to pumped up with scrapes from my experience until the older does pick the scrapes. I’d look for thick areas where the older does are after they kick out the fawns. Those scrapes will get their attention and maintainance .
I don’t want to seem like a mister know it all but the biggest bucks I’ve killed were usually killed late rut. Bigger bucks are patient suitors. I do think dmathews87 will have a circus of young bucks for entertainment purposes. I wish him all the luck!!
 
I’d say you are spot on. I will add that the big guys won’t get to pumped up with scrapes from my experience until the older does pick the scrapes. I’d look for thick areas where the older does are after they kick out the fawns. Those scrapes will get their attention and maintainance .
I don’t want to seem like a mister know it all but the biggest bucks I’ve killed were usually killed late rut. Bigger bucks are patient suitors. I do think dmathews87 will have a circus of young bucks for entertainment purposes. I wish him all the luck!!

im in SE Louisiana so whats really gonna happen is ill hunt all weekend and see a spike, a doe, and if im lucky, a 4pt if i even see anything
 
im in SE Louisiana so whats really gonna happen is ill hunt all weekend and see a spike, a doe, and if im lucky, a 4pt if i even see anything
I’d love to hunt your area during the December rut. I’m usually freezing my ars off during the rut here in the Midwest. lol.
It was super warm this year for a change. Maybe global warming ain’t such a bad thing.
 
I’d love to hunt your area during the December rut. I’m usually freezing my ars off during the rut here in the Midwest. lol.
It was super warm this year for a change. Maybe global warming ain’t such a bad thing.

lol no lie its going to be 80F next week, but just last week we had 38F
 
The location of the scrape in relation to cover is what sets them apart, if your after mature deer, I break scrapes down into 2 categories, perimeter scrapes and community scrapes. Give me a big community scrape on the edge of thick big buck bedding surrounded by monster rubs every season and I will be happy. Those little scrapes found on an old logging road, wide open hardwood ridge or on a field edge do nothing for me, I call those perimeter scrapes made by little satellite bucks, others may disagree but I won’t change my mind after 15 years of using trail cameras. It’s also my belief most bucks scent check scrapes down wind some 50-100 yards when they truly are cruising than actually working the scrape, I think of a community scrape more like a fire hydrant in a dog park.

I have been really running some cams on those satellite scrapes this year and have been surprised by how infrequently they are visited compared to what I imagined. I have found a couple of incredible community scrapes in the past couple years but would love to hear more about how you locate them as I don’t know of any community scrapes on the properties I hunt but many many smaller annual scrapes
 
Never really got all excited by scrapes. They seem to be more of after dark location for the big boys. Only thing I really do about those is not set traps near/on them! Learned the hard the way in my first "big" trap line...set a trap in a scrape and the trap got set off by deer for a week until I finally got a grey fox.
 
I have been really running some cams on those satellite scrapes this year and have been surprised by how infrequently they are visited compared to what I imagined. I have found a couple of incredible community scrapes in the past couple years but would love to hear more about how you locate them as I don’t know of any community scrapes on the properties I hunt but many many smaller annual scrapes
In my experience, community scrapes, or what I call primary scrapes, are almost always in thick security cover. They will usually be in a small opening in that cover. I didn't start finding them until I really started listening to what John Eberhart was talking about. I would find those scape line and random scrapes in the wood but rarely a primary scrape. I have 5 that I plan to hunt in rotation this season, and I sat over one yesterday. This is my third year hunting this property and it is big and I have found 5. They are relatively rare, or should I say rare to find because by their nature they are in places deer go and people don't (often). If the property you are hunting is relatively small, it may not contain a primary scrape location.

The way I find them and look for new ones is to get out post season and look for general scrape lines. When I find one, I follow it back until it goes into thick nasty stuff. Think about a scrape line like a rainbow and the primary scrape as the pot of gold. Post season you can explore the whole place without skunking it up. Not every scrape line will lead to a primary scrape. Make sure to check out each end of the scrape line.
 
I kind of look at a few things and hunt accordingly. Probably it's worth a deeper dive into the science of scrapes, but for what it's worth I generally look at 3 patterns for hunting scrapes:

1. Buck working his scrapes
This is his scrape line marking his territory. There is typically more to tell you that story. I'll hunt right over them if I think I can catch him there in daytime or will use them as context to develop a plan to hunt the buck where it might be more advantageous. My approach often depends on time of year. I'm more prone to hunt that line early-mid early season or late season, not during seeking or rut.

2. Bucks checking scrapes
These are the community scrapes I suppose. Often bucks will downwind the scrape and roll out if they don't scent anything interesting. I like them on elevated terrain. I'll hunt just off of them during the rut, but might sit on one earlier in the year as a roll of the dice.

3. Buck making scrapes
You find a scrape in a particular spot every year but one isn't there when you check. Chances are a buck is going to make a scrape there so get ahead of it. I like a nice day when deer might roam a bit for no particular reason.

*4. Scrapes that deer didn't make
Don't hunt them. Apparently, some tricky hunters are making scrapes and rubs to mislead other hunters. Pretty classless imo, but keep an eye out for such nonsense when evaluating what's in front of you. Personally, I've been fooled in the gray light by turkey scratchings that were at what seemed to be a perfect spot, lol.

Happy hunting and Good luck.
 
I love watching a buck work a scrape and then shooting him after he's freshened it. I typically never bother much with hunting over field scrapes except putting cameras on them to monitor the number and size of bucks in the area as an inventory tool. It also helps in determining when rut activity is picking up as you see more and varied bucks begin to work them. However, more recently over the last several years, we have had a significant increase in ag plantings (into the thousands of acres) on at least one of my private tracks we still have standing corn that is adjacent to woodlots. Bucks may and will work these "field scrapes" during daylight hours if there is standing corn. Also grape rows. I believe they provide the buck with enough security cover to potentially hunt over them. Open field scrapes; however, unless situated off of a point of cover coming out say in a fallow field with goldenrod and other security cover may be ok to hunt as well. But just open ag (like a cut hayfield etc.) I'm not relating to those to hunt over as those are hit after legal hunting hours.

Regardless of its location, the only scrapes I pay attention to are ones with a noticeable licking branch over it. Fields or otherwise. If there is a licking branch it is being used by several deer both does and bucks which adds to the scrape's importance in terms of a hunting strategy. I have added more and more vertical grape vines to many scrapes over the last several years as well and the deer relate to them in quick order. I will monitor these with a trail camera too. The ones I feel that will be used most based on location and proximity of cover. Sometimes I'm spot on, other times there are better ones.

The best setups I've found for hunting scrapes are as stated previously, are ones closest or closer to bedding cover and I like situating downwind of them or better yet, parallel wind to them within bow range at about the third week of October until about the first week or so of November. But as the rut peaks I've noticed bucks still relate to them but not as consistently. However, scrapes are relevant all year long in some way shape or form.

I would add more but I have to get back to work!!!
 
I’d say you are spot on. I will add that the big guys won’t get to pumped up with scrapes from my experience until the older does pick the scrapes. I’d look for thick areas where the older does are after they kick out the fawns. Those scrapes will get their attention and maintainance .
I don’t want to seem like a mister know it all but the biggest bucks I’ve killed were usually killed late rut. Bigger bucks are patient suitors. I do think dmathews87 will have a circus of young bucks for entertainment purposes. I wish him all the luck!!

I have seen a slob or two hit scrapes in the last couple days of the season along with other big buck rut activity. In fact, the biggest buck I've ever seen was taken by another hunter during the special archery season after gun season ended.

But to date quite a few of the biggest bucks I've laid eyes on are laying down scrapes early in the year and in daylight.

One of the coolest encounters I've had was with a giant buck on MI public. He came off a ridge scraping every few feet and thrashing tree after tree and I just knew Rompola must hunt around there, lol.

He came in to under 15yds just downwind of a scrape I was hunting over, but my shot was head on so I let him walk without releasing an arrow.
 
Never really got all excited by scrapes. They seem to be more of after dark location for the big boys. Only thing I really do about those is not set traps near/on them! Learned the hard the way in my first "big" trap line...set a trap in a scrape and the trap got set off by deer for a week until I finally got a grey fox.

I had a coyote piss in a scrape I was hunting over. Son of a gun.
 
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