• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Mock scrapes…go.

DelaWhere_Arrow

DelaWhere_Arrow

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2019
Messages
2,595
Location
Delaware
Tell me about your peepee puddles and licky limbs. I am here to learn.
In all seriousness, I am trying to take advantage of both natural and mock scrapes a little more this year because the food sources have been changing drastically and I need some new mojo. I don’t want to go nuts leaving launchpads all over the woods, but a couple of key sites would benefit from me knowing what I’m doing a little more.
So here, you’re Scrape Yoda and I’m Scrape Skywalker. Except I won’t leave the bog in a fit when I don’t understand something. Or slaughter Younglings.
 
I have urinated in real scrapes. Bucks kept them open and fresh. I imagine mocks scrapes would be the same. 3 things I have always wanted to try that I have on good authority work is a fresh buck hock gland , scrape drip and lastly a used tampon. The 1st I will probably try this year. The 2nd is illegal here in MT, and my wife is long past the last one so I'll never know. She would probably have a fit if she wasn't and I asked. . Although years ago, buddy of mine did it and the buck/bucks tore up the ground. He didn't kill a buck there but he definitely got a reaction.
 
In an effort to increase my camera and stand efficiency (private land) this year, Ive made three thus far, with two other spots in mind. cleared ground and hung a grapevine over two, one was existing licking branch. I have cameras on two and they got immediate attention that same day, human urine only. One keeps producing, see doe picture below from yesterday, this is a spot with no existing scrape activity but I saw two major trails intersecting here. So I’m early in working this skill but it will be fun to keep learning. I like spots where travel is obvious, but the best spots I think is where some previous scraping has occurred. The second picture is from Saturday, there was a scrape here last year and this year is the largest scrape I’ve ever found, approx 6’x 18’! I like Kevin from the Deer Hunter podcast, he just came out with a synthetic system and Im giving that a try https://dhthree.com/
A6F1CB46-62AC-4A13-8AA5-70D40BE15D8B.jpeg6741775B-061A-4C26-901C-839849A28E27.jpeg
 
Creating mock scrapes definitely works but as others have said, I have much better luck just opening up a community scrape that has been going for years. I opened one up about 3 weeks ago that is getting hit very hard right now, all I did was jump start the process by moving leaves and pissing in it.
 
I’m no guru. This year I’ve been doing some experimenting with scrapes, for the sake of learning. I have 7 cameras each set on community scrapes for the past several seasons. I made the following alterations to each one back in august. For scrapes 1 and 2 I took tarsal glands from a buck killed out of state and put the glands in a jar full of urine and let it steep for 24 hours And applied that urine to those scrapes. For scrape 3 I dug up some of the dirt in the scrape, but otherwise didn’t add anything. I applied the dirt from scrape 3 to scrape 4 and 5 - both are within 1/4 mile of scrape 3 but appear to be a separate territory for mature bucks in the region. In the past I’ve seen does and spikes on all three scrapes but each one has specific mature bucks that haven’t shown up at the others. Scrapes 6 and 7 remain untouched and are several miles away from the others.

Most of those cameras will be left alone to soak for the season, or until I’m hunting near one of those spots. I’ve got some guesses about what will happen, but am quite curious. I realize it’s not a scientific process and also that just how much impact my actions will have is related to happenstance.
 
Jammintree said:
I’m no guru. This year I’ve been doing some experimenting with scrapes, for the sake of learning. I have 7 cameras each set on community scrapes for the past several seasons. I made the following alterations to each one back in august. For scrapes 1 and 2 I took tarsal glands from a buck killed out of state and put the glands in a jar full of urine and let it steep for 24 hours And applied that urine to those scrapes. For scrape 3 I dug up some of the dirt in the scrape, but otherwise didn’t add anything. I applied the dirt from scrape 3 to scrape 4 and 5 - both are within 1/4 mile of scrape 3 but appear to be a separate territory for mature bucks in the region. In the past I’ve seen does and spikes on all three scrapes but each one has specific mature bucks that haven’t shown up at the others. Scrapes 6 and 7 remain untouched and are several miles away from the others.

Most of those cameras will be left alone to soak for the season, or until I’m hunting near one of those spots. I’ve got some guesses about what will happen, but am quite curious. I realize it’s not a scientific process and also that just how much impact my actions will have is related to happenstance.
Click to expand...
Keep us posted on results. I like to freshen up my scrapes (even the natural ones) each time I visit just like the bucks do so curious if leaving them completely alone causes them to dry up or not.
 
Gator said:
Keep us posted on results. I like to freshen up my scrapes (even the natural ones) each time I visit just like the bucks do so curious if leaving them completely alone causes them to dry up or not.
Click to expand...
According to the cams I have on perennial scrapes, the does hit the licking branches over the scrape constantly all year.
 
neonomad said:
In an effort to increase my camera and stand efficiency (private land) this year, Ive made three thus far, with two other spots in mind. cleared ground and hung a grapevine over two, one was existing licking branch. I have cameras on two and they got immediate attention that same day, human urine only. One keeps producing, see doe picture below from yesterday, this is a spot with no existing scrape activity but I saw two major trails intersecting here. So I’m early in working this skill but it will be fun to keep learning. I like spots where travel is obvious, but the best spots I think is where some previous scraping has occurred. The second picture is from Saturday, there was a scrape here last year and this year is the largest scrape I’ve ever found, approx 6’x 18’! I like Kevin from the Deer Hunter podcast, he just came out with a synthetic system and Im giving that a try https://dhthree.com/
View attachment 92011View attachment 92012
Click to expand...
O honestly think your second picture is hogs. Where are you located and do you have hogs?
 
jphillips97 said:
O honestly think your second picture is hogs. Where are you located and do you have hogs?
Click to expand...
Interesting, I’m in NE Ohio run a lot of cameras and have never seen hogs here, but you’re right that’s what it looks like. But there’s several piles of deer scat in the clearing, some wet urine areas too, the little oak sapling is thrashed up, and there’s was a scrape in that exact spot last year.
 
Man, lots of interesting (and inherently hilarious) info here!
So, last year I had a cell cam on a community scrape that just BLeW UP. I honestly thought that it may have overloaded my camera at certain times of night and that camera is no longer working. I have not checked that location for scraping this year and I have not put a standard cam there for fear of screwing with the location, which is only about 30 yards from the tree I shot a stud out of last year. I also found that a small scrape had been opened right under that same tree, around late October, and this year I have not checked but it is a high traffic area for sure. I’d definitely prefer to empty my bladder into an existing scrape but am open to opening up some trial scrapes as well, to experiment with shot availability and/or traffic control.
Licking branches…I see all kinds of rope and vine info out there, Sturgis and otherwise. I am trying to get better at spotting the licking branches of natural scrapes and gauging activity based on the raggedness of that branch or if I can see they’ve really been hoofing underneath it. I have heard from many grizzled bowhunters about saving tarsal glands, and it makes me want to vomit when my nose remembers how bad they can reek. Soaking that nonsense in urine? Sounds like a firebomb for buck activity but I truly am losing my breakfast thinking about it. Buddy of mine says Tinks 69 in the dripper form. I also hear nightmares about various drippers, but I’d still like to try. Never had luck with scent before, except one time I missed a doe while she checked out my Deer Dander on a bush. That actually seemed like it kinda worked…
@neonomad if you have hogs in NE Ohio I wouldn’t be surprised. I have seen those proverbial “truck hood” scrapes and I can’t say I’m knowledgeable enough to tell whether your pic is hogs or a crackin’ community scrape.
 
Last edited:
Deer dander was one of two scents I'd occasionally use.

As far as "messing up" spots.....they are animals. As long as you aren't camping there or visiting everyday, you'll be fine.
 
I have a couple of vines hanging up. Several get used quite a bit while others not much at all. The vines and scrapes underneath them are useful for taking inventory of the deer in a certain area using a trail camera, with some repeat customers. Helpful to know what is around. I have never shot a buck over a vine setup though.
 
@DelaWhere_Arrow I’ve got 14 cell cams on 200 acres (us and a neighbor), if there were hogs 99% sure I’d know. This has been a scrape location for several years, and there’s a few little oaks that are thrashed up, all signs point to a deer or a few that are just gettin after it at this spot. As of yet I don’t have a camera on it but I need to get one, at least for fun. There was an eagles nest on an oak here that just snapped off and crashed 100’ to the river this spring. So the best way to hunt it would be a tree toward the cliff where evening thermals will suck your scent down, but in that scenario you’ve got to be ready to be up a tree with 100’ sheer face right behind you!
 
Can’t remember where, but recently heard a podcast where a fella would hang mock scrape vines at other locations and then sometime before he hunts transfer those vines to his local scrapes, the idea being that the bucks think there’s some new activity in their woods, ramping up their visits. People go deep on stuff man, pretty clever.
 
neonomad said:
@DelaWhere_Arrow I’ve got 14 cell cams on 200 acres (us and a neighbor), if there were hogs 99% sure I’d know. This has been a scrape location for several years, and there’s a few little oaks that are thrashed up, all signs point to a deer or a few that are just gettin after it at this spot. As of yet I don’t have a camera on it but I need to get one, at least for fun. There was an eagles nest on an oak here that just snapped off and crashed 100’ to the river this spring. So the best way to hunt it would be a tree toward the cliff where evening thermals will suck your scent down, but in that scenario you’ve got to be ready to be up a tree with 100’ sheer face right behind you!
Click to expand...
I’m in Eastern OH so I’m always looking for excuses to conspiratheorize their presence lol. We’ve had reports in neighboring counties but I don’t think any in my own. I’m one of those weirdos who doesn’t want them from an ecological standpoint but actually does want them from a culinary and outdoorsman standpoint…
Back to the topic at hand though.
 
so what’s the verdict on height for licking branches? I’ve personally seen bucks and does on their hind legs to work them and I’ve talked to some hunters who intentionally put them up a little higher, but others who say keep them at standard nose height or just above. Again, I’ve seen both types get worked. Anyone have particular luck with particular heights?
 
I prefer lower licking branches. I will apply my scent mixture further up the limb though as well as down on the tip. They'll initially sniff the tip of the branch and then go up and smell the rest. This causes them to inadvertently leave their own scent while trying to ID that smell. Also, hemlocks are my preference for a licking branch.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top