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Mock scrapes…go.

AttackMode said:
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.
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Ooohhh I like that technique with the scent. Makes genius sense.
 
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!
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neonomad said:
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.
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Wayne/Holmes county Ohio line here. I can say with 100 percent positivity that is deer and turkey workings. We work closely with the ODNR and OARDC. There is zero hog presence in this part of Ohio, which I am sure you guys are aware of. And honestly as fun as it would be from a hunting stand point, from working with other states, we do not want them here or in any part of Ohio. Which again I am sure you guys already know.

Either way that is a cattle path scrape which is awesome!
 
neonomad said:
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.
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I think I just heard this on Latitude Outdoors podcast "In Session "on Mock Scrapes. Episode 22. Great stuff
 
I’ve seen about five different scrapes/branches get worked around the small lake on our property and I have trees prepped on travel routes to/from it. Haven’t ID’d all of the exact branches or dirt patches yet but at least two of them are historical. One under a cedar has been worked hard for over three years (was here when I moved here, with a gnarly rub in the adjacent cedar), and another is definitely going on its third season under a honeysuckle limb. Another is new, within 40yds of the other two and I think they converted one of my mower tread patches into a scrape. Need to ID that branch if I can. One 2YO was lifting his head really high to get to it, so I’m looking about 6-7’ up I think. There’s a fourth scrape (mostly a branch or two that get checked in passing) without much hoofing but right at the entry to the woods, and I actually walk right past it when I hunt but the deer don’t seem to be interested in my ground scent because we are out there in all kinds of shoes multiple times per week doing landscaping work or whatever. There are other licking branches being worked but those four locations have been really hot lately.
So there’s a point to this update: what could happen (to both the real scrape and the mock scrape) if I snatch one of those licking branches and relocate it closer to a camera or prepped tree? Or if I shovel some of that overworked dirt into a different patch?
 
The_Fit_Ness_Monster said:
Eh I enjoy scrapes, I see no need to mock them. Lol
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I start with a light jab and call them “scratches”. We degrade towards more insulting names from there. But yeah, I mock ‘em. I’ll mock anything that likes to get licked, scratched, and peed-on all in one shot. Especially in the deer woods.
 
DelaWhere_Arrow said:
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?
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I put mine about belt buckle/waist/belly button height. Varies on your height I suppose, but that’s the reference I use in the field. Easier than using a tape measure. I also use Paracord for hanging them up - lightweight and weather/stretch resistant. I also use a vine about 6’ long because they sometimes stand on their back legs and I don’t want their head or antlers to get tangled in the Paracord.
 
I tried a mock scrape a couple years back. Had horrible, heck even disastrous, luck so I’ve abandoned it as a tactic.

I made the scrape on the edge of a thick bedding area where two trails converge leading to a known staging area. I know it’s a staging area because I have killed a LOT of deer hanging out there in the last minutes before sunset.

Anyway, I had decent activity that was gradually picking up then the owner sold 15 acres which included where the scrape was located AND all of the staging area.

Never again.
 
A lot of good information already provided. I’ve posted on other threads about this on this site as well. Ive used them for at least 20 years and they work. I pee in them too. The most important thing is a good licking branch and location. I like them more to inventory bucks in a newer location but also use them most aptly within terrain features that funnel deer.
 
I’ve seen lots of Midwest TV hunters hang sticks and vines from paracord to make licking branches, and have always wondered about its viability in the Northeast. At least in the woods I hunt deer always use the tips of living branches (almost always hemlock and beech). I’ve also felt personally inclined toward a leave no trace mentality. Often times it seems the best places to kill a mature buck are not obvious locations from map scouting or quick boots on the ground scouting, but require a bit more study and effort. Therefore I’ve always felt like if i find really good spots to kill deer, the last thing I want to do is leave human sign that might catch another hunter’s attention and cause them to ask: why is someone hunting this location?
 
Jammintree said:
I’ve seen lots of Midwest TV hunters hang sticks and vines from paracord to make licking branches, and have always wondered about its viability in the Northeast. At least in the woods I hunt deer always use the tips of living branches (almost always hemlock and beech). I’ve also felt personally inclined toward a leave no trace mentality. Often times it seems the best places to kill a mature buck are not obvious locations from map scouting or quick boots on the ground scouting, but require a bit more study and effort. Therefore I’ve always felt like if i find really good spots to kill deer, the last thing I want to do is leave human sign that might catch another hunter’s attention and cause them to ask: why is someone hunting this location?
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All good points. To put my own experience into perspective, I’m hunting on my own home property 99% of the time. I literally live with the deer, and they live with me and my whole family and dogs and yadda yadda. So I am the only person hunting my chunk, but most of the neighbors hunt their own comparable chunks with various features the deer require. For example, my property is not the best bedding, but some bucks do bed there periodically, the south of me has buck bedding and it’s not a hunted parcel, and the north of me has the doe bedding but the neighbor and I are buddies. We don’t share ground but we share intel and BBQ and garden produce (We think we even killed a grandpa/grandson combo of bucks this past season). Anyway, I feel like using mock and existing scrapes could be a way to put a few more minutes of deer activity on our property during the season. I’m not terribly worried about the deer spooking to “human activity” and even though I’m moderately worried about trespassers, I know that surrounding properties are being used for different reasons than ours. Other hunters have other things they worry about comparatively, and are probably using all manner of lures or what have you to make their own mock scrapes. I’m definitely trying to leave very little trace, I agree with you on that. And on public or shared private ground, man I totally get your point. If the deer are already abusing some of the branches and dirt patches though, I feel like they’re basically asking to be killed unless you can confirm most activity at that scrape is nocturnal.
 
I've abandoned paracord and use Masons line for bringing down a licking branch or for attaching a licking branch.
DelaWhere_Arrow said:
All good points. To put my own experience into perspective, I’m hunting on my own home property 99% of the time. I literally live with the deer, and they live with me and my whole family and dogs and yadda yadda. So I am the only person hunting my chunk, but most of the neighbors hunt their own comparable chunks with various features the deer require. For example, my property is not the best bedding, but some bucks do bed there periodically, the south of me has buck bedding and it’s not a hunted parcel, and the north of me has the doe bedding but the neighbor and I are buddies. We don’t share ground but we share intel and BBQ and garden produce (We think we even killed a grandpa/grandson combo of bucks this past season). Anyway, I feel like using mock and existing scrapes could be a way to put a few more minutes of deer activity on our property during the season. I’m not terribly worried about the deer spooking to “human activity” and even though I’m moderately worried about trespassers, I know that surrounding properties are being used for different reasons than ours. Other hunters have other things they worry about comparatively, and are probably using all manner of lures or what have you to make their own mock scrapes. I’m definitely trying to leave very little trace, I agree with you on that. And on public or shared private ground, man I totally get your point. If the deer are already abusing some of the branches and dirt patches though, I feel like they’re basically asking to be killed unless you can confirm most activity at that scrape is nocturnal.
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If I had some private all to myself I'd try to make a mock scrape line. Are there any edges or terrain features to persuade the deer? If so I'd start there. Maybe like 3 or 4 scrapes and just see what happens
 
They don't attract deer. They wont change a deers course, they will only influence which of 2 or three trails he takes. They will get him stopped and occupied for a moment or 2 while you shoot (which I love). My buck last year gave me a perfect broadside at 25 stepping from the waterhole to the scrape.
On private ground, I believe in 1 scrape per stand or saddle tree. No more, no less. I recommend Whitetail Habitat Solutions mock scrape playlist. I have found it to be 100% for me.
If it's not a good spot for a scrape, it's probably not a good spot for a saddle.
 
NATHAN said:
They don't attract deer. They wont change a deers course, they will only influence which of 2 or three trails he takes. They will get him stopped and occupied for a moment or 2 while you shoot (which I love). My buck last year gave me a perfect broadside at 25 stepping from the waterhole to the scrape.
On private ground, I believe in 1 scrape per stand or saddle tree. No more, no less. I recommend Whitetail Habitat Solutions mock scrape playlist. I have found it to be 100% for me.
If it's not a good spot for a scrape, it's probably not a good spot for a saddle.
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I love all of this. I see what you’re saying in the first two lines especially when I observe deer using scrapes within the woods (although I’ll be paying more attention when they use them in the open as well).
I have watched some of WHS scrape videos. I think Jeff is probably a great guy, but tbh I have a bit of a hard time sifting through—we’ll call it “qualifying language”—about how long he’s been doing something to get to the really good info that is definitely for sure in his videos. He also put Delaware right into the same geographic region as Maine in one of his videos, which I (unfairly) took personally lol. I just have to temper my intake ratio of his content is all.
I will have to check some more out tonight per your recommendation. I know when to grab a nugget of info regardless of who’s delivering it.
 
DelaWhere_Arrow said:
I love all of this. I see what you’re saying in the first two lines especially when I observe deer using scrapes within the woods (although I’ll be paying more attention when they use them in the open as well).
I have watched some of WHS scrape videos. I think Jeff is probably a great guy, but tbh I have a bit of a hard time sifting through—we’ll call it “qualifying language”—about how long he’s been doing something to get to the really good info that is definitely for sure in his videos. He also put Delaware right into the same geographic region as Maine in one of his videos, which I (unfairly) took personally lol. I just have to temper my intake ratio of his content is all.
I will have to check some more out tonight per your recommendation. I know when to grab a nugget of info regardless of who’s delivering it.
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So what's your problem with Maine there BUb? lol
 
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