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Summer time mock scrapes

WISCO

WISCO

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2022
Messages
451
Location
Northern Wisconsin
Who runs summer time mock scrapes?

I am running some this year for the first time. My scrapes are getting visited daily. Currently freshening them up about once a month, because the deer are doing a good job at keeping the scent fresh. Seems to me summer mocks are a great way to get inventory of deer, watch them grow and get them into a pattern of hitting that scrape every time they are in the area.

I am hunting public land and baiting is illegal, using scents is not.

If you use summer mock scrapes Id like to hear your process for setting them up and if you are having success.
 
I typically start new ones in August and freshen up old ones around the same time. I set a motion camera on each then leave them alone. The more times I went in the less deer I have seen. Great way to get inventory and possibly pattern a buck for sure.
 
I have 3 that I set up 2 years ago and they are still going strong. I never used any scent in any of them. Just pick a spot that would be a natural place for a scrape to be and hang a 3 foot long vine or branch in that spot. Handg it about waist high.The deer will find it and use it year round. The deer will leave plenty of scent on them. I have had other animals attracted to my mock scrapes too. Iv'e got raccoons and coyote on camera checking them out. My favorite videos though is a series of about 6 30 second videos of a fisher jumping up doing his darndest trying to get the branch like a cat after a string.
 
I have 6 throughout the private property I hunt mostly for buck inventory. I don’t use any scent. The funniest video I ever captured was a fawn on a mock scrape with a vertical licking branch. I use rubber coated wire tied with a figure 8 to allow the branch to swing/move independently of the branch it’s attached to. Last year a fawn discovered the scrape and licking branch. I’m t wouldnnose the branch and get it swinging and then the fawn would jump and hop all around underneath it. It would hit again and start dancing again. It was very comical.
 
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I’m going to do a little experiment this year to see if I can move an existing scrape by 20 yards. I’m gonna steal some dirt from the exiting scrape and to that I’ll add a concoction I’m whipping up right now. I’ve saved a few tarsal glands from some local bucks. From that I’ll make a liquid to dump on the new spot. I’m curious to see what happens.
 
mattpsu1 said:
What are you freshening them with?
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I use products from Pure Whitetail. I use trance or pre orbital on a wick, with some bachelor group ( buck urine ) in the scrape. This combo has worked awesome in my area. But you dont have to use their products I'm sure other brands would work too.
 
DroptineKrazy said:
I have 3 that I set up 2 years ago and they are still going strong. I never used any scent in any of them. Just pick a spot that would be a natural place for a scrape to be and hang a 3 foot long vine or branch in that spot. Handg it about waist high.The deer will find it and use it year round. The deer will leave plenty of scent on them. I have had other animals attracted to my mock scrapes too. Iv'e got raccoons and coyote on camera checking them out. My favorite videos though is a series of about 6 30 second videos of a fisher jumping up doing his darndest trying to get the branch like a cat after a string.
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I'd like to find some vines but they just dont grow in the area I hunt, so I am stuck with wicks or hemp rope. I'm sure that video of the fisher was awesome. Those are crazy animals, I hope to get a permit sometime to trap one. I had a mama bear and three cubs come in and play in one of my scrapes this year. I'm pretty sure they stole my scent wick. The amount of deer traffic the mocks pull in is crazy. I should have been doing them a long time ago.
 

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I have not consistently used them for some odd reason because nearly every one I have ever made has been taken over and used pretty heavily. Going to start several here in the next few weeks. Going to use a new scent(synthetic) on some, no scent on some and my scent on some for comparison. We cant use real deer scents here so that limits the scent options some. Will also do a couple that I pee in the scrape and use the synthetic on the licking branch.
 
I made two last year in July and had everything from fawns, does, and bucks working it. Just found a vine and hung it about waist high no scent needed! I did notice in pre-rut all the way through the rut the bucks made a new scrape under the same tree and never touched mine until around end of December. Been getting steady pics of deer back at the mock scrape since I got my camera back out a few weeks ago.
 
BTaylor said:
I have not consistently used them for some odd reason because nearly every one I have ever made has been taken over and used pretty heavily. Going to start several here in the next few weeks. Going to use a new scent(synthetic) on some, no scent on some and my scent on some for comparison. We cant use real deer scents here so that limits the scent options some. Will also do a couple that I pee in the scrape and use the synthetic on the licking branch.
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I have used my pee thing after scaping up the ground and seems to work. I tried the rope thing with preorbital scent without much success.
Once in a while I'll scoop up some scrape dirt from another area, put in a plastic bag and dump it in a mock scrape to see what happens.
It's always fun trying to get some reaction anyway.
 
WISCO said:
I'd like to find some vines but they just dont grow in the area I hunt, so I am stuck with wicks or hemp rope. I'm sure that video of the fisher was awesome. Those are crazy animals, I hope to get a permit sometime to trap one. I had a mama bear and three cubs come in and play in one of my scrapes this year. I'm pretty sure they stole my scent wick. The amount of deer traffic the mocks pull in is crazy. I should have been doing them a long time ago.
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Beech branches or any branch for that matter will work fine. Just not something super dead and dried out completely as it will not have the springiness of a live branch nor the ability to hold scent as effectively. I don’t like ropes on public.
 
The only problem with the rubber coated wire is the big bucks will rip them down eventually. I also use old pieces of amsteel from my plow ropes.
 
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