What can you tell me about them? I've been doing alot of scouting this winter and found an area that looks great. On the North end of the property there is a TON of runs that all come together, and along the main run that goes through the area, I've found a couple scrapes that are still being worked. There's an OLD rut scrape that is still barely there as well. On the South end of the property is a doe bedding area and this "Main run" seems to connect the two ends of the property. If you walk this North-South run, you'll seem some massive rubs (as big around as my thigh) with the North side of the trees being rubbed all the way to the bedding area. This run also has a couple scrapes that, like I said, are still being used. So my question is this: What kind of activity do you usually see in these "Community Scrapes" that are still being worked right now? Will they continue to use them all year? Will they peak in Oct/Nov.? Is there any real significance to them?
My experience is that you have found a preferred travel pattern that should be watched. They use the "community Scrapes" well after the season at least until May and again in late August. What happens between May and August, I'm not sure as I don't spend much time in the woods during these months. I glass from a far. They're a good find.
I will add to what Greg said a little since I run my trail cams on a few community scrapes throughout the summer as well. They will hit the licking branches of community scrapes nearly year around here, unless the snow levels push them out of the area. As far as scraping action on the ground, that doesnt start until they shed the velvet. The 3 community scrapes that I monitor and hunt are all fairly deep in the forest and have terrain features that funnel the deer from all directions into one spot. I just started trail camming these scrapes these the past two seasons and they are by far the spots where I get the most consistent daylight movement of bucks.
I plan on running a cam in a community scrape setup as well this summer (I never have before) Excited to see what pics I get Dan
It will be interesting Dan, I was actually pleasantly surprised at mine, I figured I would get some daylight movement of bucks but was surprised as to how much outside of the actual scraping phase of the rut.. Heck I even found that the elk hit them. I will add I did doctor mine with buckfever synthetics a couple times over the summer.. but the deer were hitting them even when I first decided to add the synthetics.
Troy, Now I'm really anxious! This spot is a virtual Hub of activity all fall, but it is in an extremely hard place to hunt because of wind, location, etc. Dan
Funny you brought up wind... 2/3ds of mine are the same way.. swirling winds in the "bottoms" areas due to the terrain features.. beaoch to hunt! I did miss a hell of a buck opening day out of my best community scrape this past season. Shot right over him, clean miss. Ended up killing my Idaho buck last fall on the other communty scrape ... a month later. So out of the two shots I got off this season in Idaho ..both came from community scrapes.
Thanks alot guys, really liking what I'm hearin'! These woods are lined with Autumn Olive, so it makes it tough getting back in the area. I'm really pumped about the area, I've never hunted this end before. Here's an aerial of the ground. Brown lines are just a general idea of the runs. The heavy brown line is just a massive (looks like a walking path in a park, lol) run going from one end of the property to the other. The runs are probably a little deeper in the woods now that I look at it- They generally stay about 25 yds from the edge of the creek. The red dot is a stand I put in there today. Its positioned anywhere from 18-25yds from all of the runs going past it. The green squares are 3 community scrapes that I know of for sure in the area. The one to the South is a scrape that I have watched mature bucks hit the last two years (when I was across the weed patch) during daylight hours. There are really big rubs all down the length of this run. The stand is in a bottom with about 30' of elevation on either sides of the woods and the fields should be in beans this year.
Community scrapes are a good way to know when the rut is getting close. I run cameras on a few C scrapes during late October an would get 7 or 8 bucks hitting the scrape. They might even spare some at the scrapes. But, one note is that all the activity was at night. Just a little during the day time. I never hunt them I just back track an try to put the puzzle together. They will hit them any time of the year. Check them out after a little temp drop during the middle of the summer.
The only year-in year-out community scrape I know of is only 40 yds off a road. I would imagine most of the activity is night time, but I have seen very good action for small bucks there in mornings. (typically I am about 60 yds from the scrape) I have seen one mature buck hit it during daylight, and my dad hunts it more often than I do sees bucks at first and/or last light. I am so curious to put a trail cam there, but I can't see it not getting stolen
I have only ever found one community scrape over the years. It was "hot" only twice over the past 5 years. But both years it was hot, I either saw or killed good bucks right off it. In 2005 I had one hell of a 10 point come by that community scrape in early November. He was too far and the wind was blowing too hard for a shot at mid-day. In 2007 that community scrape opened up again and I hunted it two times during the first week of November. I killed my best buck to date at the time as he came by that scrape 5 minutes after sun-up. That scrape was positioned right between two major doe bedding areas, and it also just happened to be located on one of the sides of a saddle. Terrain/bedding areas/breaklines, where they all came together is where that scrape was located. Last year I only hunted it one morning in early November although I did not see the scrape. However, I saw 5 bucks in only 4 hours while hunting it in the morning.
Very true but if the buck you want to kill uses it, then thats all that matters. I have been in both boats on this one. I have a particular communty scrape that a certain buck uses during daylight and on the other hand for the life of me I have a certain buck in another area that I have never got a pix of in the daylight on a different community scrape... This is one reason why I like running cameras on these scrapes, something I didnt do until recently. I will add, running these cameras on these scrapes has shown me a reduction of visits by a few particular bucks, they shy from the cameras while other bucks don't. Its definately a give and take there as well. If I feel like the camera runs off the buck I really want, then I make changes to my game plan.
