I was out doing some scouting and lane trimming this afternoon and saw several spots that look like fresh scales to me. I don't know if they are but, there were several in a highly traveled area. This isn't the first time I've seen it this spring and they are all over the place where I have been scouting. If so, I'm a happy man right now.
from my understanding they do,,,and urinate in them as well. of course its not as active as the fall, so they are harder to find. I think I remember seeing that on Deer and deer hunting tv.
They do....though not as much. If you search there is some stuff on year round scrapes here. I found one about a month ago as well..not an expert on them though Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 2
Yes they do... the one's that are used year around I have been told are like general 'communication' scrapes. It lets other deer know what deer have stopped by.
Deer tend to use the overhanging branch more than the ground scrape outside of fall. If there isn't an overhanging branch its probably cause by some other activity, if there is it could be a scrape.
Turkeys will also scratch up leaf litter looking for food which I've seen look like smaller scrapes. Though I've also seen larger areas from birds working the same areas which also looked like a scrape, though without a rub or overhang nearby. Not saying its not a deer scrape, just offering more for consideration.
Highly likely to be turkeys. If it is a buck it is a very young deer. Older deer tend to not do this often IMO.
It has an overhanging branch. That's why I was pretty sure they are scrapes. I've seen many turkey scratches in the area and pretty sure these weren't. I could be wrong though.
A good read on this topic is in June 2008 Deer & Deer Hunting magazine. It's an article titled "Springtime Signposts" written by John J. Ozaga. I haven't been able to find it online but if you have a back issue it's worth the read. But yes they do scrape year round, like others have said it's not as aggressively as the fall and the overhanging branch scent marking is probably the key. Think about a male dog and how he marks his territory, it's an all the time kind of thing.
my girlfriend has a scrape beside her camera that they will freshin up offten and it has a small overhead branch they love to mess with they are always licking or moving with there antlers.
So I found the article and downloaded it. It states that in 1988 Ozoga placed 100 overhanging limbs in likely scrape sites. Before October 60% of the limbs had been scent marked and 83% of those turned into active scrapes during the fall. The sites were hit hardest in May, October, and November but very seldom was the ground pawed in May. The article is fairly brief but the numbers were pretty encouraging for someone interested in mock scrapes as nearly 48% of the total sites became active scrapes by fall and all he was doing was providing the overhanging limb not making a full blown mock scrape. Great Mock Scrape Thread here by shed: http://forums.bowhunting.com/whitetail-deer-hunting/22204-my-thoughts-experiences-mock-scrapes.html
When I went out to freshen up the mineral licks for the year and shed hunt in early March, the scrape under a drip that I had left out from the rut last year was scraped to bare ground and it was obviously still in use. So my answer is yes.
