I will be reading this write-up tomorrow. Thank you Troy. With my expected lack of hunting time this fall I need to do something to up my odds. Even if my odds increase by 1% working with mock scrapes, that is a step in the right direction. Thank you again for this post.
Great write up Troy. I know of hit you up with a bunch of questions on this subject in the past so you covered a lot of them right here. Awesome. Now I can't wait until part 2.
Well Britney and I got 3 sites mineralized and 3 cameras cooking this afternoon. We were really happy with the spots we picked as deer sign was very abundant. Britney was a big help. I got tired just watching her work the spots... mixing in the minerals. :D Britney thought the whole thing was pretty !!!! Troy... we were just finishing up the last one when the farmer pulled up. He took one look at us when we were walking back to the truck and shook his head. He said we work way too hard at this deer thing and laughed his butt off. I suppose it did look pretty funny when we carried out a shovel, hoe, buckets and were wearing rubber gloves and rubber boots. Oh and there isn't any stick for stirring the minerals in on my watch. That might work for a spud in Idaho. Us farmers use the proper tools to get the job done right. The 3 tined hoe worked great. Well that is what Britney said !!! Seriously we had a pretty good time today. We will probably check the cameras around the fourth. Still got 2 more spots to get done. Tim
Tim love the pix of you and Brit getting those minerals in! Looks perfect! Love it. Way to get her out in the woods with you. Now on the Mock Scraping for your area, I really do think you could get bucks in your area frequenting them real well down in a few of those belts we talked about.That one big belt was just obliterated with big scrapes.. You will be amazed how well big bucks will hit the licking branchs in Sept and Oct before your rifle season comes in. Minerals are great for summer inventory and keeping the deer healthy, I make sure my deer areas have plenty of minerals available... but I got to be honest the bucks out here pretty much abandon them once they are done growing their antlers and definately by the time they shed their velvet....then the hunting pressure here picks up in late August and pushes the deer into their deeper secrurity cover before the rut pulls them out and about in Nov.., the great thing about Mock Scrapes is that they work all summer and fall long... and with your limited "woods" you might really be surprise as to how well your bucks in Sept and Oct ... would hit them.. Because you have a lot of bucks and very little places for them to scrape so they are forced to use those minimal wooded areas, I would think to go to the limited tree'd areas...I have your address and will send you some Buck Fever Forhead gland scent and urine.. just try prepping a couple mock scrapes for me in your best belts that have traditional scraping in them year in and out.. I think you will be surprised..
Troy - this could be one of the most informative posts I've ever read. I just started using BFS last year and they certainly don't disappoint. Great job.
Thanks for the post. Thats a ton of information to process. I can't believe the willingness to share knowledge on this site. Sure do appreciate it.
Thanks for sharing. I have contemplated mock scrapes for a few years also, just did not have the time (I thought) to keep them active. It looks like I may. Taking the 2.5 hour drive to the WI hunting land tomorrow to set-up some cameras. Will also be over-marking a suspected community scrape (part of the homework is completed) and may scratch up a couple more areas I have pinpointed. My problem will be locating a licking branch without having to attach one to a tree. Should be fun! Thanks!
Brit and I got 3 more mineral sites in. No cameras yet as I am waiting for the new camera to show up. I'll have to move cameras around a bit since I will have more sites then cameras. Figured I would get the deer hitting the spots good now. All 3 spots are getting pounded by the deer right now. Huge set of tracks in the one spot. I wished I would have snapped pictures of the last site we put in. Nasty thick with a small opening the trees. Water within feet which funnel the deer through the opening. Mud trails from the deer moving through the spot. Troy it is the spot right north of Plum Alley that I told you about this morning. With all the water we have... it turned it into a lush green jungle. I already cleared shooting lanes and have " the tree " picked out for the climber. Picked out the spot for the mock scrape also. I got giddy just thinking what an awesome spot it will be next fall. Hope that new camera gets here soon as I will put it in there. Tim
Plum Alley, home of booner 1 and 2.. if you don't remember! Those little devils wouldnt leave me alone, heck they outta be pretty good sized by now! On a serious note, I couldn't agree more. I'd definately mock that spot and hang a danged tree stand too.. You know you don't have to kill them all off the ground.
Within the next 3-4 days I will be checking my cams for the first time and I am going to go ahead and start at least 3-4 more scrapes.. I will get back to you guys next week after the fourth on Exit and Enterance Strategies and Hunting your mock scrapes.. See you soon, I am happy that this info can be useful to you all.
Shed, that's some great information. I have tinkered around with mock scrapes a few times but I have never had anything to put on the licking branch. I will definately be making a trip out to my hunting area next week to put in a couple. I have the perfect funnel area that we've killed a few good bucks out of the same stand over the last several years and I plan on putting a mock scrape right near there. i think it'll be the perfect spot to try out. I can't wait to see some of your pics. Thanks again for your valuable insight.
I'm sorry I just came across this. Thanks for taking the time to write this up, Troy. I've made a few mock scrapes in the past but have never killed a buck over them. However, I did get pictures of the buck I shot last year visiting my mock scrape. Pretty cool! I'm going to go ahead and order some things from Buck Fever. Season starts in October and I need to be getting on top of this. I'm just concerned I'll have trouble finding a community scrape that is constantly being used.
Guys, I have been so busy the past few weeks. Taking care of my mothers estate, getting an estate sale put together, finished up that today. Traveling ...just burning the candle at both ends.. I have check several of my cams once now and have a lot of deer at them all for the most part. Some nice bucks but nothing huge..it was a terribly late spring and my big boys (older age class) are a little late to the normal north/south side of the mountain transitions...so I know they are coming....I have also had a lot of interesting and exciting opportunities surface in the past month with Buck Fever Synthetics, Hunters Pro Staff and Blood Brothers Outdoors. As soon as I get everything lined out in the next couple weeks I will be back on the here more often and posting up some links to the rest of this BF/mock Scrape thread.. most likely in the form of multi-part article. I have 12 cameras cooking right now..gonna check again the first week of August.. shoot me a pm if can help.. even if your getting our does to hit your licking branches... you will have the big boys there in OCT NOV.. got some cool hunts lined up for this season too.. can't wait! 33 days for me!
Great Article Troy. Last year was my 1st year to use BF Scents and mock scrapes. I done mock scrapes before but have never had as much success until using the BF Scents. I had one scrape where I was getting 9-10 bucks/week visiting it... all of them tearing it up. Some video of the scrape: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGsd9vxgZ5A
That was a great read and very educational. I will be sure to incorporate these tactics in the coming year.
