This morning after my hunt I did a little in-season scouting. I found 4 scrapes and 8 fresh rubs. One scrape was made sometime early this morning. I know this because the leaves are falling like rain here and there wasnt a single leaf that covered it. The leaves were also freshly turned over. My question is, if a buck makes a scrape early in the morning, is it likely for him to return to the same scrape in the afternoon? Meaning, would it be worth it for me to hunt over it this afternoon, knowing that it was made this morning? I dont have trail cams so I have no idea if this is all happening when the sun is down. My guess is probably.
The first thing I do is look at the size of the track in the scrape if it has small tracks I wouldn't hunt it at all. Young bucks will make scrapes and never hit them again. If it has big tracks in it I would get a stand in there during the day and hunt it when you can.
looking forward to see what people say about this... found the same senario yesterday while i was out scouting acd checking trail cams
Look for licking branches above them also. That could be s primary then. Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk
I have heard of peeing on a scrape then hunt over it. idk deer cant differentiate human vs deer i guess. heard it done never did it myself
Ive seen some studies that show they cant tell the difference. I always pee in my mock scrapes. Made one last week and checked it three days later...it was bigger, smelled real bad and had some nice hoof marks in it. I freshened it up and plan to hunt it either today or tomorow.
Seek track knowledge when possible and if that, overhead licking branch and it's location (is it a spot a mature buck will visit during legal light...NOT A HUGE WIDE OPEN FIELD EDGE...unless low pressure) all point to an active scrape then hunt that puppy right after rains...I mean right after, like be up the tree as it is stopping. :D
Urine all breaks down as hours pass into ammonia, but you're telling me that we have the same hormones and "stuff" in our urine as a estrous doe or buck 100% is bologne...I've done it and will continue to, but usually after morning hunts where I suspect it will sit for hours till next visit. I like to approach the woods most of the time as how can I make my presence known the least...peeing is one of the primary ways animals communicate with eachother, I think I'll do that to a minimum.
I said ive seen studies that show that. I dont know if its true or not...i go off real world studies. As in i peed in my scrape and it got bigger and obviously deer have been using it.
Oh yeah, they will for sure. Done it myself like you said, and got results. I just can't find myself to do it at a spot I'll be hoping I get a visitor within the hour. It could do just what we hope and tick a buck off and make him work it...or because it's fresh he may notice it's not the same as deer and skiddattle...no one knows for sure how many deer it does spook, we simply know it doesn't spook them all and in some cases make them very mad and make the scrape that much better.
Agree. I wont pee in it and sit and wait. Normally i do it as im walking out from a morning sit at this particular spot.
I love hunting around scrapes RIGHT after the rain. Like said above... RIGHT after it stops/during it stopping. Had this same exact situation this morning. Sat in a cold rain for about 30 minutes. Watched doppler and knew it would be just about stopping around 7:45 this morning. About 8am had a nice 3.5 year old 8 pointer come cruising in. He circled around me about 50 yards and worked a scrape. I just happened to pick the wrong creek crossing for him to get there (one of two the use).
The licking branch isn't very high off the ground, I wasnt able to distinguish the size of the tracks in it. All I could see in it were the two hoof marks that scraped the soil. The hoof marks, piled leaves, and the fresh rub right next to it, indicated that the buck was working his way down hill from an open field. His path went directly into thick vegetation, which I think is a wetland (not sure since its close to the property line). If I were to guess, I would say there is a possibility this buck could visit this during legal shooting light since it was about 70 yards from the field edge, and about 30 yards next to what may be his bedding area.
If it's as close to bedding area as you think....this is a scrape I'd want to monitor and hunt possibly if wind conditions are right. By right I don't mean blowing right out of the bed at you...a good side cross wind is what I'd want, something that the buck can approach the scrape without tailwinding and feel secure in doing so, but you also don't get picked up setting back off the scrape 20-30 yards.
I'll have a perfect cross wind to hunt it this afternoon. The bedding area is on the west side of the property, and I'll have a SSW wind this afternoon
Nearly every mature buck likes to sight and scent check on an approach to a scrape. So if there is high ground near he may approach from there...or simply from down wind...I've seen a mature deer also go out of his way to sight check from high, then circle around downwind of one before approach. :D
