Every year, after the camera season is over, I go through all of the images/videos and record every buck "event" picked up on camera, and then enter data about that event into a big spreadsheet. Originally, I was interested in the times of day I get bucks on camera, as well as any differences in those times based on "what the camera is pointed at." I've also been analyzing the number of buck events I pick up per day, looking for repeating patterns of high buck activity that occur on traditional dates. As for what data is recorded, it includes the date, the exact time (and camera clocks are checked every week to make sure the time on the camera is correct), the type of camera set-up (what the camera is pointed at), and the buck's age (yearling, middle-aged [2 1/2 and 3 1/2] or mature [4 1/2+]), the bucks actions (just travelling through, feeding, chasing, sparring, working a scrape, etc.), and then I have a complicated check to see if that event is occurring during legal hunting hours (even time is checked against a sunrise/sunset table for that date and location).
One of my common camera set-ups is food plot edge scrapes. And I set up cameras in these types of locations usually pointing the camera through the scrape and out into the food plot, allowing me to collect data from both "attractants." I can differentiate which attractant the buck is using by the category of what the buck is doing. The same is true of any "woods" scrapes I'm monitoring. By looking for ONLY those buck events where I've indicated the buck is working the scrape, I can eliminate all of the times bucks are just "walking by" or feeding in the background.
So, looking at scrapes being worked by bucks on the edge of an open area (no cover - usually mowed area or food plot) versus scrapes "back in the woods," below is the percentage of these scrape interactions that occur during legal daylight for that date. I was really surprised. I expected the difference to be much greater. But for each age-grouping, field-edge scrapes only see about 10% less daylight activity. What did NOT surprise me was the obvious; the older a buck is, the less likely he works any scrape in daylight.