Scrape behavior research

[BSK]

Don't know how many will find this interesting, but some will. As I've mentioned previously, I'm running a research project looking at buck behavior at scrapes using video trail-cameras. I have years and years of still camera pictures at scrapes, but still images often don't collect good data on behavior, so I'm limiting my research to only the three years of video data I have.

After three years, here's the percent of bucks that display particular behaviors when encountering a scrape, by age (from 643 video scrape visits):

Work the overhanging limb

Yearlings: 78.1%
Middle-aged (2 1/2 and 3 1/2): 87.2%
Mature (4 1/2+): 95.7%


Open the scrape (paw the scrape free of leaves):

Yearlings: 11.0%
Middle-aged: 34.5%
Mature: 55.7%

 

[BSK]

Sadly, I didn't record other important scrape behaviors. In fact, I now think they're so important I'm going to have to go back through all the data and collect these new categories, and they will be; 1) urinate in the scrape, and 2) rub-urinate in the scrape. And that second behavior is important. I've noticed that often young bucks will urinate in a scrape but go out of their way to make sure the urine stream does hit their tarsal glands. They will actually spay their rear legs far apart while urinating into the scrape. On the other hand, older bucks make a point of urinating over their tarsals while rubbing them together (rub-urinating). I would like to see the percentages of those behaviors by age.

 

[Ski]

That is indeed incredibly interesting! Especially interesting is that you picked out a detail I have never paid any attention to, which is the manner in which the bucks urinate. I've seen the same thing but it never clicked until just now that older bucks rub their tarsals together as they pee, while younger bucks spread like a doe as if they're purposely avoiding getting urine on their tarsals. That's fascinating. Any ideas on why that is? Why would a young buck not want to "perfume" himself?

 

[BSK]

That is indeed incredibly interesting! Especially interesting is that you picked out a detail I have never paid any attention to, which is the manner in which the bucks urinate. I've seen the same thing but it never clicked until just now that older bucks rub their tarsals together as they pee, while younger bucks spread like a doe as if they're purposely avoiding getting urine on their tarsals. That's fascinating. Any ideas on why that is? Why would a young buck not want to "perfume" himself?

I think it has to do with the dominance structure of the buck population. A young buck rub-urinating is asking to get his butt wooped!

 

[Ski]

I think it has to do with the dominance structure of the buck population. A young buck rub-urinating is asking to get his butt wooped!

Yeah I suppose that's the skinny of it. Seems if they want to breed, and they certainly act like they do, that they'd use any advantage they could. But getting thwapped by a big guy is good reason as any to stay incognito

 

[backyardtndeer]

Sadly, I didn't record other important scrape behaviors. In fact, I now think they're so important I'm going to have to go back through all the data and collect these new categories, and they will be; 1) urinate in the scrape, and 2) rub-urinate in the scrape. And that second behavior is important. I've noticed that often young bucks will urinate in a scrape but go out of their way to make sure the urine stream does hit their tarsal glands. They will actually spay their rear legs far apart while urinating into the scrape. On the other hand, older bucks make a point of urinating over their tarsals while rubbing them together (rub-urinating). I would like to see the percentages of those behaviors by age.

Will be interested in reading what you find. I have watched both young and old bucks rub urinate in scrapes. Never really thought anything of there being a difference in age groups that would engage in that behavior, but rather figured it was typical of all bucks.

 

[GOODWIN]

I may have missed it, but what is the age breakdown of bucks that visit the scrape?

Have u seen MSU recent scrape study?

 

[BSK]

Another interesting observation concerning opening scrapes (pawing away the leaves) is that the percentage of older buck visits where older bucks actually work the scrape rises and falls in a somewhat cyclical pattern as the fall progresses. So many hunters have observed that during what they call the "lock-down phase" of the rut, that scrapes also go dead. Well, this is real, but not because bucks stop visiting scrapes. During peak breeding, bucks simply stop working the scrapes. They still visit, but don't paw out the ground. No idea why.

 

[BSK]

I may have missed it, but what is the age breakdown of bucks that visit the scrape?

Have u seen MSU recent scrape study?

I have not seen their study. Have a link to a video or paper?

As for age breakdown, do you mean what percent of visits are by each age group? If so, I can generate those numbers. But before I do, I bet the oldest age-classes are over-represented in scrape visits. I can get that data to because I have detailed data on the age structure of the local buck population during the years of the study.

 

[GOODWIN]

I have not seen their study. Have a link to a video or paper?

As for age breakdown, do you mean what percent of visits are by each age group? If so, I can generate those numbers. But before I do, I bet the oldest age-classes are over-represented in scrape visits. I can get that data to because I have detailed data on the age structure of the local buck population during the years of the study.

 

[Ski]

Another interesting observation concerning opening scrapes (pawing away the leaves) is that the percentage of older buck visits where older bucks actually work the scrape rises and falls in a somewhat cyclical pattern as the fall progresses. So many hunters have observed that during what they call the "lock-down phase" of the rut, that scrapes also go dead. Well, this is real, but not because bucks stop visiting scrapes. During peak breeding, bucks simply stop working the scrapes. They still visit, but don't paw out the ground. No idea why.

While I've not broke down & detailed scrape info the way you have, I do notice the cycles you describe. It seems to me that when one buck paws a scrape open, multiple bucks rework it. Then it goes dormant for a bit and starts all over again. I see it happen like that pretty much the entire time bucks are in hard horn, so September through March or April.

 

[BSK]

Over 3 years and 643 scrape visits, 36.9% of those visits were by yearling bucks, although 48.9% of the buck population was yearlings. 52.3% of visits were by middle-aged bucks (2 1/2 and 3 1/2) while 43.8% of the population was middle-aged. 10.9% of visits were mature bucks while mature bucks made up 7.3% of the population.

 

[BSK]

Thanks for the link!

 

[Ski]

Have u seen MSU recent scrape study?

That's an interesting chart. I wonder what the sex and age structure was of the areas they studied. I just skimmed through the scrape videos of one of my spots & since 2019 I only caught one 1.5yr old pawing out a scrape or rub/urinating, and it was the same buck in 2020. I saw 2 2.5yr olds doing it. Then multiple 3.5+. Oddly I saw a couple instances where both a 4.5yr and a 5.5yr both spread their legs to urinate. I also saw several instances where 5.5yr olds walked through a scrape but purposely tilted their head to avoid touching the branch or vine. The most peculiar thing was catching 5.5yr olds destroying one scrape then completely ignoring another scrape just 150yds away.

I've not looked through the other properties but I will. The one I did look at is my Ohio place and it's a bachelor pad where bucks often outnumber does, sometimes by a lot. It also has multiple 4.5+ bucks any given year. One of my places here in TN is overrun with does and very young bucks so it'll be interesting to see if it's the same type activity.

 

[BSK]

That's an interesting chart. I wonder what the sex and age structure was of the areas they studied. I just skimmed through the scrape videos of one of my spots & since 2019 I only caught one 1.5yr old pawing out a scrape or rub/urinating, and it was the same buck in 2020. I saw 2 2.5yr olds doing it. Then multiple 3.5+. Oddly I saw a couple instances where both a 4.5yr and a 5.5yr both spread their legs to urinate. I also saw several instances where 5.5yr olds walked through a scrape but purposely tilted their head to avoid touching the branch or vine. The most peculiar thing was catching 5.5yr olds destroying one scrape then completely ignoring another scrape just 150yds away.

I've not looked through the other properties but I will. The one I did look at is my Ohio place and it's a bachelor pad where bucks often outnumber does, sometimes by a lot. It also has multiple 4.5+ bucks any given year. One of my places here in TN is overrun with does and very young bucks so it'll be interesting to see if it's the same type activity.

I'll bet sex ratio and buck age structure play a role.

I too find it interesting how often even older bucks walk through a scrape and completely ignore it, even though I have those exact bucks working that scrape previously. Sometimes they're interested in the scrape and sometimes they're not.

 

[LenS]

I'm amazed even today at how often I think a scrape hasn't been touched and yet several deer have visited. I'm not running video so I can't say for sure, but it seems that almost all of them work the branch. Does especially seem to do this.

Thanks so much for sharing this, BSK. I can't get enough of this kind of research!

 

[deerhunter10]

Very interesting. Especially when you factor in this year and the behavior around it. I wonder what those percentages would be if we were to of had a "normal" year. I know for me the pawing basically stopped the first few days of November and I few random scrapes were opened but not many. But licking branches were wore out this year. Also found looked back on our places and notice the scrapes under a cedar tree or I call the hedge bushes not really sure what they are but very bushy, were hit way more than one under just a normal branch. And some of these locations I use even in summer to get inventory they have been using some of these sites for several years. Please after this year I want to know any statistic possible lead anything at all please share. I know I appreciate it and I'm sure many others do as well.

 

[Ski]

Please after this year I want to know any statistic possible lead anything at all please share. I know I appreciate it and I'm sure many others do as well.

Hahaha yessir no doubt many of us eat up BSK's stats and graphs like kids eat candy on Halloween!

 

[BSK]

Also found looked back on our places and notice the scrapes under a cedar tree or I call the hedge bushes not really sure what they are but very bushy, were hit way more than one under just a normal branch.

That is a simply crazy observation. For the first time ever, we had scrapes showing up under cedar trees this year. Wow, wonder what's up with that?

 

[BSK]

Very interesting. Especially when you factor in this year and the behavior around it. I wonder what those percentages would be if we were to of had a "normal" year. I know for me the pawing basically stopped the first few days of November and I few random scrapes were opened but not many.

Scrape visits this year are down by half compared to the huge acorn year of 2021.

 

[BSK]

Another oddity of this drought year - the huge majority of scraping done by yearlings. In the two previous years - one a great acorn year (2021) the other a poor acorn year (2020) - like the MSU study, middle-aged bucks do the majority of scraping. But in the drought year of 2022, yearlings made up the majority of scrape visits.

 

[BSK]

And although I've posted this elsewhere, I'll post it again. Below are the graphs for time of the day for scrape visits by all bucks 2 1/2 and older. In the first graph, it is the three years separated. Notice there are differences between the years. But I don't know if this is due to acorn conditions (suspect it is) or just variability due to data set size. In the second graph, it is the three years of data combined.

 

[woodsman04]

Your information is so good. Thank you. Whether it's all written down in stone biological science or not, I love reading about this kind of stuff.

 

[BSK]

Your information is so good. Thank you. Whether it's all written down in stone biological science or not, I love reading about this kind of stuff.

The fun part of research is looking for information and other research that shows your data is either somewhat universal to deer in a region, or just driven by local conditions. Sometimes your data matches others' data from other areas. Sometimes it highly unique to that area. But finding out which it is can be very illuminating.

 

[Dumbluck]

I don't chart any data on this but I use scrapes as an indicator for prime times to hunt. This year I felt blind since scraping was almost none existent. I have figured out a system for myself that works extremely well, and I've been very successful using it. I'm typically after 1 maybe 2 bucks in a year if I'm lucky and I try to monitor their scrape activity more than anything when the rut is approaching. Typically the mature bucks might open a scrape early to census the area but they are not real into it. They check the scrape randomly at times. I'm watching for him to make a shift in that scrape behavior. To me that is him shifting what times he shows up and if he shows up more frequent.

If he tends to run scrapes at the middle of the night and then all of a sudden shows up a couple hours before or after daylight I'm going after him. The same if he all of a sudden shows up on consecutive days. I've learned that typically he will move in daylight in under 2 days from that time period and I want to be in the woods. He knows a doe in that area is coming in heat at that point. If he goes dark right after that movement, I know he is with the doe and if the woods are wet, I still hunt him.

This method for me has been extremely productive. I may not have killed the buck every time but it has always put me in the woods exactly when I need to be there and it has placed some really big deer directly in my lap. There is a very short window of opportunity on mature deer and I really want to be on him right when the first does come into heat, because he's the dominant buck and he gets the first doe in his area.

This season though I felt like someone tied blinders on me and spun me around in an office chair because nothing was normal.

 

[BSK]

This season though I felt like someone tied blinders on me and spun me around in an office chair because nothing was normal.

Join the club!

 

[deerhunter10]

That is a simply crazy observation. For the first time ever, we had scrapes showing up under cedar trees this year. Wow, wonder what's up with that?

Unsure. We always have a few under cedar trees but never see a lot of usage. I'm glad I decided to put cameras on them or wouldn't notice. The hedges bushes is normal for us but a lot more usage than normal. It's like instead of working the scrapes normal the bucks this year want to have their whole head in as many limbs as possible. Weird..

 

[BigAl]

I'll bet sex ratio and buck age structure play a role.

I too find it interesting how often even older bucks walk through a scrape and completely ignore it, even though I have those exact bucks working that scrape previously. Sometimes they're interested in the scrape and sometimes they're not.

They're probably not ignoring it. That nose is working it one way or another.

 

[BSK]

They're probably not ignoring it. That nose is working it one way or another.

Agreed. I just wonder why some days they're obsessed with a scrape, messing with it for 5-6 minutes straight. And other days, they just walk right through it like it's not there.

 

[BigAl]

Agreed. I just wonder why some days they're obsessed with a scrape, messing with it for 5-6 minutes straight. And other days, they just walk right through it like it's not there.

From my observation they work it when there's less does in heat. When the action gets heavy, they spend as much time as possible on the move looking for those hot does. But your videos/stats probably tell the true story.