Scrapes vs no scrapes?

[BuckHunter511]

Hunting the farm this week. I have a hot fresh big scrape close to a creek with several smaller scrapes and rubs on the ridge above. Currently not running cameras. Should I hunt over this or an area where I saw 9 does moving through on the muzzy opener, on the opposite side of the farm in a creek bottom with not a lot of buck sign, but the does are there.

 

[huvrman]

I'd hunt where the does are.

 

[cbhunter]

Follow the does. I've never got hung up on hunting across personally

 

[backyardtndeer]

Where the does are, the bucks will be checking.

 

[DoubleRidge]

I love finding fresh buck sign....but very soon its all gonna all be about the does....hunt the areas where you know the does are.

 

[redblood]

I love finding fresh buck sign....but very soon its all gonna all be about the does....hunt the areas where you know the does are.

The scrapes are there for a reason. Hunt em till prak breeding and you will have does and bucks filing through

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Follow the does. I've never got hung up on hunting across scrapes personally

Me either. I rely on them heavily for buck inventory (cameras). Quits often I'll hunt near scrapes, but it's not because the scrape is there, it's because it is a high traffic area - hence why the scrape is there. I'd hunt the terrain and pinch points where deer likely travel.

 

[Ski]

Just because you haven't seen does at the area with scrapes doesn't mean they're not there. Scrapes are communication hubs, the bulletin boards of the woods. If there's an area with scrapes then does use that area. Bucks put them there to advertise for the girls.

 

[mike243]

Killed a doe that was at a scrape grunting. 3.5 years old dressed 72lbs. expected to see a buck when I heard the grunt.

 

[philsanchez76]

I think it depends on where your local does are at in their breeding cycle. In Davidson/Rutherford last week was a great week for hunting scrapes (or at least 20-30 yards downwind of a scrape). But this week the scrapes seem to be starting to go dead, meaning those bucks are now about to get on the first hot does.

 

[Boll Weevil]

I don't have numbers but much scraping activity occurs under cover of darkness.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Ironically, several of my stands have scrape activity near them right now, and does are also regularly seen from those stands.

I just put up a camera today by a stand that I have never hunted in the bottom. Find two fresh scrapes under the tree that stand is in. I know does are regularly in that area, have watched them over the years from a stand up on a hillside looking over the bottom.

 

[WestTn Huntin man]

A scrape with a licking branch above it is my choice. I have cut a licking branch off and moved it to a area close to stand and made a mock scrape under it. Does and Bucks will both stop to check it out and leave their scent.

 

[ROVERBOY]

I've found more scrapes this time than rubs.

 

[Bgoodman30]

Hunting the farm this week. I have a hot fresh big scrape close to a creek with several smaller scrapes and rubs on the ridge above. Currently not running cameras. Should I hunt over this or an area where I saw 9 does moving through on the muzzy opener, on the opposite side of the farm in a creek bottom with not a lot of buck sign, but the does are there.

Down wind of those does!

 

[Terrier]

In all the times I've been in the woods deer hunting, I've only witnessed scrape activity one time. Where I hunt, it's not unusual to spot a scrape from in the tree stand that I didn't see before hunting day. Lots of scrapes, but almost never a deer near them during daylight.

All that to say, I do not use scrapes as a determining factor of where to hunt. That determination is generally made in favor of intersecting trails that show use.