Scraping everywhere

[Popcorn]

Mapping new ground yesterday came down a 250 yard long cleared but narrow ridge top that was lined with scrapes on both sides. 25 yards wide and both edges have scrapes of all sizes and ages every few trees apart. About 1/3 of them still active, some receiving a lot of traffic. It's obviously a very high traffic area.

 

[rem270]

I found a new one yesterday checking traps. I have always found fresh and new ones through February.

 

[BSK]

I usually see a big spike in scraping mid to late January. I'm assuming it is due to female fawns reaching puberty and entering estrus for the first time.

 

[TNTreeman]

Shed hunting last Saturday found about 10 fresh scrapes along both sides of a logging road . I've never seen or gotten pics of a mature buck in this area.

 

[philsanchez76]

That's funny I found a new scrape yesterday just going in to retrieve few trail cams. There was a faint trail I ended up following into a brand new area on the edge of a thicket ive never known about. Would've never seen that faint trail unless that fresh scrape had caught my eye.

 

[@fulldraw]

I think the abundance of acorns are causing scrapes to pop up in locations I've never seen before.

 

[tree_ghost]

Shed hunting last Saturday found about 10 fresh scrapes along both sides of a logging road . I've never seen or gotten pics of a mature buck in this area.

You ever found sheds this early?

 

[Madbowh]

Sounds like some yearlings coming in heat shouldn't be too many mature ones left

 

[backyardtndeer]

Doe fawns may be coming in for their first time. I didn't notice any new scrapes here on my walk yesterday.

 

[TNTreeman]

You ever found sheds this early?

Yessir. Saw several deer half racked and smaller ones totally gone last week or so of the season . Last year I saw two shooters sporting half racks right after Christmas. I've gotten several pics this week of decent bucks still holding on so it varies.

 

[philsanchez76]

Yessir. Saw several deer half racked and smaller ones totally gone last week or so of the season . Last year I saw two shooters sporting half racks right after Christmas. I've gotten several pics this week of decent bucks still holding on so it varies.

Last day of season this year I saw 2 bucks feeding together each missing a side.

 

[BSK]

Yessir. Saw several deer half racked and smaller ones totally gone last week or so of the season . Last year I saw two shooters sporting half racks right after Christmas. I've gotten several pics this week of decent bucks still holding on so it varies.

Antler drop timing is all about stress. Low stress, and bucks will hold antlers until late February and into March (and even early April). In a highly stressed environment, bucks can drop in late December.

On my place, until last year I had never seen a buck drop antlers before late February. But after the horrible drought year of 2022, most of the bucks on my place had dropped antlers before New Years. Saw my first one without antlers the day after Christmas.

 

[tree_ghost]

Antler drop timing is all about stress. Low stress, and bucks will hold antlers until late February and into March (and even early April). In a highly stressed environment, bucks can drop in late December.

On my place, until last year I had never seen a buck drop antlers before late February. But after the horrible drought year of 2022, most of the bucks on my place had dropped antlers before New Years. Saw my first one without antlers the day after Christmas.

I typically don't even bother to look until March and usually it's towards the end before I start to get into them good.

 

[dgolden]

I usually see a big spike in scraping mid to late January. I'm assuming it is due to female fawns reaching puberty and entering estrus for the first time.

Interesting! My cameras have been on fire the last few days with bucks hitting scrapes.

 

[BSK]

Interesting! My cameras have been on fire the last few days with bucks hitting scrapes.

Even before I started using cameras, I would notice this surge in activity. Every year post-hunt, I would walk almost every inch of my property mapping out every rub I could find. When doing this, I noticed that some of the biggest rubs of the year wouldn't show up until mid to late January. I learned to delay my rub-mapping until mid-February to catch these late rubs.

I always wondered what the cause of the late rubbing was. After running cameras through this period, I've come to believe I have a population of female fawns born early enough that they reach puberty (sexual maturity) earlier than fawns in nearby regions. This causes a concentration of the oldest bucks in the area as they all vie for these sexually mature fawns, hence a sudden and often massive surge in rubbing and scraping, including some REALLY big rubs.