Primary scrap areas...

[KIoutdoors]

There is a lot of talk about hunting beds on the forum, but I was just wondering what your guys intake on hunting Primary scrape areas. I discovered this type of sign a couple years ago wile walking in the spring, a tree had 5 scrapes under it and two more trees right next to it had at least one under them. I had never seen something like this before and hunted it the following season. The very first time I sat there I seen the biggest buck I have ever seen wile hunting in Michigan, probably pushing 160, on public land too!! Then I recently purchased Bow Hunting Whitetails the Eberhart Way and was surprised to see that is the sign they like to hunt most. Again just seeing what you guys thought about them.

[dan]

I think its all relative to where the scrape is located... For the most part, mature bucks are nocturnal. 90% or more of the sign they leave ( scrapes, tracks, rub's, etc ) is done at night. The trick is to hunt the 10% or less thats made in daylight.

If I am hunting cruising bucks during the rut, and the scrape happens to be in a funnel or land feature I was planning on hunting anyway, great, I will sit over it...

With that said, I have killed a lot of my best bucks over primary scrapes... But what most don't understand is they are very close to bedded bucks... Several of my biggest bucks were taken over a scrape that was within 200 yards of his and another bucks bedding area where there staging area connects.

Plain and simple they don't often travel long distances from there bedding areas in daylight.

[KIoutdoors]

Thanks!! Do you think that those surveys that people do then say most scraping happens after dark are accurate? A lot of the surveys are done in fields where it makes sense that a mature buck wouldn't show till after dark, the human intrusion of checking the camera, as well the type of scrapes they are monitoring. I agree 100% with you that mature bucks are very nocturnal but like you said there is a little window that they aren't. This leads into my next question, I have noticed most of my mature buck sighting have been mid-day (11am-1pm), have you ever noticed this. I believe they know us better than we know them, and they know when most people leave the stand in the morning and return at for the afternoon hunt, so they are patterning us as we are trying to pattern them.

[Craaaig]

A lot of bucks are killed between 10-2 during the rut because the best time to scent check the does is when they are home. No reason to scent check a doe bedding area at 8 am when the does aren't even settled in yet. Best time to scent check and stay alive is when the does are home and when the average hunter leaves the woods.

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[KIoutdoors]

I agree with that too because I believe that Mature deer stage/bed in a spot early in the morning where they can observe the does as they return to their bedding so they don't have to move much and can stay low (usually the primary scrape area, but not always) and if not disturbed, get up at about 10 or so and make there rounds sent checking bedding areas for hot does, but this is done in maximum cover possible. That is how I managed to shoot my Deer in the picture. I bumped him twice wile walking in to hunt a primary scrape area (I was there 2 hours before first light too!!) I couldn't understand why he was bedding there and not where I thought he should be. Then on the November Nov. 15 the opening of rifle season in Michigan, probably the last chance I would have to try and kill him, I got to my stand 3 hours before first light and was delighted when I didn't bump him. Sure enough about a half hour goes by and here he came from where they were feeding and walked right under my tree. It was still a wile till shooting light, but he bedded down under the same pine he always did. Then about 15 minutes before shooting light a doe came in and started loitering around his scrapes, he got up to come check her out,well she was playing hard to get, good thing cuz I had to wait 15 minutes to shoot him but that time came around and well he only went 20 yards .

[PK_]

That is a pretty awesome encounter that many hunters will never get to experience.

I'm not big on scrape hunting but I know you can kill big bucks over scrapes if hunted correctly during the right timeframe, as you already know.

Have you seen Marsh Bucks and Hill Country Bucks yet? If you like Eberhart's videos you will love these as well if not much more...

[dan]

Thanks!! Do you think that those surveys that people do then say most scraping happens after dark are accurate?

Yes, 90% of scraping in my opinion is done at night.

A lot of the surveys are done in fields where it makes sense that a mature buck wouldn't show till after dark, the human intrusion of checking the camera, as well the type of scrapes they are monitoring.

Human intrusion will alter most mature bucks activity.

I agree 100% with you that mature bucks are very nocturnal but like you said there is a little window that they aren't. This leads into my next question, I have noticed most of my mature buck sighting have been mid-day (11am-1pm), have you ever noticed this.

I have seen some mature bucks move mid day, but not often. However, you get a lot of movement from middle aged / young bucks midday during the cruising phase of rut. A lot of people mistake 2 and 3 year old bucks for mature in my opinion. Bucks 4 and older don't move as much in daylight. The older, the more this is true, and the more the pressure ( like public vs. managed private ) the more this is true. Even during rut, most of the mature bucks I have shot have been near there bedding area.
I have seen shot a few good 2 and 3 year olds cruising middays though.

[KIoutdoors]

That is a pretty awesome encounter that many hunters will never get to experience.

I'm not big on scrape hunting but I know you can kill big bucks over scrapes if hunted correctly during the right timeframe, as you already know.

Have you seen Marsh Bucks and Hill Country Bucks yet? If you like Eberhart's videos you will love these as well if not much more...

Yup and they were great, very educational, well produced

[goldtip5575]

My archery buck from this year was shot as he was working a scrape and licking branch.

[Maple_Ridge]

During halloween week.....many scrapes open up in one 'rut zone' area I hunt. Inside about a 150 yard radius usually I see 10 or more scrapes. The land is all timber....with heavy undercover MFR.....etc. Trails were cut through for the landowner, and deer use them almost no different than there own trails. Scrapes open everywhere on these trails.

And bucks are everywhere during the first 2 weeks of nov. There as well. Nov. 5th I seen 7 different bucks in one morning, which is alot for my area. And some bruisers have been around.

Like mentioned above though, human intrusion factor will shut em down. Fast too. I don't own the land, but others are around the same area cutting wood and clearing trails for michigans firearm season.

I am blessed to hunt there, but it can be fustrating at times.

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[KIoutdoors]

I am blessed to hunt there, but it can be fustrating at times.

[ Post made via Android ]

Amen to that!!!! Love the challenge that it presents but it's tough sometimes. Ya seven deer is good for my area too, I am happy to see one hahah

[Swampthing]

I hunted a new Public Land area this last fall. I only had time to limitedly scout. I hunted a scrape about 150 yards off the bedding area and had a decent 2 year old work the scrape 2 hours before dark. It was fun to watch.

[Craaaig]

Another thing I have noticed while monitoring scrapes with trail cams is the number of does that use a primary scrape out number the bucks by quite a bit. I am in SE MI though and the deer herd ratio doesn't really give the bucks a fair chance because they are outnumbered so bad. Primary scrapes are a communication center for deer. If you know where the buck's bed is you could ambush him at a better spot than the scrape.

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[MOBIGBUCKS]

I found one this past winter that was bigger than a car hood...I'm not sure if it was a primary scrape or not. That was definately the biggest scrape I've ever seen

Several years ago, I found an area tore up with scrapes like the ones described above. I hunted it a couple times with no success. The wind was very fickle and swirled a lot in that location.

[SaddleMaster]

KIoutdoors, was your buck bedding downwind of the scrape? In hill country I find a lot of primary scrape areas at the end of the valleys where it starts to go up to the head of the valley. My theory is the does are bedding on those hillsides and the scent from the scrapes are rising into them. The buck will freshen them up before daylight and bed down up on the ridge downwind of the scrape. That's also how I killed the buck in my avatar.

I think John hunts flatter land than I do and I wonder if hunting within sight of the scrape would work in hill country especially since they are mostly in the valleys and the wind would be rough. Or if it's better to just always hunt up on the ridge downwind of the scrape area.

So now my question is, now that I'm becoming more of an evening hunter...How is the activity in these areas during the evening? Will the buck do the reverse in the evening, i.e. get there before the does and monitor them leaving for the feeding areas?