What are the first scrapes to open up?

[phade]

Might be interesting to see who experiences what...

Understanding that some scrapes are year-round conduits of activity (varying degree) along with its licking branch, what scrapes are the first ones you see opening up (meaning a re-breaking of ground with more frequent visits)? Primary, ones near doe beds, along field edges?

I think I'm seeing a trend that scrapes around apple trees get the earliest attention. Probably because they line up with the earliest mast food that is ready around velvet shed time. More of a convenience to where they feed than anything.

[BassBoysLLP]

I see the same in my areas. Apple trees seem to get a lot of early attention. I think the relative location is more important than the absolute location. Primary scrapes in areas with year round habitat (food, water, cover) tend to open early and stay open until heavy snowfall.

[ Post made via Android ]

[dan]

Without a doubt most scrapes I find in September are in staging very close to the bucks actual bed.

[virginiashadow]

I found this beginning scrape the other day. It was about 150 yards or so from where I jumped a bedded buck. His bed was slightly higher in elevation than the actual trail in which I found the scrape. It was pretty big already, maybe a 4 x 4.

[Stanley]

Early season, I think it's just about a given, scrapes will appear between bed and food source. Scrapes don't necessarily have to be the focal point but they are a great clue in establishing direction the buck is traveling and how often. The more rubs and scrapes the more he travels the area.

I don't often hunt a particular scrape, almost never in fact. I do pay close attention to scrapes & rubs to help establish a hunt-able pattern.

[Singing Bridge]

In September when I find a large scrape with a large track it is nearly certain to be near a favored bed of a buck with more than a few birthdays under his belt.

The scrapes I find early on near in-woods food sources are pretty random and small, with some appearing to be made by a good buck but others by young fellas.

Friday I did a spot check on a mature buck I located late in the season last year. I found a scrape about 4 feet in diameter less than two hundred yards from two different buck beds he utilizes.

About 5 years ago a friend of mine asked me to scout his property for buck hunting locations. After gravitating toward what I felt would be buck bedding I found a very large and active scrape, about six feet in length, with a very large track in it. The buck wasn't taken until the gun deer season when he came out behind several does just outside of the bedding area (a daytime mistake)- he was exceptional for that area. I located the very large scrape the first week of September.

[Singing Bridge]

This is the buck I posted about. After reviewing my notes, the scrape he made was seven (7) feet in length and in spots three (3) feet in diameter. The dirt was coal black and it stood out like a beacon- I spotted it quite a distance away. The scrape was about a hundred yards from the thicket at the foot of the ridge where the buck called home. The thicket dropped sharply off the back to a creek below.

I found this scrape the first week of September- the kicker was the extra large tracks in the scrape... the only tracks in the scrape.

[phade]

Do you think that scrape was hit by other bucks?

[Singing Bridge]

Do you think that scrape was hit by other bucks?

In September, the ONE DAY I scouted it, the only track was from the good buck. I'm sure as the season progressed their was activity from other bucks. If another good buck bedded very close I would expect to see sign from them both.

This is what I call a "Buck Bed Scrape"- the closest scrape to a good buck's bed's. It was clear that it belonged to a good buck, and reminded me of a mailbox at the end of a driveway. I'm sure he received mail during the season. Being within a hundred yards of the bedding area, this scrape had the potential to see daytime movement even in a high pressure area.

[Singing Bridge]

Also, if I recall correctly, Dan has taken some very large bucks in the early season off one of these "Buck Bed Scrapes" or what he called a primary scrape.

[dan]

Also, if I recall correctly, Dan has taken some very large bucks in the early season off one of these "Buck Bed Scrapes" or what he called a primary scrape.

Correct... Some of my biggest early season bucks have come off of these scrapes... I am seeing a trend that these "buck bed scrapes" or primary scrapes are located where two different and competing bucks staging areas intersect.

Here are some links to articles about big bucks I have taken over such scrapes:
viewtopic.php?f=159&t=1350

viewtopic.php?f=159&t=1345

[BassBoysLLP]

Also, if I recall correctly, Dan has taken some very large bucks in the early season off one of these "Buck Bed Scrapes" or what he called a primary scrape.

Correct... Some of my biggest early season bucks have come off of these scrapes... I am seeing a trend that these "buck bed scrapes" or primary scrapes are located where two different and competing bucks staging areas intersect.

Here are some links to articles about big bucks I have taken over such scrapes:
viewtopic.php?f=159&t=1350

viewtopic.php?f=159&t=1345

Before or after the bachelor groups bust up? I'm inclined to think during break up almost like they are competing for the bed...

[ Post made via Android ]

[dan]

After break up...

[Stanley]

This is some valuable information on scrapes. Lot of hunters have never seen a primary scrape. This gives some worthful clues of where to find them.

[huntinsonovagun]

The Eberharts' hunting methods focus strongly on primary scrapes. They never mention beds or relations of beds to scrapes in their books (to my knowledge). The only scrapes I have found have been field edge scrapes and I just pretty much disregard those.

Do these primary scrapes tend to be on a transition line within the timber?

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