fresh feburary scrapes.....
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Re: fresh feburary scrapes.....
I pulled both my cameras 2 weeks ago...both were on scrapes..but also natural deer travel cooridors...
I'd have to look but I don't think they were worked since rifle season...
Pressure surely curbed that...
I've found active scrapes in May while turkey hunting...I believe it had doe tracks in it if I remember correctly...
I spend a lot of time in the woods year round chasin the coon dog...I've heard some stay used year round but have never witnessed it...
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I'd have to look but I don't think they were worked since rifle season...
Pressure surely curbed that...
I've found active scrapes in May while turkey hunting...I believe it had doe tracks in it if I remember correctly...
I spend a lot of time in the woods year round chasin the coon dog...I've heard some stay used year round but have never witnessed it...
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Re: fresh feburary scrapes.....
A friend of mine attended a deer management class (land and plots) at the Whitetail Institute with Dr. Kroll, aka the Dr. Deer last spring. I had my friend ask this very question about late season scrapes. Dr. Kroll's answer was that there was a slight increase in the testosterone level just prior to shedding of the antlers.
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Re: fresh feburary scrapes.....
I just put a cam on an open scrape.
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- hunter_mike
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Re: fresh feburary scrapes.....
I found a couple scrapes today that looked fairly active.
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Re: fresh feburary scrapes.....
I found one yesterday to
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- Singing Bridge
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Re: fresh feburary scrapes.....
This really shouldn't be as perplexing as it is, with all due respect to Dr. Kroll... if he stated the bucks have a slight increase in testosterone right before antler drop I have no doubt that they do.
However, there is a simpler explanation for all these scrapes being hit right now and we see it every year. For those Beasts that are in snowmelt areas or where frozen ground has begun to thaw due to warmer temperatures it is time that we use a different sense other than our vision. It will be most noticeable in areas where there were good sized, mulitple primary scrapes during the last rut... it is the same with lesser scrape areas although our weak noses tell us little.
All of my friends are finding fresh scrapes right now and it is because the ground is thawing and the old scrapes stink to high heaven, like a barnyard. This stimulus is very strong to all deer and they scrape away. The ammonia odor in big scrapes is very strong as the urine continues to break down, as does the feces and glandular secretions around these scrape areas. I have scrapes that have just been hit and opened again and the soil stinks so bad like bacterial breakdown and ammonia that it would make some of us gag.
It is so strong that deer walking through it have so much scent on their hooves that other deer may scrape in various areas where the stinky deer walked... if you found a primary scrape area or a very large scrape or two last fall, go revisit them and inhale the stench... you will get it.
However, there is a simpler explanation for all these scrapes being hit right now and we see it every year. For those Beasts that are in snowmelt areas or where frozen ground has begun to thaw due to warmer temperatures it is time that we use a different sense other than our vision. It will be most noticeable in areas where there were good sized, mulitple primary scrapes during the last rut... it is the same with lesser scrape areas although our weak noses tell us little.
All of my friends are finding fresh scrapes right now and it is because the ground is thawing and the old scrapes stink to high heaven, like a barnyard. This stimulus is very strong to all deer and they scrape away. The ammonia odor in big scrapes is very strong as the urine continues to break down, as does the feces and glandular secretions around these scrape areas. I have scrapes that have just been hit and opened again and the soil stinks so bad like bacterial breakdown and ammonia that it would make some of us gag.
It is so strong that deer walking through it have so much scent on their hooves that other deer may scrape in various areas where the stinky deer walked... if you found a primary scrape area or a very large scrape or two last fall, go revisit them and inhale the stench... you will get it.
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Re: fresh feburary scrapes.....
All sizes and ages of bucks are stimulated with various ages partaking in the scrape making endeavor. Literally 2 hours ago I had a friend approach and speak to me about the huge scrape area he had found with fresh activity /scraping and a 4 finger wide walking track in a new scrape.
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Re: fresh feburary scrapes.....
I just received a trail cam pick of a pope & young sparring w a small dink on Feb 1st. Both had full set of antlers
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Re: fresh feburary scrapes.....
I might be wrong but I thought they scrape all year long ? kind of like a community scrap ?
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Re: fresh feburary scrapes.....
daveynewman wrote:I might be wrong but I thought they scrape all year long ? kind of like a community scrap ?
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Different areas / regions / states may have different findings. Here in Michigan, the scrapes that are in high interaction areas do tend to get used most of the year. The licking branches are what get the most attention, sometimes I see a little bit of pawing, but mostly some tracks and some scuffle marks under the licking branch. I see this a lot during the winter.
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Re: fresh feburary scrapes.....
I see this at just about every property just about every year. Scrapes are utilized in different ways throughout the course of the year and many people associate scrapes as strictly a part of breeding behavior.
Deer are olfactory based animals and they use scrapes just about year round for social and communication reasons. It just so happens that there are quite a few enticing smells for a whitetail in the time period surrounding the breeding game and being olfactory based animals, the scraping game really ramps up as deer increasingly utilize their incredible sense of smell. It is far from rare to find a scrape this time of year... Not is it only young bucks, or bucks for that matter.
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Deer are olfactory based animals and they use scrapes just about year round for social and communication reasons. It just so happens that there are quite a few enticing smells for a whitetail in the time period surrounding the breeding game and being olfactory based animals, the scraping game really ramps up as deer increasingly utilize their incredible sense of smell. It is far from rare to find a scrape this time of year... Not is it only young bucks, or bucks for that matter.
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- Bigb
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Re: fresh feburary scrapes.....
Last year I had three bucks in one picture making rubs in late February. I remember pulling the camera and looking at these trees and not remembering these rubs when I pulled the chip in December. Sure enough, pics of bucks tearing apart these.
Just pulled all my cameras last week. Mid January I had four different bucks chasing a doe that had to be hot. Two years ago our neighbor at the farm watched 4 bucks trying to breed a doe. Funny thing was one of the bucks was one of our big ones that had lost his antlers and was getting pushed around my a decent 6 point. He wound up watching that 6 point breed the doe. Always something new I learn every year.
On a side note, pulling the cameras this weekend I had one set of pictures of two raccoons breeding for 45 minutes, all in front of my cameras. I must have 200 pictures of these raccoons having fun in front of my camera.
Just pulled all my cameras last week. Mid January I had four different bucks chasing a doe that had to be hot. Two years ago our neighbor at the farm watched 4 bucks trying to breed a doe. Funny thing was one of the bucks was one of our big ones that had lost his antlers and was getting pushed around my a decent 6 point. He wound up watching that 6 point breed the doe. Always something new I learn every year.
On a side note, pulling the cameras this weekend I had one set of pictures of two raccoons breeding for 45 minutes, all in front of my cameras. I must have 200 pictures of these raccoons having fun in front of my camera.
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Re: fresh feburary scrapes.....
Found some fresh May scrapes this weekend. I took some closeup video. It is sign that i didn't really pay a ton of attention to in the past but i am starting to see there are some finer details. Such as the tine marks on the overhead branch. Hopefully i can use this sign to check during the season to see if a buck bedding area is hot or not.
[bbvideo=425,350]https://youtu.be/6M-9xcgGF88[/bbvideo]
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- Bayshorebuck8
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Re: fresh feburary scrapes.....
Nice!!!
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