Scrape or Bed?

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Scrape or Bed?

Unread postby SMS79 » Tue Mar 14, 2017 1:27 am

I am pretty new to the Hunting Beast and new to beast tactics. Additionally I have only gotten a couple of opportunities to get out and do some post season scouting since the reading and podcast listening I've done. My first trip out I actually found and GPS marked a few beds and was pretty pumped about being able to find a little bit of what I was learning about on the forum. The terrain on the property is low rolling hills (< 75') and creek bottoms. The vast majority of the property is covered in large hardwood timber. No big ag in the area but a couple of decent sized food plots & planted pastures (5-10 acres each). Noting the terrain, from what I'd learned on the forum, I was expecting the beds to be spread out, tough to spot, and definitely not worn down to the dirt. All of the beds I found that first trip fit the bill and I was able to confirm they were beds by finding hair in them. So, my second trip out is where the question arises. I go to the same property to walk a different section from my first trip. I'm not very far from the first area and looking in similar locations, but this time I'm not finding any beds. Also, looking for shed antlers and I'm striking out there as well. Nearing the end of the time I've got, I come across what I originally assume is a leftover scrape made kinda late after most of the leaves have dropped. It's under what appears to be a textbook licking branch and the tip of the branch is broken as they frequently are from being worked by a buck. The scrape hasn't been pawed lately but there are a couple of average/decent looking tracks in it made since the last rain and there are some average sized droppings at one end. I'm about to turn and head back to my truck when I notice some hair in the "scrape". Upon closer inspection, I realize, though there is not a ton of it, there is a fairly consistent spread of individual hairs over a good portion of the bare patch. I measured the bare patch at about 43" long. I step back and begin looking at the surroundings, and the placement just doesn't quite seem like where a bed would be placed, at least as I understand it. It's not out of the question, but it definitely doesn't seem like a spot that would draw a deer to bed repeatedly enough to wear out a bare spot. It's in the woods on a ridge top but it's relatively open in that area. It's off to one side of the crest of the ridge but the ridge top doesn't have a lot of cover. It has some, but not a lot and not very thick at all. It's not really up against an obstacle. The nearest thing to an obstacle is the tree containing the supposed licking branch and it's probably 8 or 10 feet away. There is a decent dropoff looking down into the creek bottom, but the spot is located about 10 yards or so from the dropoff with no visibility below from the spot. The spot just appears (to my untrained eye) to lack some of those basic advantages that a primary, worn-to-the-dirt, buck bed would have. Basically what this all boils down to is the hair throws me off. My question is would you think it plausible to find hair in an old scrape like that due to regular scrape activity? Or would it be a more reasonable conclusion to draw that since there is hair in it, it is most likely a bed?

I guess a follow-up question would be, have you ever seen any sort of situation where a buck beds in a scrape, or maybe vice-versa, where a buck begins scraping in its bed?

It is probably also worth noting that this is a piece of private property (approx. 250 acres) that sees relatively light pressure. The vast majority of the human activity on the property is around the fields and food plots, with very little out in the woods. This spot is on a ridge that contains one of the main food plots on the property and is approximately 110 yards off the end of the plot.


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Re: Scrape or Bed?

Unread postby <DK> » Tue Mar 14, 2017 3:37 am

Welcome SMS79!
I will have to upload the pic later bc I dont have it handy right now, but I have seen what you are speaking of. Twice actually, neither I actually figured out or even planned to hunt them. The one I took pics of I thought was a buck for sure, it didnt have a good licking branch but it had an old rub in good placement for a bed. Exactly what you are speaking of just all around a goofy situation and unexplained when looking at it - fresh droppings, hair completely threw me off... I cannot say on your situation for sure w/o seeing it. Most of the scrapes I find are along doe travel routes or bedding and many times I find fresh doe tracks right through the middle of them, even this time of year. So my theory is these spots are just a doe or young buck maybe...bc obviously something laid down there, laid tracks & scat and it most likely is not a big buck... not sure the point of it but I find doe beds right on trails all the time. They will just lay down together... maybe a night bed or just them being ignorant.

Does this area have high deer population? Also, where there multiple scrapes in the area or just this one?
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Re: Scrape or Bed?

Unread postby dan » Tue Mar 14, 2017 4:18 am

They do occasionally bed in scrapes. Most likely an aggressive move to claim it from rival bucks that are also using it.
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Re: Scrape or Bed?

Unread postby SMS79 » Tue Mar 14, 2017 4:56 am

Darkknight54 wrote:Welcome SMS79!
I will have to upload the pic later bc I dont have it handy right now, but I have seen what you are speaking of. Twice actually, neither I actually figured out or even planned to hunt them. The one I took pics of I thought was a buck for sure, it didnt have a good licking branch but it had an old rub in good placement for a bed. Exactly what you are speaking of just all around a goofy situation and unexplained when looking at it - fresh droppings, hair completely threw me off... I cannot say on your situation for sure w/o seeing it. Most of the scrapes I find are along doe travel routes or bedding and many times I find fresh doe tracks right through the middle of them, even this time of year. So my theory is these spots are just a doe or young buck maybe...bc obviously something laid down there, laid tracks & scat and it most likely is not a big buck... not sure the point of it but I find doe beds right on trails all the time. They will just lay down together... maybe a night bed or just them being ignorant.

Does this area have high deer population? Also, where there multiple scrapes in the area or just this one?



Darkknight, thanks for the reply. I've been kicking myself ever since for not taking a pic. I'm going to run over and snap one next time I'm on the property.

To answer your questions, the deer density is not very high on this property. It's actually much lower than it used to be. On this walk, this was the only scrape I saw in the area.
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Re: Scrape or Bed?

Unread postby SMS79 » Tue Mar 14, 2017 5:01 am

dan wrote:They do occasionally bed in scrapes. Most likely an aggressive move to claim it from rival bucks that are also using it.


Thanks for the reply Dan! Would you say the presence of hair suggests something bedded there at least once, or could hair have been disbursed like that through just normal scrape activity? I've never noticed hair in a scrape like that before, but I can't rightly say I've ever looked for it. You've got me paying attention to things I've never looked for before. :D
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Re: Scrape or Bed?

Unread postby <DK> » Tue Mar 14, 2017 5:06 am

Ok i was just curious bc the last one I found was high population and scrapes were every where in the area. Never seen anything like it! I will upload the pic tonight when i get home to my hard drive.

Thanks Dan for that info! Right now I am thinking about a hilarious image of a dink laying in a scrape, surrounded by his disgruntled friends wanting to check for does.
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Re: Scrape or Bed?

Unread postby JoeRE » Tue Mar 14, 2017 5:33 am

There are scrapes, and there are beds, and there are some locations that are BOTH. I am certain of that. Probably varies a lot depending where you are at and what bucks are around, this is what I have seen.

Here's a thread about it. http://thehuntingbeast.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=38543&hilit=buck+bed+scrape
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Re: Scrape or Bed?

Unread postby SMS79 » Tue Mar 14, 2017 5:37 am

Darkknight54 wrote:Ok i was just curious bc the last one I found was high population and scrapes were every where in the area. Never seen anything like it! I will upload the pic tonight when i get home to my hard drive.

Thanks Dan for that info! Right now I am thinking about a hilarious image of a dink laying in a scrape, surrounded by his disgruntled friends wanting to check for does.


:lol: Good call! I can see a broke-off spike laying there snoring and drooling like he's in a recliner on a Sunday afternoon with a Nascar race on. Then he wakes up with a big'un standing over him, and he's like, "What?!?" :shifty:
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Re: Scrape or Bed?

Unread postby SMS79 » Tue Mar 14, 2017 6:01 am

JoeRE wrote:There are scrapes, and there are beds, and there are some locations that are BOTH. I am certain of that. Probably varies a lot depending where you are at and what bucks are around, this is what I have seen.

Here's a thread about it. http://thehuntingbeast.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=38543&hilit=buck+bed+scrape


I appreciate the reply and the link Joe. I scanned the thread briefly and that's amazing. Can't wait to read through it more thoroughly. I don't know if the spot I found is like what you're describing, but I didn't even know something like that existed so its very eye-opening either way.

Btw, I'm a big fan of the podcast interviews you've done. Thanks for the info you're willing to share. I feel like it's helping me through my beast learning curve a ton.
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Re: Scrape or Bed?

Unread postby Nocturnal » Tue Mar 14, 2017 6:07 am

JoeRE wrote:There are scrapes, and there are beds, and there are some locations that are BOTH. I am certain of that. Probably varies a lot depending where you are at and what bucks are around, this is what I have seen.

Here's a thread about it. http://thehuntingbeast.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=38543&hilit=buck+bed+scrape


Joe don't you have pictures of them bedding in scrapes?

Edit: I didn't see the link at first! :lol:
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Re: Scrape or Bed?

Unread postby <DK> » Tue Mar 14, 2017 6:29 am

Well those sure aren't dinks! WOW very cool and eye opening about 1/2 day pics & 1/2 night. Interesting awesome pics JoeRE that throws my does theory out the window and you said in the thread seeing multiple bucks in these certain ones. Good thread SMS79
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Re: Scrape or Bed?

Unread postby mike perry » Tue Mar 14, 2017 8:43 am

This is unrelated to weather you found a bed or not but I read in your post that when you went back to scout you were having trouble finding more beds and were not finding any sheds either.

What I would suggest to do and what works best for me is when you go into the timber this time of year if your scouting just scout for sign, don't look for sheds, if you find one you find one but concentrate on scouting for sign. If you want to find sheds then just look for them and don't worry about sign. At least for me if I'm trying to do both scout and shed hunt I miss to much, I may not find what I missed till a year or two later and I'm like, why didn't I notice this all along, well it was because I was trying to scout and scan the ground for sheds.
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Re: Scrape or Bed?

Unread postby SMS79 » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:01 am

mike perry wrote:This is unrelated to weather you found a bed or not but I read in your post that when you went back to scout you were having trouble finding more beds and were not finding any sheds either.

What I would suggest to do and what works best for me is when you go into the timber this time of year if your scouting just scout for sign, don't look for sheds, if you find one you find one but concentrate on scouting for sign. If you want to find sheds then just look for them and don't worry about sign. At least for me if I'm trying to do both scout and shed hunt I miss to much, I may not find what I missed till a year or two later and I'm like, why didn't I notice this all along, well it was because I was trying to scout and scan the ground for sheds.


Mike, that's a really good point. I'm probably trying to do a little too much, and I'm probably missing both sign and sheds along the way. :doh: It's a tough call though, b/c I've got a #1 target buck using this property that is pretty phenomenal for my area, and I found his sheds last year from his 3.5 yr old rack (based on our history with him). I reckon its a question of whether I'd rather find sheds or improve my chances to get a crack at him. No brainer, right? ;) I'm going to have to rethink these priorities b/c 5.5 yr olds don't make many mistakes.
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Re: Scrape or Bed?

Unread postby H2archer » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:19 am

mike perry wrote:This is unrelated to weather you found a bed or not but I read in your post that when you went back to scout you were having trouble finding more beds and were not finding any sheds either.

What I would suggest to do and what works best for me is when you go into the timber this time of year if your scouting just scout for sign, don't look for sheds, if you find one you find one but concentrate on scouting for sign. If you want to find sheds then just look for them and don't worry about sign. At least for me if I'm trying to do both scout and shed hunt I miss to much, I may not find what I missed till a year or two later and I'm like, why didn't I notice this all along, well it was because I was trying to scout and scan the ground for sheds.


Mike, Very good point! I seem to have the opposite problem. I go out looking for sheds and end up following rub lines and wondering off on points looking for beds, scrapes or whatever catches my eye and never find a single shed lol Oh well, I like to think the information I am collecting will hopefully be more valuable than the sheds I'm probably walking by.
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Re: Scrape or Bed?

Unread postby H2archer » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:34 am

JoeRE wrote:There are scrapes, and there are beds, and there are some locations that are BOTH. I am certain of that. Probably varies a lot depending where you are at and what bucks are around, this is what I have seen.

Here's a thread about it. http://thehuntingbeast.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=38543&hilit=buck+bed+scrape


Awesome thread, Joe. I had no idea...


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