ghoasthunter wrote:you are 100% correct to have a pattern with scrapes. i have several locations with scrapes that are in a central hub in a swamp and on a mountain where bucks travel from different areas and bedding and the big bucks only show up for a short window then they go dead then only young bucks. they use the same scrapes every year too. and the mature buck show up around 10 to 2 in daylight. im not surprised at all i really think deer are on a time cycle. i think the biggest problem is there are 3 scrapes bedding scrapes that are year round, rut scrapes and random scrapes. what i look for is clusters of scrapes that are coming in from multiple directions [pay attention how the dirt is thrown] they typically come off swamp edges and upper 1/3 on rub lines. one thing if you do hang a camera on these locations is notice how many deer travel the area year round they are like those round about things on highways. its a good place for a mature buck to start his search before chasing and lock down. if your on the wrong scrape at wrong time they are useless. i have years of hunting time on these 2 spots and its been consistent no matter how the season changes from year to year.
want to add the nearest beds to these spots are about 300 yards but all the trails / rub lines come from different bedding areas some are half a mile away and most of the trails are only active during the pre and rut phase the mature bucks take the thicker routs.