Old Tactic/New Twist

[dan]

I would be willing to bet its as simple as the bucks that visit regularly in daylight are using scrapes close to buck bedding.

[Divergent]

I would be willing to bet its as simple as the bucks that visit regularly in daylight are using scrapes close to buck bedding.

I would’ve expected to see him more than just those 2 weeks if that were the case. Unless you think it was a rut bed. If so, I found 3 buck beds a good distance further along the ridge...maybe 1/4-1/2 mile away. They didn’t appear to be used frequently, so maybe a rut bed. Either way, he was consistent with regards to wind and time of morning.

Have you ever seen scrape activity so consistent with specific winds and times?

[Divergent]

Good topic. I also have been watching a certain scrape for the last two seasons. Last season my #1 target buck for this spot worked the scrape three times during the rut. One of those days, Nov 9th, was the exact day he showed during the 2016 season. Several other bucks came to the scrape, two of which were shooters in my book. Had two young bucks come by, but not to check the scrape while I was hunting there. Neither busted me.

Also had a few does check the scrape, but I'm not sure if this is a Primary Scrape? The steep ridges around this bottom have many trails and some beds. I have been looking for his primary bed in this location, but until I find it I plan on hunting this scrape. This is big woods and I believe this buck travels a circuit. He visited the scrape more often this past season, about every 2-3 weeks.

I also found another scrape up higher on a ridge top and placed a cam and he showed up once there. Been doing a ton of scouting and found a couple promising beds. Most of the videos were daytime, both mornings and evenings. Also very low hunting pressure in this area. I also would like to hear what you fellow beast members have experienced while hunting scrapes.

I hear people talk a lot about circuits. To me the “circuit” is the process of a front. Wind conditions will normally go in a “circuit” as a front pushes thru. A few years ago I started looking up historical data for certain cams and noticed it seemed to revolve around those fronts and certain wind directions within them. They will take about 2-4 days depending on how fast the front pushes thru.

[Divergent]

I also run trail cameras over scrapes all fall until gun season starts. My results have been random at best. I get a lot of videos of bucks during daylight and some of them are nice bucks but I have yet to find any kind of pattern like you have. I've tried cross referencing wind direction, temp, precip, moon phase and time of year and havent found anything conclusive. The only thing I have found to be consistent is the bucks seem to really hit the licking branches hard the last 10 days of September every year and its usually during daylight. Its too bad our Bow season dont open until October 1st. It sounds like you have a good pattern figured out. I would definitely be jumping all over that...good luck.

It could be random for me as well since it’s only two sites in two seasons. I plan to gather more information next season. Thanks

[Divergent]

I am in Ohio but I have seen some of the same patterns here.
The scrapes that I have cameras on get the licking branches hit all year and are near bedding so I am calling them primarily.
I see the activity intensify through the pre rut which is the 2nd half of October, then around the first few days of November they go cold until around thanksgiving and then they get hit through the middle of December.
I think they stop hitting the scrapes when there are a lot of does are in heat and they are cruseing or chaseing.

They seem to hit them more in daylight the closer to the rut it gets before the does come in to heat and after most of the does have been bred.

I would consider them high odds during those time periods.

Yeah, that’s definitely what I’m finding as well.

[Divergent]

Interesting observation! I always like reading hunters findings like these. My own opinion that I formed while doing similar camera work, is there is a lot of variables that must come together to get consistent daylight pics.

Think sex ratio, age structure and pressure are the big 3. Best scrapes I ever set a camera on were right on the edge of a big bedding area, which multiple mature bucks used. Those scrapes would get repeat daytime pics almost daily.

Look forward to further intell.

I’m like you Boogieman1...that’s why I love this site so much. There’s a lot of detail oriented and data crunching people on here that have unique insight. I’d like to hear about some things you’ve picked up on.

Main thing I have been able to pick up on that helps me for hunting purposes is timing. To me it's the most reliable, if I get pics of a buck using a particular bedding area, travel route etc.... I expect the samething at around the same time under similar conditions. And I set up on it. Cams on scrapes are often misleading atleast to me for the fact you might only get one daylight pic in months, but he could be scent checking it everyday in daylight from a short distance away. I prefer pinch points close to bedding or areas of interest to gather my Intel. Sounds like you got a pretty good handle on the timing, good luck.

I think you brought up an excellent point here. They can be very misleading indeed.

[Divergent]

Interesting observation! I always like reading hunters findings like these. My own opinion that I formed while doing similar camera work, is there is a lot of variables that must come together to get consistent daylight pics.

Think sex ratio, age structure and pressure are the big 3. Best scrapes I ever set a camera on were right on the edge of a big bedding area, which multiple mature bucks used. Those scrapes would get repeat daytime pics almost daily.

Look forward to further intell.

I’m like you Boogieman1...that’s why I love this site so much. There’s a lot of detail oriented and data crunching people on here that have unique insight. I’d like to hear about some things you’ve picked up on.

Main thing I have been able to pick up on that helps me for hunting purposes is timing. To me it's the most reliable, if I get pics of a buck using a particular bedding area, travel route etc.... I expect the samething at around the same time under similar conditions. And I set up on it. Cams on scrapes are often misleading atleast to me for the fact you might only get one daylight pic in months, but he could be scent checking it everyday in daylight from a short distance away. I prefer pinch points close to bedding or areas of interest to gather my Intel. Sounds like you got a pretty good handle on the timing, good luck.

I think you brought up an excellent point here. They can be very misleading indeed.

[brancher147]

There are often scrapes where I hunt, but I am not hunting there because there are scrapes. Sure, bucks will check them during the day, just depends on where they are, mostly in relation to bedding, but also secure cruising routes checking doe bedding.

[Rob loper]

Im am not claiming to be an expert or anything about scrapes rubs and deer sign but. If there isnt buck bedding within 100 yards of any sign i find. I walk right by it. Because from what ive have been drilling into my own head. These scrapes rubs etc are too far from buck bedding to be visited in daylight hours. Im not saying it doesn’t happen. But from what im learning. Im pushing the envelope and stacking the odds in my favor getting close to beds. Ive sat these big scrapes before during the rut stages and never see anything. Im not saying they wont produce a mature buck but odds are like ive said. Night time visits. John eberhart is a huge primary scrape hunter he pretty much bases his whole season around the rut.ive watched all his movies read all his books and ive talked to john a few times on phone. He is a very knowledgeable guy and very successful guy. But i want to hunt all year not just focusing on the rut. Finding beds and sign in close proximity of bedding is gonna allow me to stack the odds in my favor to have an encounter or shot opportunity at a mature buck. All year Not just during the rut stages. Please i am not downing John eberhart he is a successful deer hunter. But imo his tactics are just not for me but the big scrapes that are not withinn 80-100 yards of bedding im walking right by them

[Mike32]

I am in Ohio but I have seen some of the same patterns here.
The scrapes that I have cameras on get the licking branches hit all year and are near bedding so I am calling them primarily.
I see the activity intensify through the pre rut which is the 2nd half of October, then around the first few days of November they go cold until around thanksgiving and then they get hit through the middle of December.
I think they stop hitting the scrapes when there are a lot of does are in heat and they are cruseing or chaseing.

They seem to hit them more in daylight the closer to the rut it gets before the does come in to heat and after most of the does have been bred.

I would consider them high odds during those time periods.

I have found similar finding in the some of the area's I hunt hear in central PA

[Divergent]

Im am not claiming to be an expert or anything about scrapes rubs and deer sign but. If there isnt buck bedding within 100 yards of any sign i find. I walk right by it. Because from what ive have been drilling into my own head. These scrapes rubs etc are too far from buck bedding to be visited in daylight hours. Im not saying it doesn’t happen. But from what im learning. Im pushing the envelope and stacking the odds in my favor getting close to beds. Ive sat these big scrapes before during the rut stages and never see anything. Im not saying they wont produce a mature buck but odds are like ive said. Night time visits. John eberhart is a huge primary scrape hunter he pretty much bases his whole season around the rut.ive watched all his movies read all his books and ive talked to john a few times on phone. He is a very knowledgeable guy and very successful guy. But i want to hunt all year not just focusing on the rut. Finding beds and sign in close proximity of bedding is gonna allow me to stack the odds in my favor to have an encounter or shot opportunity at a mature buck. All year Not just during the rut stages. Please i am not downing John eberhart he is a successful deer hunter. But imo his tactics are just not for me but the big scrapes that are not withinn 80-100 yards of bedding im walking right by them

I think you might be missing out on a lot of encounters if you're strictly hunting buck bedding at all times of the season. I focus on buck bedding during early season when the bucks are on a bed to food pattern and late season when it goes back to this pattern. Evening hunts, during the first couple of weeks, between bed and food are my highest odd hunts outside of the rut. I would put more emphasis on doe bedding or sign during the rut though.

The reason I'm bringing up this strategy is because of exactly what you're saying. You don't see anything over scrapes, yet some guys will swear by them. These tactics might not be applicable to everyone, but i would suggest at least looking into it. I've always heard that scrapes are mostly used at night. If i would've headed to that advice then i never would've seen this buck. If i would've hunted this area outside of those two weeks, I would not have seen him. If I would've hunted it in the evening, I would not have seen him. If I would've hunted it with a northwest wind, I would not have seen him. If I had thrown 30 sits in a row at this location, I might have only seen this buck 3 times. Those are not high odds. But, If i know that he frequents this area under a Southwest wind between 9-11 and only during a 10-14 day period, my odds increase ten fold. As I said before though, not all tactics may be applicable to everyone.

[Tim H]

I'm a big fan of using scrape activity to my advantage. Like Dan mentioned, if there is consistent buck sightings in the daylight, odds are the bucks could be bedded somewhere close. But it could be rut bedding which is near the doe bedding. I will use my last season as an example of why I like scrapes. Also note, I don't believe all scrapes are treated equal. They don't all get the same attention. But if the right factors are in place, you can find an active scrape that will have bucks visit it during the day. As far as patterning, I think it's tough. Bucks don't always do what you expect them to. In reality, I think they rarely do what you want them to.

December of 2016, my hunting partner and I stumbled upon some very good big buck sign. We find heavy rub lines in an area we believed to be doe bedding areas. We didn't find the beds but suspected it was an area that does would hang out and feed in. Along these areas we found really good scrape lines. The scrape lines were on old trails that were probably formed through logging, but the loggers and people had long stopped using the trails. But the other animals didn't, including the deer.

Fast forward to 2017 season. My partner and I setup cameras over scrapes. We essentially guessed which ones we believed were the best as we had no way of knowing without sightings or pics. We had neither. Well as luck would have it, one of my cameras was on a scrape that the bucks particularly liked for whatever reason. It could have been the location, the licking branch, etc. I'm not sure why, but it was obvious they liked this one better than others based on our pics.

Well I had my camera set up on this scrape from mid summer. All summer into early fall I got only does, fawns, and bears. Nothing else. In October I finally got my first buck (a spike). It was a day pic but essentially the buck was just walking the trail. Didn't care for the scrape though. In mid October I got a 2 1/2 year old small 9 point at night. Then an 8 point at night. Then another 8 point at night. Then a 4 point at night. All up to October 30 when suddenly one of the nicer 8 pointers showed up at 11:45 am. Right in the middle of the day. I missed him by an hour. He made his scrape licked the branch and went on his business. That was a Monday. About 3 days later, November 1st a giant 9 point showed up an hour before dark. He worked the scrape, the licking branch, the whole works. I know this because I got some gorgeous pics of him, and literally witnessed it from my tree. That was a Wednesday. The next Monday November 6 at 9:45 AM, the small 9 point showed up. I have him literally going to the scrape on the trail, working the scrape, turning around and heading back where he came from. Now tell me, have you heard of a buck walking down a trail to a scrape just to work that, and turn around and go back? I didn't think they would ever do that until I saw it on my camera. And it's not like the trail was a dead end. The trail had many more scrapes down the path, but for whatever reason this buck went to this particular scrape did his business and headed back where he came from. Next on November 9 the giant 9 showed up again at noon. That was a Thursday. He did nearly the exact same thing 8 days later but showed up at an earlier time. Also that day another small 8 walked through 3 hours after him. After that I was essentially done hunting in that area and my hunting partner and I pulled our cameras.

Also note that during the two weeks we were having daylight activity on this one scrape, the bucks were still cruising through at night. Honestly I didn't think there was an identifiable pattern, but with that kind of activity in the daylight over this particular scrape, it's unlikely that it's random. Bucks, especially mature ones are not random creatures. This upcoming season I'll have a camera over this same scrape. I'm pretty excited because hopefully those bucks are still alive, especially the giant 9.

[Boogieman1]

I'm a big fan of using scrape activity to my advantage. Like Dan mentioned, if there is consistent buck sightings in the daylight, odds are the bucks could be bedded somewhere close. But it could be rut bedding which is near the doe bedding. I will use my last season as an example of why I like scrapes. Also note, I don't believe all scrapes are treated equal. They don't all get the same attention. But if the right factors are in place, you can find an active scrape that will have bucks visit it during the day. As far as patterning, I think it's tough. Bucks don't always do what you expect them to. In reality, I think they rarely do what you want them to.

December of 2016, my hunting partner and I stumbled upon some very good big buck sign. We find heavy rub lines in an area we believed to be doe bedding areas. We didn't find the beds but suspected it was an area that does would hang out and feed in. Along these areas we found really good scrape lines. The scrape lines were on old trails that were probably formed through logging, but the loggers and people had long stopped using the trails. But the other animals didn't, including the deer.

Fast forward to 2017 season. My partner and I setup cameras over scrapes. We essentially guessed which ones we believed were the best as we had no way of knowing without sightings or pics. We had neither. Well as luck would have it, one of my cameras was on a scrape that the bucks particularly liked for whatever reason. It could have been the location, the licking branch, etc. I'm not sure why, but it was obvious they liked this one better than others based on our pics.

Well I had my camera set up on this scrape from mid summer. All summer into early fall I got only does, fawns, and bears. Nothing else. In October I finally got my first buck (a spike). It was a day pic but essentially the buck was just walking the trail. Didn't care for the scrape though. In mid October I got a 2 1/2 year old small 9 point at night. Then an 8 point at night. Then another 8 point at night. Then a 4 point at night. All up to October 30 when suddenly one of the nicer 8 pointers showed up at 11:45 am. Right in the middle of the day. I missed him by an hour. He made his scrape licked the branch and went on his business. That was a Monday. About 3 days later, November 1st a giant 9 point showed up an hour before dark. He worked the scrape, the licking branch, the whole works. I know this because I got some gorgeous pics of him, and literally witnessed it from my tree. That was a Wednesday. The next Monday November 6 at 9:45 AM, the small 9 point showed up. I have him literally going to the scrape on the trail, working the scrape, turning around and heading back where he came from. Now tell me, have you heard of a buck walking down a trail to a scrape just to work that, and turn around and go back? I didn't think they would ever do that until I saw it on my camera. And it's not like the trail was a dead end. The trail had many more scrapes down the path, but for whatever reason this buck went to this particular scrape did his business and headed back where he came from. Next on November 9 the giant 9 showed up again at noon. That was a Thursday. He did nearly the exact same thing 8 days later but showed up at an earlier time. Also that day another small 8 walked through 3 hours after him. After that I was essentially done hunting in that area and my hunting partner and I pulled our cameras.

Also note that during the two weeks we were having daylight activity on this one scrape, the bucks were still cruising through at night. Honestly I didn't think there was an identifiable pattern, but with that kind of activity in the daylight over this particular scrape, it's unlikely that it's random. Bucks, especially mature ones are not random creatures. This upcoming season I'll have a camera over this same scrape. I'm pretty excited because hopefully those bucks are still alive, especially the giant 9.

In terms of patterning I think it is subjective on your definition of the word. I don't believe you can day to day pattern a buck outside of summer feeding. I don't believe u can week to week or month to month eithier. But the longer u stretch it they are very predictable as far as seasonable food sources and rut circuits. Almost down to the day. I would also add shift in bedding to the list.

[Tim H]

Boogey, I would agree with you. However from my small two week data, I essentially don't have anything to prove pattern. I do have proof that particular scrapes do attract more daylight attention than other ones. Perhaps over the next few years I could gather more data in the same area and see a pattern. I'm actually counting on it as I'm hoping that during the same week I could be in a tree directly over the scrape and kill one of the bucks I had on camera. Nothing would tickle me pink more than to kill the giant nine. But I agree with you on subjectiveness. I just can't call it a pattern based on my data. It would be presumptuous.

[ghoasthunter]

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.