Divergent wrote:I agree 100% with pre-rut and scrapes, but I’m going against the grain here about scrapes and thick cover. It makes complete sense, but isn’t always accurate. The best method I’ve found is to place a cam over a scrape as soon as you see it pop up. Let it sit all season before checking it. I found a scrape last season in wide open hardwoods, in a creek bottom. Most of the information out there would have you believe it’s only visited at night. I had consistent movement for the same 10 day period each month between 10-11am only on a SW wind.
Was this Public or Private land? I only hunt Public so thats why I said stay near the thick stuff. Lightly pressured private land you could probably have luck hunting field edge scrapes. Another good time to hunt scrapes near bedding is in mid September. I have a bunch of trail cam videos of big bucks visiting my scrapes in mid September....the only problem is our bow season opens on October 1st.