Wind Based Scrape?

[JMKro]

On October 12th, I had a mature buck come out of a suspected bedding area and work a scrape/licking branch about 30 minutes before dark. The wind direction allowed him to come into the scrape from downwind/crosswind, while still staying in the thick cover. I'm assuming if the wind was from the opposite direction (which would force the deer to come into the scrape from an open pasture in order to be downwind of the scrape), the deer wouldn't hit this particular scrape. Sound like a solid theory, or no?

[Mathewshooter]

It sounds like a good theory and they probably would use the wind if possible but I've been running trail cameras on video mode over primary scrapes for about the last 5 years. I cross reference these videos with weather underground to find out the wind direction on that particular day. What Ive come to find out is the bucks come from all different directions on all different winds and this is on NY public land. I would say hunt it on the best wind for you...one where you can stay undetected assuming that buck is in the thicket.

[EllieTheChubb]

There's a scrape that has opened up for the last 3 seasons in one of my spots. Ive had a camera on it all three years during the rut. Young bucks and does will hit the scrape on any wind but the biggest buck ive gotten on the camera only comes in on a particular wind.

This is just one instance but it did lead me to where he beds on that particular wind

[JMKro]

Thanks for the responses, guys. What's interesting is that the buck I killed last year (mature deer) came out of the same bedding area, on the same wind direction as the one that made the scrape this year. Even more interesting, is that when I first saw both bucks, they were in almost the exact same spot within the bedding area. Guess that means there's a trend