Primary Scrapes, Mock scrapes

[Hildebrand]

Still new hear and read a lot more than I post. If there is a good thread about it I would love to see if if you could post a link.

So I know a scrape on a field edge towards the end of October is not much to get excited about. Which around me my field edges are tore up with them. I want to know where deer like to make a year long primary scrape and how you find them. What are things to look for ? When you do find one what is it telling you ?

Also, last week why checking a few cameras on a field edge on the back side of the woods I found two scrapes. One bigger and one small one. I have never seen one this early in the year. Could you guys explain that to me ?

Lastly, I made a mock scrape in the woods off a field edge about 30 yards which i know a lot of deer use to get to food or cross to the next woods. I put a camera on it and let it sit two months. I have had doe rubbing their heads in it bucks messing with it and smelling it and lots of action. They don't seem to be powing the dirt but using that licking branch. How can i use this information to help me this season. Sorry if these are rookie things but I am pretty new to hunting. Thank you

[Tennhunter3]

Their are only 2 scapes that are worth paying attention too.

Primary Bedding scrapes these are used year round and are usually within sight or just out of sight of the buck bedding location. They are often very large in size, bucks check them from downwind. These almost always have a licking branch and are cleaned of leaves year round. They will look as fresh in march or july as november.

If you find these bucks will show up regularly to them. They are not very rare or very common. Not every hunting area has them.


Breeding scrapes these are located near doe bedding groups during the pre rut and rut. Bucks often parallel the doe trails entering bedding and check the scrape from downwind , sometimes upwind if it's a rising thermal. They are great spots if you time them right.

Field edge scrapes, boundary scrapes, scrape lines are meaningless and just show a buck is using them at night. They can be fun to get trail cam pics. These scrapes are the ones hunters sit at and see nothing or small bucks.

In truth mock scrapes are not needed if it's a good area a scrape will be already in place.

.Hopefully this helps you.

[oldrank]

Scrapes are the poor man's deer cam. They can tell you just about everything you need to know to kill a buck. Tracks, location and time of year they appear. If you pay attention to all of these you can use scrapes to locate and kill bucks.

If a buck is holding tight in a primary bedding area odds are his primary scrapes are close by. These are the ones he hits all year. Not just him but all the deer using that bedding area. Great for track inventory. But don't burn em.

As he starts rutting up a bit he will start opening up scrapes on his rut cruising route. Now you know his bedroom and routes around his home range. Watch for his specific track. Piece that together with his secondary bedding and you can catch him when wind, pressure n weather align.

Some scrapes he will just hit once but they are still good clues, others he may open once a week or so n some scrapes he will hit every few days. There is a reason he put that scrape there. You will also begin to see the same scrape patterns year after year in certain areas.

[stash59]

You may find some info in these thread:

https://www.thehuntingbeast.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12669

https://www.thehuntingbeast.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=21439