Our heat index is 101 right now even though they were predicting 107 today. Either way, I'm standing guard over the A/C and just saw this thread. I wanted to mention something a lot of guys don't consider when setting up on either a mock scrape or on a natural one. ALWAYS consider the exact location of your stand according to the wick or overhead branch. I'll use the example of a mock scrape here in order to best describe my theory. Bear with me as it might not be easy to follow the concept.
Say you are looking north and addressing some kind of northerly wind direction for your hunt. In this example, there's a deer trail running east/west and you're facing north. You pick a spot that will be a natural bottleneck funneling the deer movement east/west right in front of you. I'm not going to get into the basics or details of the actual mock scrape itself because this isn't what this is about. Although I will add I am also a believer in my mock scrapes themselves tending to be on the larger size (in diameter) in order to visually attract more attention than 18 or 20 inch diameter scrapes. I tend to open them up to three feet or so and right down to bare dirt. I use what they call a two-prong garden hoe. It's got a 3" to 4" hoe blade on one side and two pointed prongs on the opposite side. It works perfect and I highly recommend everyone having one.
Anyway, back to the situation. I rake my mock scrape pretty much straight north of my stand preferably at the pinch. I like them to be 12 to 15 yards away. Now, here's the important part. Bear with me on this description as I hope I can word it so you understand the concept. Most guys don't take into consideration the EXACT positioning of the wick or added overhead limb. Again, in example, the deer trail is running east to west; the scrape is pretty much centered right on that E/W trail. Without thinking, some guys will hang the wick or overhead licking branch on the STAND side of the E/W trail, i.e. the south side of the scrape, in order to give themselves a slightly closer shot. Major mistake. What happens is the buck comes walk down the trail (E/W) and steps up to the wick or licking branch that is literally two feet off the side of the scrape (to the south of the scrape). This ends up with your buck facing the wick/overhead limb, and only offering you a frontal or quartering-to shot. Not only that, but he's also got his head tilted back in extension looking right at you while he works the over-head. You can't blink, no less draw your bow undetected. So, there you go... you put all this work into this; lost sleep dreaming about it; possibly the biggest buck of your life; he follows the plan perfectly; he's standing there at 12 yards. But a very minor mistake on your part offers you no shot (or poor shot angle at best).
I know it doesn't sound like a big deal, but if you would hang that wick, or overhead branch literally 3 or 4 feet to the north, on the opposite side of the E/W run (and scrape) it would dictate his body offering you the much-preferred quartering away or broadside angle, and his eyes not facing you. That little tidbit will increase your chances for success 100%.
Oh, one other thing I want to mention. It seems I'm always experimenting with stuff. I've used the vines; hemp ropes; cotton ropes and even 1.5 inch diameter anchor ropes discarded down at the ocean/fishing docks. This year I'm experimenting with... believe it or not, BBQ basting mops. They are those little, miniature mops that chefs use to bast the spareribs down at the BBQ shack. The ones I got have a 16-inch wooden handle with the cotton string mop-head. I got mine on ebay, in a six-pack for $10.99 and free S&H. Do a search on Ebay or Amazon for them. Hanging one of those within the leaves of a freshly cut overhead branch could work well. Add a little of Smokey's Pre-orbital scent to the mop-head and let it do its thing. We'll see. If the basting mop doesn't work well, I'll go back to the free ropes and vines and I'll be out of $$ eleven big ones! Ha. Best of luck to all. BW aka UB
Topic: Mock Scrape Strategies /Successes and Failures (Read 1382 times)
