Scrapes

[Matt Fowler]

How do you determine if a scrape is a primary scrape without putting a camera on it? I don't like using a camera if I think there's a big buck around.

[Jegs.mich]

Matt, there's a lot of guys who have more experience than me but I'm going to answer to the best of my understanding. If you walk a scrape line some are a bit small like the buck made them halfheartedly. Others are very large and get worked alot, these larger scrapes seem to be close to does bedding and or usual travel routes. Also check for light trails 20-50 yards down wind of the scrape where a buck can test the wind without exposing himself. This book was written by a rifle hunter who has a very good understanding of scrapes and incorporating them into your hunting.

[Orion]

A primary scrape will usually be in good cover and BIG.  They're big because they're used by a lot of deer, bucks and does.  They also tend to be used year after year. Primary scrapes are few and far between.  If you're hunting an 80, even 160 or 320 acres or more, there may not be a primary scrape in the area.   

[Susquehannariverarcher]

For me there's usually 3 things that make me think a scrape is a primary scrape. The big one is location, usually I'll find primary scrapes with a few different thing terrain and vegetation factors going on. Usually on the edge of bedding, near food and some sort of terrain feature that funnels deer in that area. I recently found one that was on the down wind side of a thick clear cut, boarding a hemlock bottom, and the end of a small faint ditch line.

Second is the size of the scrape. The ones in fine are usually rather large , have multiple licking branches, and I tend to find them on hemlock, laurel or rhodo.

And the third thing is usage. Typically the community scrapes I find are open all year and are there year to year. To me it seems secondary and rut scrapes start showing up in the fall and may be in the same spots as previous years but the deer won't be worked in the spring and summer months.

I enjoy hunting and scouting scrapes. I'm curious on what ever peoples take on this topic are!

[Matt Fowler]

Should have mentioned I hunt big woods north central PA so no ag fields. There are clear cuts though.9u

[Susquehannariverarcher]

Hey Matt I'm also hunting NC and NE PA!

[Al Dente]

The only primary scrape that I have ever seen, was in an apple orchard, and there was no mistaking it.  It was huge, over 6' across.  I had access to over 1200 acres or fruit, hay, corn, and alfalfa, plus a swamp, ponds, and thickets.  I trapsed over every inch, and never saw another one like that.  Found smaller ones and rub lines, but that was doozy!

[MnFn]

Last year I hunted with my Tall Tines during rifle season in a party of gun hunters. So the timing of this was the first week or so of November.
The photo is of the trail that had multiple scrapes on it. All were good sized.

I sat on this spot in a natural blind for three straight days and did not see a single buck. The trail ran between two fields above a bedding area and had multiple trails with secondary trails crossing it.

My grandson was sitting in a blind a quarter mile north and had a very nice mature buck following a doe go by. Unfortunately, he was asleep and missed his opportunity to shoot a good deer. His dad was with trying to wake him up but could not get it done in time.

[Mint]

I started tying up vines over some scrapes i found and my own mock scrapes this spring. I didn't even use scent on most of them. What I found out was that a lot of bucks and does started hitting the vine but never pawed at the scrape or peed. They all were leaving their scent on the vines even the ones I put up without scent. I even started a thread here about Mock Scrapes with Vines since i was amazed at the difference once I put up the vine.   

[bucknut]

I agree with what was said above.  Cover, terrain, bedding and/or food generally in that order have all the ingredients for a primary scrape. Predominant wind is also considered.  The best scrapes I’ve ever came across couldn’t hardly be hunted because they were situated perfectly for the deer to access with the wind in their face. Also, I have noticed a lot of them are used year round.  I don’t hunt crop land so I can’t say much on it.  I hunt big tracts of big woods public land. 

[Matt Fowler]

So if ya come across one now that looks like it  gettin hit could be aprimary?

[Susquehannariverarcher]

Definitely could be! Either that or a community scrapes. Any good buck (current or old)sign, possible buck bedding around?

[MnFn]

Best tip I can give on studying scrapes is to buy this book.
I have read this book so many times.

Thanks Gene Wensel. It is one of the best ever written.

[Terry Green]

This should keep ya busy for a while......

https://www.tradgang.com/tgsmf/index.php?topic=82045.msg1505897#msg1505897

[gordydog]

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[gordydog]

[gordydog]

 First picture behind my tree stand 25 yards, second picture in front of me 30 yards. Lots of vegetation change here, standing corn edge, bedding,funnel, thick hanging vines, dropping elevation to hide the deer and steep steep bank(cliff) edge that my wind blows over and provides my approach. After this buck  ran and fell in the bigger scrape, 7 more bucks showed up. I call this a community scrape, but not sure of correct term.

[LookMomNoSights]

Size is a huge indicator for sure,  but I've also seen them where they were not drastically bigger than some of the one and done scrapes or scrapes worked a few times and then abandoned .......  How often the scraped is work of course would be an indicator and WHERE that scrape is located..... is it one of those terrain spots where they just travel routinely decade after decade because terrain dictates so?  Unless you are checking on that scrape daily,  it would be extremely difficult if not impossible to see just how often it is being hit.   Take note of the weather and the wind/breeze ......  if that scrape is hit early morning just before the sun comes up and there is any medium breeze or a stout wind,  that pawed up ground is going to start to dry pretty quickly.  If you find a scrape where regardless of time of day and changes in weather,  that ground is always damp looking and freshly tore up,  well that's kind of a good clue.   These are just my observations and things I've noticed ...........

[MnFn]

This little meadow was in a small strip of woods in eastern ND. The woods was a travel corridor between two small streams which were also well travelled along. There was some brush but fairly open woods.

Ive forgotten now but I think there was a cluster of four or five scrapes in about a half acre. I used to have a photo of the biggest scrape but must have deleted it. It was about 30” long 20” wide, approximately.

I hunted it quite a bit but eventually ran out of time. I ended up killing a younger 3X3 which I had seen a couple of times before. I doubt the rub was made by the buck I shot. Some pretty nice bucks have been taken in these woods by gun hunters in November.

I now have permission to hunt it only after rifle season but typically don’t see much then. The  woods is about 70 acres, long and narrow. The owner told me he generally doesn’t let people push or set up drives in these woods. (We are both looking to shoot the biggest buck in there, so he doesn’t want me taking the best one before he gets a chance at it. His property, his rules.)

But a few years ago when deer numbers were still high, his relatives asked if they could drive it because they were having trouble filling deer tags. He finally agreed they could push it one time, on the last day of the season.

He went out and stood on the road that they were pushing towards and counted over 70 deer as they finished the drive. One dandy buck was shot at and missed by a young hunter.

I never see those numbers of deer there, usually just doe/fawns groups, with an occasional buck. I think deer had congregated in there at that time because they were getting chased off of adjoining properties and felt secure there.