Are the scrapes along a field edge, or in some cover?
I believe scrapes along field edges are typically visited in the cover of darkness, especially this time of year when pressure has turned the bucks nocturnal. Those are usually the scrapes I find and they may be all along the edge of a field/woods. I have read (in Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails) that very large scrapes, or multiple scrapes in a small area that are found in some cover, or very near some thick cover, are rare. These are likely primary scrape areas and are the epicenter of dominant buck activity in the area. You are very fortunate to find such an area. The best time to hunt these scrapes is during the pre-rut when the bucks are ready but the first does have not yet come into estrous.
In my area the prime time pre-rut should be starting this coming week into the first couple weeks of November. I like to hunt the hardest from Halloween till gun season on Nov. 15. As mentioned mid-day is an excellent time to hunt them. The bucks will bed down while it's still dark and get up around mid-day to scent check for does along the edges of bedding areas and hit the scrapes that are in the same areas. The next few weeks is the time to start hunting them, but it's a touchy business not to alert the dominant buck of your presence. As mentioned once the rut and chase phase is in full swing with many does in heat, the bucks will be traveling greater distances and less likely to hit those scrapes on a regular basis. When they are chasing, the bucks are much less predictable and could show up just about anywhere. I don't have any personal experience with primary scrape areas, since I have never actually found one, but it all makes sense me.
Topic: Sitting over a scrape line (Pics added ) (Read 908 times)
