I just returned from my first scouting foray. I got picked this year to partake in a deer reduction hunt on one of the State's Parks. These hunts happen when the Park Biologist determines that the deer population is causing damage to the understory. I came across the largest scrape that I've ever seen. The scrape was roughly 40+ inches wide, and it was roughly 30 inches deep (front to back). It was roughly in an inverted heart shape. The most amazing thing to me was that the licking branch that was over the scrape. The branch was about 3/4 to 1" in diameter, and broken so the branch was hanging down almost over the scrape. The break was a measured 8 foot above the ground. The only good print that I could find was roughly 4 1/4" long and almost 3" wide - no dew claws showing in the ground. The ground was in a strip of hardwoods between 2 swamps.

The largest tree that I could find rubbed nearby was about 4" dia, and I neglected to measure how high off the ground the rub went.

This area hasn't been hunted in a couple of years, and there is good cropland (corn and beans) in the surrounding farmland. This is in the state of Indiana.

The last buck that I shot (3 years ago) dressed out at 214#, and sported 5 points on one side, but only 2 on the other. The DNR aged the deer at 5 1/2 years. When butchered, I could find no sign of injury to the deer that would cause the abnormal antler growth. That deers hoves weren't near the size of the ones that I saw today.

I'm wondering if anybody would care to guess as to the size (body weight) of the deer?

Thanks,

ESSHup