dirt pounder,
I learned from the late Ben Rogers Lee to make scrapes in early Sept. I use wire to double a tree over to about head height with pencil thick size branches overhanging, and I know this sounds crazy but then pee in it. I do get bucks that start working it right away. I'm doing mine tomorrow- I should drink a lot of water. I set them exactly where it looks like you'd find them during the "normal" scraping time. Make sure you rig your camera after you pee in the scrape- It really looks weird when others see your pictures if not.