It sounds to me like all that mock scrape stuff is a lot of work especially for a place this 2 hours away. That might work out on the small parcel close to his home though. I pattern bucks and deer by watching their movements and closely studying the ground. Now, when I talk about patterning deer I am talking about " general" travel patterns. I have never been able to set my watch by a buck. I have had a few doe that I could set my watch by, but never a doe. Anyway, I got access to hunt 45 acres of about 200 acre woods. First hunt, saw a young buck cross a field and skirt up the west edge of the woods. 2nd hunt, saw deer skirting the west edge and bedding in the thicker vegetation. 3rd hunt, saw deer criss-cross the middle of the woods under some HUGE pin oaks. 4th hunt, saw the same thing and it was 2 young bucks that criss-crossed but I was not in the perfect tree. Did some scouting, found a lot of ground traffic sign and a bed on the west edge right next to the pin oaks. 5th hunt, hit a buck in the shoulder blade and was unable to recover it. That is how I pattern bucks. Observation of the deer and observation of sign. Also, I pay little attention to trails. Trails don' t really tell you much. I look for rubs and scrapes(tells me bucks are there), I look for ground clutter(ruffed up leaves, pawing areas, fresh droppings). All of these ground clutter things tell you that deer are using that spot/area now. Trails, suggest deer travel, but don' t always produce. Kind of like hunting for a buck over a scrape. It' s just not always affective because it is one small piece of a very big puzzle. Ok, I have rambled on enough and I am sure some of the experts will critique my rambling! LOL
TBO