chuck65

hey everyone i'm new herebut been reading and gathering info from this forum for a while now and decided to become part of the community. i currenty have a cabin sitting on 20 acres in Harrison Michigan the property consist of acorn trees and has low valley(hilly), i have been bow hunting off and on for the past 10 yrs there and only have got a few small does while hunting over bait piles. this is the first year that i have really gotten serious in hunting and have actually scouted my small property. last month(september) my girlfriend and i scouted the area and found 3 scrapes and one rub the scrapes weresmall about a foot in length and 4 inches wide.well we setup2 cameras on the areas with the biggest scrapes and went back the next week and got nopictures on one of the scrapes and got a pic of a 4 point in the area of the second scrape.so we decided to move the camera with no pics, coincidentally we found another scrape and this one was alot bigger, probly a good 3ft in diameterwell i decided to set up a tree blind in this area and a camera, went back the next weekend which was opening day and in disappointmentafter checking the cameras there were no pics taken on either one and the scrapes didn't look like they were touched, also while hunting did not see a thing. Through the month of september on my property i have gotten roughly 20 pics of deer most of the pics were down in a valley were i noticed beddding areas so i placed a corn feeder there along with one of my cameras, here i captured a picture of numerous does and of one spike buck close to the corn feeder and walking through the bedding area, i also have a pic of the 4 point in the area of one of the scrapes.Three out of the 4 scrapesi have setup up thesecond camera on diferent weekends and have not caught a pic of anything and like i said the scrapes look like they were nvr touched again. I'm stilla newbie when it comes to scouting but i thought that a scrape is ussually revisted.anotherproblem i think i might haveis my stands and cameras arent to far from my cabin (considering i only have 20 acres)but these areas definatly havedeer signs, in the two area that i have setup my tree blinds there are signs like trails, deer droppings, bedding and scrapes andone rub ifound.My worry is i have a generator that i use to power my cabin and i'm wondering if this is spooking the deer, maybe the traffic in and out of my cabin is aslo but not sure. there are people in the area that have spoted a 8 point hopefully i catch him lurking through my property. all in all what do you guys make of the scrapes do you think its the 4 point trying to mark its territory because there is a spike int he area? why do you think the scrapes arent being revisted?would it be wiserfor me to hunt the beddign areas or the scrapes? sorry this is so long but in september i was a very excited hunter when i seen all thesigns and pictures i captured now i feel more frustrated then ever. i will begoing back up on the 14th so i can hunt friday, and saturday.

cardeer

Welcome ,the deer know you are checking the scrapes out.I would hunt the area of travel between bedding and feed

chuck65

yea thats what i thought, when i check the scrapes i stay atleast a foot away from the actual scrape and i make sure that i spray a cover up spray on me and what ever i touch while in the area, i guess thats not good enough. do you think its possible that i spooked the bucks off my property. i aslo noticed that the scrapes are pretty close to the bedding areas.

splint2004

ive touched scrapes and the next day or two there would be a fresh scrape on the tree

chuck65

so considering my situation what would you guys suggest i do with the scrapes just leave them alone and hunt over the bedding areas instead, or should i use like a scent attractant on the scrapes to try and stir things up a bit and maybe draw them back in. any help would be greatly appreciated

todd a smith

i would hunt the rub line...hunt scrapes in the woods, but not on the edges.....i did once see a monster checking scrapes on a sunday 3yrs ago...

todd a smith

ok...i read ur post instead of skimming it. the only thing that i can advise u on is the feeding of just corn. not good everyone does it and u need to make ur area better and at the same time change the spikes into points. i would suggest u do 3-5 mineral licks. 30-06 plus protein will help u out alot. u should invest in 4 bags of buck ola to mix with ur corn as the season wears on. those 2 things will help u out. do not hunt directly over ur bait and try not to put a tremendous amount out at once....just enough for mayb 2 days....invest in a timer feeder if u havent already. only set it to go off during the day...not at night

chuck65

ok thanks todd i will add the mineral licks and so on to help out both sides of the fence, now as for the scrapes does anyone have any ideas on how to approach them or what to do with them if anything.

mdbowhunter11

hunt between food and bed

PABowhntr

I don't key in on scrapes specifically when hunting an area. I try to use them to analyze the complete picture of deer movement in the area. Locate the feeding and bedding areas and try to figure out how the scrapes fit into the picture. If you can find a funnel close by then that is where I would focus my attention.