Went out to my local suburban treestand to hope for a coyote today. Well we've had a bit of a thaw and there are 4 scrapes in the same places as in the fall! Dug right trough the wet snow,peed in ,branches chewed and licked just like fall. Is this common?

I'm by no means an expert, but from what I've read those are merely territorial scrapes, in nothing to do w/ breeding.

I've seen it before and actually found a fresh scrape today while out walking around, looked like one you would see in the fall, overhanging branch and all. Deer are teritorial all season long and its not uncommon to see scrapes worked year round.

Although not common.. whitetail will still breed into January and even into February here in the midwest as fawns enter into estrous. It will not be a full out rut like is seen in November.. but it does happen.

Also.. whitetail do dig through the snow to the earth below looking for food that is beneath it. It is not uncommon for them to dig a little into the dirt and even eat some of it.. taking in some nutrients like salt.

Hope this helps some good Doctor..

Yeah, looked really wierd. These scrapes were in exactly the same place as the fall breeding scrapes. Was interesting to see!