Any Buck Hunters....?
 

I have seen and heard of many trying mock scrapes and I myself have tried them I was curious if anyone continues trying to lure bucks or develop areas they will frequent after hunting season(not necessarily full blown mock scrapes).I guess inan attemptto entice them into using an area that they will hopefully continue frequenting come hunting season. They are animals and while they may not be making scrapes they certainly have to be marking their area/territory. Any thoughts?

I read some info on it recently and have had success in the past with trail cams in certain spots that got mostly buck pics just curious if anyone else has taken this approach.

RE: Any Buck Hunters....?
 

I've used mock scrapes in the past, but not w/ the intent of attracting a buck. This was a tactic I employed quite frequently in '06, and had success with it.

I would set up in a travel corridor and set out a mock scrape. Again, I'm in an area I think a buck is going to travel through anyway, so the idea was to use the scrape as a distraction. I had quite a few younger bucks bury their noses in them, and had they been intended targets I could have killed them quite easily.

RE: Any Buck Hunters....?
 

I have had similiar results with mock scrapes during the season I am interested in trying to "help" a buck form habits now and through thesummer so he might be more comfortable using that same area more and most importantly during the season.

RE: Any Buck Hunters....?
 

Curious, Don....then why did you do it?

RE: Any Buck Hunters....?
 

I'm not sure if I am right mobow so correct me if I'm wrong but I thought you were trying to use it as a means to distract or pull a buck off of his travel path without setting up right on top of him or his travel route. Still luring him a bit but I think I knew what you meant in that he was already in that area so you weren't necessariily "luring" him there.

RE: Any Buck Hunters....?
 

never have, howeveI have thought about it quite a bit..

RE: Any Buck Hunters....?
 

I don't mess with any of the scent tricks or anything. All my time is spent making sure I am hunting where the best quality bucks live. Has worked for me. 5 P&Y class bucks in the last 5 years, all on public land. Also 2 P&Y bull elk during that same time frame, public land.

I've always felt scents were for people who were insistant on not wanting to travel from their comfort zone, home turf. They want some magic potion that will make a nocturnal buck change his ways, or fool that one big buck hanging on the property. It's extremely difficult to impossible. It's MUCH easier to go where more big boys live. Simple. It took me 10 years of frustration to conclude this.

RE: Any Buck Hunters....?
 

With all the talk/fact of deer being creatures of habit I have been trying to think of ways to inflence those habits outside of just during the rut and the most obvious which seems to be food source manipulation(in many forms).

Watch a male dog in his territory, he marks anything he can and if you go out and add a new bird bath he marks it. I have a few areas that hold lots of buck sign andI have taken a buck or two therebut if I could manage to manipulate them into an area 50-100 yards in another direction it would help me out tremendously with stand placement and wind. I have some ideas I will try and I hope to use my trail cams a little to see ifI am getting any reaction or results over the next couple of months. The article I read had some interesting stats about scent marking branches. I'll try and find it.

RE: Any Buck Hunters....?
 

To hold the buck's attention so I could draw and kill him, without alerting him. Just a means of distracting him, and stopping him naturally exactly where I want to shoot him. I know the range, he's distracted, he's stopped on his own w/out my having to "MAAAHH" to him......nice and relaxed.....

It was effective, just not on anything I wanted to shoot.

RE: Any Buck Hunters....?
 

I understand what you are saying and really I am just brainstorming a bit. I am not talking about using scents at all here, I am talking about possibly being able to influence/manipulate a bucks actions through habit forming or appealing to his natural instinct(not just during deer season).This isn't about nocturnal bucks or P & Y bucks orhunting where the big boys live. I am hunting the land I have to hunt and trying to come up with some solutions to problemsI have encountered with stands and wind, I havekilled several mature bucks off of this land and while I don't know whatthey score I do know there were daysI simply couldn't hunt where I wanted because of logistics. No offense, like I said I understand your point I just wanted to clarify my interest in this topic.

RE: Any Buck Hunters....?
 

OK, Don. I see. It wasn't put there to ATTRACT him (and that's what I didn't understand....lol)....but to DISTRACT him.

Gotcha.;)

RE: Any Buck Hunters....?
 

I've had a good ibt of success with mock scrapes in the past too. Not for hunting purposes, but I guess kinda as an "attractant". Just something to boost their curiosity to give me a better idea of the bucks in the area. The results: a a 1.5yr old. two 2.5yr. old 8's and a massive 3.5 year old 9pt.

Also, deer do work scrapes all year round- so setting up a camera may not be a bad idea this time of year. Again, deer are naturally curious and it will give you a better idea of the bucks on your land.

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I use tactics similar to mobow. I use them on occasion to get a buck to stop in a window. Heck in a pinch, sometimes i just paw the ground with my boot without scent (you have to really trust you are scent free). They will stop for a moment & give you a shot.

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"Mock scrapes" kind of grabbed everyones attention but I was thinking more of creating ideal areas for bucks to scent mark overhangingbranches where I want them to but still close to their normal travel routes. I want to do it now and through springin hopes that they will continue on through fall and start making scrapes in those same areas. Lightly monitored with trail cams.

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Here is the article from J. Ozaga. The research was 20 years ago andthe area/climate are certainly different than mine but I still find theresults to be promising.


Springtime Signposts[/align]Scientific research proves that deer work scrapes year-round.


read more...

RE: Any Buck Hunters....?
 

Nevermind.:D

What was I thinking asking a question for input on actual hunting.;)

Here we go, lets do these some more:


Can anyone tell me what broadheads are good and which ones suck and you never have had to use any of them just random thoughts will be fine?

How about QDM, lame isn't it?

Location is the key right, those midwest guys are just lucky aren't they?

What's wrong with a neck shot anyway?

My max range is 70 yards but that's only on mature deer, 50 yards on yearlings. How bout you?

If you are hunting over a bait pile in a high fence ranch, but you dohave on Scent-Lok does that make you awesome?

Who can pee the farthest? Into the wind?

I might get 20 pages out of some of this non sense but actual opinions on hunting are kind of sparse sometimes. Such is life, I guess.

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typo

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New,

I watched a show, can't remember name. maybe d & dh, but they tied ropes across trails with a branch tied to it, to get a buck to stop and make thier own scrapes. I believe they said it worked very well to get bucks to start them on thier own right where you wanted to hunt.

RE: Any Buck Hunters....?
 

Thanks Rybo, you just replied to make me feel better.;) The link I posted was from D&DH as well. I've got some things I want to try that relate more toward habit forming and deer behavior throughout the year rather than just during the season. If I see anything interesting I'll post pics and a thread, then I will find a"pissing contest" thread and post a linkto mine in there so maybe someonewill check it out.:D

RE: Any Buck Hunters....?