After 5 years of bow hunting in New Castle County, I finally found " the spot" . I tried a morning hunt on opening day only to get rained on. My nex trip to " the spot" was for a afternoon hunt. Little did I know that the nearby high school was having a football game and the noise from the loud speaker kept deer travel to a minimum, but I did see one. My third try at " the spot" , yesterday afternoon, I nailed a mature doe at 5:10 PM. I also moved my stand sight about 150 yrds, half way up a hill in a oak grove. While tracking my doe I saw what looked to be scrapes. Could these be from this year already or leftovers from last year? It was hard to tell with all the recent rain. I also found a few rubs. These where definatly made recently. The saddest part of this story is that when I was coming out of the woods I noticed someond had delivered on of thoes giant yellow background signs announcing the property was soon to be developed. Although I didn' t go over and read the sign (I will next time) I figure this may very well be the last season this area could be hunted...... so I' m gona hit it hard! -Ken
PS: " The spot" is in the Pike Creek Area.

Bucks will often times make scrapes this early in the season. They start doing so around the same time the velvet falls off. As it gets closer to the rut, bucks will make scrapes in earnest and they become a much more common sight.