do scrapes stay active throughout the rut or do bucks at some point stop scraping and just go to chasing?

I have seen it go both ways. Some times the deer will use a scrape all the way into december in my area, and others will only be hit once or twice. This could be because the deer is out chasing, got shot, or somthing has disrupted his pattern (alot of people in the woods can do this).

I think the best time to hunt scrapes is right now (this is in my area), in another week the bucks will start running real hard and not pay as much attention to the scrapes, but that dosnt mean they forgot about them. Three years ago there were some scrapes in my back yard. The deer worked them over every day for a while then stoped, we figured he hadleft the area to look for more deer. They went untuched for around a week then on day I went back to check them and they were all freshened up. Never once saw the deer that made them but herd a few peple say they saw a 8 point crossing the road about a mile away.

jimmy, you may want to check out TR Michels website. He used to have his own forum here, but I think that he had some disagreements about religion topics with the management here. He has a wealth of info on your type of question.

I think during the rut you should forget the scrapes and hunt the does. Bucks may or may not revisit scrapes regularly. On the other hand, wherever does are, bucks will alwaysbe very close.

From what i have noticed, especially this year is that they are revisiting their scrapes but more at night. IMO it is better to hunt the does is the peak of the rut, rather then scrapes.
mnfowl

http://www.buckfax.com/bowhunting_small_parcels.htm

Try this link, this guy knows his stuff....

In my experiance I noticed that a buck makes scrapes in a area that is highly active. So no matter if the buck is using them they are still a good place to set up, most of the time they are on a main trail.

My 2cents is free