Scrape Hunting Tips?
03-09-2004, 12:30 PM
#11
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location:
Posts: 6,471
RE: Scrape Hunting Tips?
The main thing is always, watch the wind directions and don't hunt directly over the scrape line.
03-09-2004, 03:01 PM
#14
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location:
Posts: 6,471
RE: Scrape Hunting Tips?
Here is my philosophy on the whole thing...be extremely quiet getting into an area if you have to walk around to avoid bumping deer that is better although not always possible...get there real early and get up that tree or in position as quietly and quickly as possible. Avoid areas that have swirling winds. I don't use any real or artificial scents but once in a while I bring a grunt call and always have on clean clothes washed in Sportwash and stored in big plastic bags and regularly rotated. I use a 30 year old pair of LL Bean Maine hunter boots although I have other rubber boots in my closet, just love the way they feel. Both bucks this year walked across my trail in to the stand and none detected my presence. Use a quiet treestand..so far the best I have found in that department is an Ol Man , there are squirrels that make more noise going up a tree then I do . Hope that helps...
03-10-2004, 04:53 AM
#16
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Port Neches, Texas
Posts: 5,514
RE: Scrape Hunting Tips?
I mentioned in my first post, that you can use doe or buck scents, and they can help! But over the last few years, I have done as oldelkhunter, I don't actually remember the last time I used any scents. I just go as scent-free as possible. Also, as oldelkhunter said, good scent free boots are priceless! I've watched deer cross my trail several times and they never bust me!
Thats about it! Some people like to hunt scrapes, others don't! I am actually hunting an area, not just one or two scrapes! If you find a small area, with many scrapes, you've found a hot area, and if you hunt it right you are going to see bucks!
Again, it can't be said enough, watch the wind! Deer are always using their sniffers, and much more so when they are checking their scrapes or trailing a doe!
Big Boy has only one thing on his mind, but if he wiffs you, instead of his girl friend, he will come to his senses, and vacate the premises in a hurry! good luck!
Thats about it! Some people like to hunt scrapes, others don't! I am actually hunting an area, not just one or two scrapes! If you find a small area, with many scrapes, you've found a hot area, and if you hunt it right you are going to see bucks!
Again, it can't be said enough, watch the wind! Deer are always using their sniffers, and much more so when they are checking their scrapes or trailing a doe!
Big Boy has only one thing on his mind, but if he wiffs you, instead of his girl friend, he will come to his senses, and vacate the premises in a hurry! good luck!
03-10-2004, 02:59 PM
#17
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Hamilton Square NJ USA
Posts: 557
RE: Scrape Hunting Tips?
As they say 90% of activity is at night. However, in my opinion, that's because a buck makes them at night, and only 10% are made in a spot he feels comfortable visiting and refreshing in the daylight. You have to hunt those 10%.
Field edges, hedgerows, open oak flats, forget those. Hunt the ones in thick funnles, with lots of rubs nearby. Or the ones on the edges of thick swamps. He'll check those while scent checking the swamp for does. I don't fool with scrapes except for a week or so in the prerut, and then only when they are in an area I would hunt anyway. I've killed half a dozen bucks on scrapes, usually calling them in as they worked through the area scent checking everything.
I did kill an 8pt this year after he made a scrape 10 yards from me, but it was so late it was hard to see my pins by the time he turned broadside. He was coming out of an overgrown cutover, too thick for me to even walk in. An older 4 or 5 year old buck would have waited until after dark.
I just check the areas I feel a buck will hang out in, the really thick parts of the area, and if I find scrapes, I'll hunt over them that last few days in Oct and the first few in Nov, then I move onto doe bedding areas and funnels between doe bedding areas. The trick is finding a concentration of rubs and scrapes in an area the buck will feel secure in, otherwise you would be better off using another tactic, IM
Field edges, hedgerows, open oak flats, forget those. Hunt the ones in thick funnles, with lots of rubs nearby. Or the ones on the edges of thick swamps. He'll check those while scent checking the swamp for does. I don't fool with scrapes except for a week or so in the prerut, and then only when they are in an area I would hunt anyway. I've killed half a dozen bucks on scrapes, usually calling them in as they worked through the area scent checking everything.
I did kill an 8pt this year after he made a scrape 10 yards from me, but it was so late it was hard to see my pins by the time he turned broadside. He was coming out of an overgrown cutover, too thick for me to even walk in. An older 4 or 5 year old buck would have waited until after dark.
I just check the areas I feel a buck will hang out in, the really thick parts of the area, and if I find scrapes, I'll hunt over them that last few days in Oct and the first few in Nov, then I move onto doe bedding areas and funnels between doe bedding areas. The trick is finding a concentration of rubs and scrapes in an area the buck will feel secure in, otherwise you would be better off using another tactic, IM
