Big New Scrape - Hunt It?

[buckwild]

I hunt a parcel of public land that is 2000+ acres. Last Sunday I stashed my pack in the woods before heading back to the truck for lunch. When I got back to withing 50 yards of my pack, I saw a giant scrape (approx 36" long and 18" wide) opened up right on the edge of the main trail of the park. It was worked from both sides because the leaf litter was tossed on opposite sides. The soil was still in little clumps and obviously fresh. I know it wasn't there before lunch because I would have had to miss this scrape twice when I stashed my pack. There wasn't much of a licking branch, but there was some little twigs from some brush.

That morning a saw an 2.5 year old 8pt cruising and a nice 10 point with a doe. Since it seemed like the bucks were seeking, my goal for the afternoon was to find an active scrape that had seen frequent activity. Despite that, I elected to not set up on this scrape because it seemed to be new, and my experience with scrapes is to find an established active scrape that bucks know about and will intentionally visit to freshen.

FYI - I didn't find my active scrape and ended up sitting in two intersecting travel corridors in my climber about 150 yards from where this scrape was. For the last 90 minutes of light I saw two doe groups (7 deer in all) eating acorns about half way between me and that scrape.

Anyone have an experience with seeing or hunting over a new scrape? Maybe there was an old scrape under new leaves and he freshened? (I will know if there is still activity on that scrape next Sunday because I plan on getting down wind of where those does were eating and will walk right past the spot again)

Thanks for you help!

[Dan Salmon]

Not according to this article.

http://www.qdma.com/articles/when-do-bucks-visit-scrapes

[Oakarver]

I think I'd take a gamble on that other 15% I've seen quite a few bucks visit scrapes during the day. I guess it depends upon how heavily the place is hunted etc as well.

[Jslotter]

A single scrape, no. A cluster of fresh scrapes in a concentrated area, yes. Usually the buck is bedded close by too when I find a cluster. Thats just from my experience. Finding scrapes is good stuff though.

[JPH]

Excuse me, did you just say 2000+ acres? I honestly would not know where to begin. The largest property I hunt is less than 80 acres!

But I think you can learn a lot from micro-property hunters. I do not hunt based on sign. I know, it sounds crazy. But you have to realize that a walking deer can cross the places I hunt in less than three minutes. Moving around based on a scrape or a pile of droppings would be too disruptive and I'd run out of room quickly. Instead, I focus on two factors, terrain and wind.

Terrain will indicate stand location. I like to hang stands near areas where deer are "forced" to travel. Fence crossings, field outlets, narrow funnels and corners are among my favorites. The wind will tell me which pinch point to hunt. I always want to be in a position to blow my scent away from where I expect the deer to move. It's actually a simple formula but it works pretty well.

If there is a big scrape in a given area, I'd hunt that area but not the scrape itself. Rather, I'd look for a terrain feature that will make an encounter with a buck more likely and then wait for the right wind.

One disclaimer here. My small property tactics do not allow me to target a particular deer. I would agree that the use of sign would be vital for that. Instead, I make a decision as to what age I'm looking for and then I try to hold out.

Good luck!

[USN_Sam1385]

Excuse me, did you just say 2000+ acres? I honestly would not know where to begin. The largest property I hunt is less than 80 acres!

But I think you can learn a lot from micro-property hunters. I do not hunt based on sign. I know, it sounds crazy. But you have to realize that a walking deer can cross the places I hunt in less than three minutes. Moving around based on a scrape or a pile of droppings would be too disruptive and I'd run out of room quickly. Instead, I focus on two factors, terrain and wind.

Terrain will indicate stand location. I like to hang stands near areas where deer are "forced" to travel. Fence crossings, field outlets, narrow funnels and corners are among my favorites. The wind will tell me which pinch point to hunt. I always want to be in a position to blow my scent away from where I expect the deer to move. It's actually a simple formula but it works pretty well.

If there is a big scrape in a given area, I'd hunt that area but not the scrape itself. Rather, I'd look for a terrain feature that will make an encounter with a buck more likely and then wait for the right wind.

One disclaimer here. My small property tactics do not allow me to target a particular deer. I would agree that the use of sign would be vital for that. Instead, I make a decision as to what age I'm looking for and then I try to hold out.

Good luck!

I know the feeling JPH. The property I hunt every year is 13 acres. This year I am hunting 3,500 acres of PRIVATE ground. I have no idea where to even start. It is mind blowing.

[buckwild]

It is a big forest and with that much room to roam leaves a whole lotta room for second guessing. I love that park though. I read that article and have seen info like that before. My take is that most deer activity is at night so naturally scapes will be visited more at night. I like the idea of knowing a buck is using a few sqare feet of forest. That scrape was still covered today (I covered it last weekend). Anyone else hunting scrapes right now?

[buckwild]

I had another question a out that scrape. They say that big bucks make both big rubs and small rubs, but small bucks only make small rubs. Does the same rule of thumb hold true for scrapes? The scrape in that pick was pretty good size...

Thanks for any input!

[JPH]

I always take a large scrape as an indication that it is being visited often by multiple deer. The scrapes Ive seen that are really big tend to be in the high traffic areas that I indicated in my previous post. With a lot of deer passing by, there are a lot of "calling cards" being left as advertisement. Obviously, the more deer using the scrape, the better the chances one or more of them is going to be a big boy.