Buck Scraping in May

[chief]

I was turkey hunting in Massachusetts on May 15 and witnessed a large buck rub on a licking branch and make a scrape under it. I saw him do this 3 times while in sight.The first scrape was less then twenty feet from me and the buck never saw me.A smaller buck was following him and checked out the scrapes but didn't do anything.Has anybody else expirenced this in May?Is this normal for a buck in May?

[gunther89]

Bucks will scrape year round.  Had a thing about it in deer and deer hunting awhile back about it.  I would assume since it was a large buck he was showing that he was a dominant buck in the area especially since there was a smaller buck following him.  

[OHhunter]

I got pics of several different  deer working the same licking branch, from july through September when I took the camera down. 

[dtrain56]

I know that they do scrape year round..but does it mean anything..is it marking his core area, are they random events, is it a good place to hang a stand for next season??????
 
what do those scrapes mean, what is the deer telling other deer, or us for that matter????
 
do we have an expert wildlife biologist on hand

[Stickman]

I was turkey hunting in April on or about the 15th and found a fresh scrape ,which I could not believe, then after walking a few feet later a 6pt buck got up on the hillside with 2 does with him. They ran away, the first time I had seen a racked buck this late. Unbelieveable in my book!  

[chief]

Thanks for the comments.I placed a trail camera on the scrape and sprayed some buck urine.I just checked it after a month and got several pictures of the two bucks.The larger one isn't as big as I thought he looks like a two and a half year old and the smaller one is a year and a half old.They look much smaller with their sleek summer coats.They both have antlers growing, it will be interesting to see how big their racks will get.