Where do you prefer to set-up?

[Woods Walker]

Mag: I think that your answer is FAR better than the "textbook" one that you mentioned. In fact, I don't believe that the primary scrape was all that it was cracked up to be as far as a stand location.
 
First off, as you said, how do you KNOW that it's a "primary scrape"?  I mean, the BUCKS don't even know which of the dozens of scrapes they make will be a "primary" one....it's the DOES who determine that.
 
Like you, I always liked to hunt funnels, especially ones that incorporate terrain features as part of the funnel. I DO factor in the presence of scrapes, as well as rub lines. If the area I am looking at has old rubs from previous years in addition to the other factors, then I know I'm in a good location.
 
What will take #1 priority in my book over ALL these things, is if I see a single doe during the rut that is acting "breedy".  I will get downwind of where I saw here and hunt that spot until I can't see anymore, and then I'll be back the next day, because the buck WILL be coming by!

[mag30079]

Thanks woods walker,
 
It looked like a primary scrape because for 1 it was a doe bedding area and 2 there were 4 or 5 large scrapes in a circle around a tree and each scrape was about 5 foot in diamiter. I've seen alot of scrapes but most are about 2 foot in diamiter.

[Woods Walker]

In addition to all this, there's a lot about scrapes that we DON'T know.
 
You talk about those scrapes being by a doe bedding area.....I have personally watched a DOE make a scrape!
 
I guess she didn't read the book..........

[mag30079]

Wow I never heard of a doe scrape. Lol "read the book"

[Woods Walker]

Well I hadn't either, until I was bowhunting one time in mid/late October, when I watched a doe and her fawn of that year approach. The doe started pawing the ground, and scraped out an area 2' around. She sniffed it, and then pawed it and urinated in it. I was shocked! 
 
"But she's not supposed to do that", I thought....stupid deer.....; - )

[hunter480]

Where I hunt-the 2 small parcels I have access to, it`s a matter of seasons.
 
One area I hunt is a small woodlot, less than 10 acres. The other is a long, narrow strip of timber, that seperates 2 crop fields, one elevated, one much lower. This strip of timber is maybe 700 yards long, and likely 30 yards wide at it`s widest point.
 
In the long strip, we`re simply at the mercy of the deer-we`ve found the points where they seem to use the timber to cross most frequently, and we`ve put up ladder stands. Either they show up, or they dont.
 
In the small woodlot, we`ve identified the prefered travel routes, and again, put up ladder stands, but since every other year, the fields have  adifferent crop, it changes the travel patterns, even within the very same woods.
 
We have the usual travel patterns, the funnels and inside corners, saddles, etc. But depending on which crop is in which field, and even when these crops are harvested, determines how, and even when these travel routes are used.
 
Having said all that, I look for runs passing though thickets in farm country. The thicker the better, especially in small parcels. Depending on where these thickets are in relation to the field edges, they may be a staging area. Staging areas are incredible. However, depending on the deer density and lay of the land where you hunt, there likely is no such thing as a "staging area" that is used as such on an on-going basis.
 
 

[OHhunter]

I like hunting gate openings, fence line intersections, and creek crossing in farm country.  In the hilly wood areas that I hunt I focus on doe bedding areas in from pre to post rut and natural barriers, like ravines that may funnel deer to central location.

[JOEL]

i like edges,ya know creek meets woods,trees meet grass etc.i use the wind to make the final call.i use a portable climber and i scout a couple of spots .i got places in mind just in case someone gets there before me or the wind is wrong etc.always have a plan B,C,D.....

[OHhunter]

ORIGINAL: JOEL

i like edges,ya know creek meets woods,trees meet grass etc.i use the wind to make the final call.i use a portable climber and i scout a couple of spots .i got places in mind just in case someone gets there before me or the wind is wrong etc.always have a plan B,C,D.....

 
The wind is ultimately the determining factor for me. I always have my climber in the jeep just in case I arrive at my hunting spot and the wind has thrown me a curve ball and I can't hunt any of my fixed stands.  Nothing shoots down my confidence more than a bad wind.

[JOEL]

agreed thats why i have plan b,c,d etc