inturptating scrapes
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As you know from other posts, I'm not an expert. However, I think I might have a suggestion based on what I read.
1) It tells you that the buck (or maybe several of them) are in the area and in the rut.
2) It tells you that the buck believes there're does around too (does' bedding area might be downwind).
3) It might tell you size of the buck (he might imprint his antlers), but I am not sure if you can read them. I sure cannot.
What he's doing.
1) The book I am reading now suggest that making a scape is pleasant to a buck.
2) Since he don't revisit those scrapes, he's not serious about getting a hot doe scent there (it contradicts what I said before, but what I said before there's does in the area in general, but theese particular scrapes aren't his primary visit spots for them does).
3) So, he probably just marks his territory with those scrapes and gets himself a quick pleasure.
1) It tells you that the buck (or maybe several of them) are in the area and in the rut.
2) It tells you that the buck believes there're does around too (does' bedding area might be downwind).
3) It might tell you size of the buck (he might imprint his antlers), but I am not sure if you can read them. I sure cannot.
What he's doing.
1) The book I am reading now suggest that making a scape is pleasant to a buck.
2) Since he don't revisit those scrapes, he's not serious about getting a hot doe scent there (it contradicts what I said before, but what I said before there's does in the area in general, but theese particular scrapes aren't his primary visit spots for them does).
3) So, he probably just marks his territory with those scrapes and gets himself a quick pleasure.
G
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·what wmi said
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as far as size. i have read from books they can range from the size of a frisbee to the size of a hood of a car. if thats the case they are meduum size. about 14" wide by 30" long. as far as depth i have no knowlage of what constituses deep or shallow. to me they look worked hard. today i still hunted my area to get a good look around and found some new and nasty rubbs to. from what i have read i assumed it was a yong buck because of them not getting re worked but wanted to get opinions from you guys.
Your best clue is the 14" wide. Now think about the shoulder size of even a 2 1/2 year old. Bucks tend to kick out to the sides so in this case more than likely he is a young guy just feeling his oats.When you look at a scrape look for at least 3" of spread from the tips of the hoof. Does not sound like much but 3 to 4 inches can be a good buck. In your neck of the woods with the northern strain of whitetail 3" would be minimum. I personally look for 20" or wider with a lot of kick back debris.
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no real kick out to the side. lot of kick back debree though. im actualy kinda hoping its a younger buck. they are easeyer to fool. id rather have pics of a 140lbs. 6 pointer haning from a tee in my yard thean a pic of a 190lbs. 10 pointer on my trail cam.
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huntnh, here's a good chart of Deer track sizes.... the measures you see on the left are measured from tip to dewclaw.
This should help you determine a little more about the deer also.
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This should help you determine a little more about the deer also.
G
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·thats a good start huntnh figuring out that mature deer aren't like the young ones. sometimes think the old ones aren't even deer but some creature that has eyes like a spider crossed with a Hubble telescope, a lateral line like a fish to pick the slightest silent movement, a photographic memory, and the nose of 10 elephants. oh and did i mention the crystal ball to be able to tell what you are going to do next? well, they got them too.
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Scrapes can be made and then turn cold if the rut is delayed or goes cold. Also, different bucks will use common scrapes. This past week three bucks came to one of the natural scrapes we were hunting over. I think young bucks kinda know what to do but its a little fuzzy yet for them so they half attempt to scrape then move on and do this many times. When a mature bucks does his thing its for real and you can tell by the size of the scrape that you've found the real Mccoy. I like scrapes that are three feet around and have a lot of debris throwned behind. Another thing, I've noticed that mature bucks will break off a much bigger overhead branch than a lower grade buck will. So I like to have a really big scrape and a big broken branch overhead and most likely you will have a nice rub line to add to the mix. You need a lot of patience when scrape hunting coupled with low buck numbers as it might take several days for you to see him and evaluate his size. Personally for me rut hunting is the best hunting there is.
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ok so going off the assumption that im after a young buck. i think what im going to do is stop rattalin compleatly. if he is young he more than likeley is not intersted in fighting another buck for a doe. im probably not going to do much if any grunting, same reason pluss i dont know how good i am at it any way. im going to stick to useing doe in heat sents and oe bleats. we will have to see how this works out for me.
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HuntNH, really you may get a younger buck to respond to light rattling because they are looking to see just how big they are and I think they enjoy a bit of sparring. A light rattleing every 30-40 minutes and the doe in heat scent should get the attention of a young buck. I really don't know about the doe bleat thing, no experience on that. As the rut picks up the estrus scent should improve your odds especially hung over a natural scrape. My son uses the grunt call to stop and turn a buck thats out maybe 60-80 yds. Happy hunting to you.
G
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·i used a grunt and snort wheeze to literally bring back the buck in my pic thingy under profile.
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