Ground scrapes... What exactly do they mean??

So I was at the lease this weekend hunting of course in southern live oak county. Fresh rain made following tracks easy. So I started walking around the property following the buck tracks I could find and this went on for a while. Upon following these tracks I ran across several very fresh ground scrapes on these buck trails. I know they have to do with rut and the buck pees on it then does come pee on it if they are ready. So at what point before rut begins does this take place? Typically the rut where I am doesn't start till about Christmas time. From what I saw this weekend does that mean rut may be a little earlier this year? Or are these just young bucks that are a little early?.

Pre-rut it'll be bucks trying to figure out what other bucks they're competing with. Might be some frustrated younguns, but the 2 made in front of my cams this year were both started by bucks 5+.

That's what I was hoping to hear. The main one I followed today was very fresh could still smell the damp soil. There were scrapes on this one trail that I followed one set of tracks and the scrapes were spread out about every 40 yards or so and were roughly 4x4 ft some a little larger but none smaller. So with pre rut seeming like what it is if I set up next weekend not on it but maybe in a clearing that is about 60 yards of the line and rattle could this be beneficial or is it still to early?

Thought about setting a cam up on them however wanted to really minimize my time and scent in the immediate area of this line.

I've kicked around the idea of carrying an extra cam around with me while doing a stalk.

Not a big deal if you limit your camera checks....it'll give you a good idea of what all is in the area.

I have seen bucks of all sizes use them, but believe the bigger the scrape, the bigger, or more dominate the buck was.

Doe pee's in a scrape then walks off leaving her scent trail, bucks check scrape and get on her trail. Kind of like a deer community "post it" board STS.

Same principle as using a hole in the ground filled with used cooking oil for bear. Bear gets in it and carries the scent for miles as it walks, then any bear crossing the trail, will follow the scent back to the bait.

They sure are fun to walk up on these scrapes and just imagine what caliber deer made the scrape.