Please school me on scrapes.

Can someone give me the skinny on scrapes. What do they signify? are they on travel routes? I find some areas where there are dozens of scrapes? what is the significance of this area? should I be hunting it?

Any and all info as to info on this would be appreciated

Thanks

scrapes are where a buck marks his territory typically prior to the rut - they take a pee on the scraped out area to let other bucks know it "his" area - scrapes are almost always under an overhanging tree or bush limb - they will lick the end of the tree. Sometimes they will rub their tarsal glands together over a scrape because they have been peeing on their tarsals and by rubbing them together it drops some of the wet pee into the scrape.

Bucks will make a scrape trail/line and typically check them daily - older mature bucks usually make a larger scrape than young deer. The younger bucks will often mark a scrape that another younger deer has already made and mark it with their pee too.

Many times they will also make a rub on a tree with their horns and create a rub line. Again it not only helps rub their velvet off but marks their territory.

Scrape and rub lines are a great place to watch and hunt if they are active.

The skinny....Look at it in "people" style, a scrape is like the community pub, or an add board.. Usually a mature/ing buck will start the scrape (or a person can start one), then deer of all age classes will visit them. The bucks keep it clean (you can see hoof marks where they "scrape" it, then a buck will close his rear legs and urinate in it (his business card). If a hot doe visits the scrape, a buck can trail her from that spot.

I would certainly hunt them, just hunt as far down wind as you comfortably can shoot, bucks often travel just down wind and use their nose to check a scrape, remember a older buck could have a scrape line that is over a mile long at times and often move through just to check, similar to a fella driving by his wife's job to see if her vehicle is there.

Scrapes are also a great place to just watch deer activity, young bucks can be comical, I watched a pair of yearlings this year try using a scrape, but it was like they weren't quite sure yet what all the hub0bub was about, but they gave it hell trying to reach the limb above.

Scrapes are a definite to hunt. You will typically find them later in the season, during the "rut". Rubs are typically seen early in the season and they are a good indicator of where to hunt too.

However - scrapes are the BEST indicator of where to hunt. Bow hunters especially look for scrapes - it helps narrow down the range of bucks to within bow range.

If you use feeders (or food plots), look for scrapes on trails leading to the feeder and hunt that scrape instead of the feeder. Many times big bucks that come to feeders after dark will be staged in the areas leading up to the feeders. Scrapes can help you zero in on their travel routes to the feeding areas.

everything said above plus----

Most often deer will use the same scrape year after year---good to know when preparing for stand locations the next year. I like to monitor scrapes with a camera to determine what bucks I have in an area...I have found that most of the time the mature bucks will never go to a feeder of bait site---even at night. I had 4 mature shooter bucks on my ranch this past season and the only reason I knew they were there is by observation of scrapes---I never got any of them as they have been strictly nocturnal all season

Most of the time small scrapes are made by 1 or 2 small bucks that are not experienced with making them. Large scrapes are community scrapes where several bucks are using them including the mature ones. coyotes, foxes and hogs will also check them and sometimes urinate or defecate on them. I have also seen scrapes that were maintained and checked by mostly doe all season.

Great info. They are on travel routes is what it sounds like and man I have found dozens in a few areas.

Is there any significance to an area with dozens if not hundreds of scrapes within a small area? Main travel route for lots of deer maybe? Granted this is public land and I have found one area that is practically covered up in scrapes almost every tree or every other tree. Just dont see many places like that walking through public land and I thought it might be significant.

Obviously I need to be hunting much closer to this area since I have not really done it yet. I just got my muzzy ready so I am going to sit in my ground blind tomorrow but after my hunt I have to go pick out a spot based on the southerly wind coming up this week and make a ground blind in that area where the bucks travel.

Being you said "Public Land", I wouldn't put a lot into it. What happen here, was one guy came thru and decided to make a couple mock scrapes. Then comes another guy and finds those. So, he makes him a couple mock scrapes to entice the buck he thinks made those others. A 3rd guy comes up on this "scrape line" and makes him 3 or 4 mock scrapes. A few days of this and then you walk up on all these scrapes and you think you have done found the "gold mine" of the deer woods.
Yeah, I wouldn't put to much in it!!!

Almost sounds more like "rubs" with you saying that many in a small area. Or it could be "enhanced" as Sqiggy said.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, didn't think about that.
Bigfoot, describe the scrapes you found. Were they on the ground or on small trees?

I doubt they are made by hunters since it is a 45 minute walk to the car to there. Its about 2 miles in to the deep woods so there arent enough hunters that go back there on a regular basis. Its a long way from the road. That is why i hunt back there.

Almost every 5 yards is an old scrape of some sort on the ground with fresh ones every 10 to 15 yards. Saw a few nice fresh ones out there today walking back through that area looking for a spot to set up. I didnt see any today but last week when I went through that area I found a few fresh tree rubs also.

But that amount of scrapes on the ground has me curious. They are just everywhere it seems. And I was just wondering what it represents.

I have seen beaver "scrape" almost every tree in an area. They're not really scraping like a deer.....they are eating the inner bark, eating saplings, and trying to kill trees to make dams. So if there is even a small creek nearby, it could be beaver. I think beaver marks are lower to the ground than a typical deer scrape.

Deer scrapes are on the ground. You're referring to "rubs" HS2.

It means the rut is over. The bucks have went back and opened up their scrapes hoping to have that one doe that didn't take to come back in heat and she picks one of them. I just came back from my place getting ready for our hog season and I noticed a lot of fresh scrapes as well.

Unless there is an overhanging branch that has been chewed on with small broken twigs you may not be looking at scrapes at all. I don't think I've ever seen a scrape without an overhanging branch. I've watched a lot of deer make scrapes over the years and they always rub their, what are they, preorbital glands on those branches to leave their scent. They will also pee down their hind legs, onto their tarsal glands and let it run into the scrape.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong..