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John's Journal... Entry 120, Day 4

HOW TO FIND A BUCK AT HIS SCRAPE

Why Hunt Scrapes Instead of Rubs?

EDITOR'S NOTE: The information we don't know about scrape hunting can fill up volumes of textbooks. You can compare the amount of information we do understand about scrape hunting to a BB in a boxcar. Each year wildlife researchers gain more data about deer communication, behavior and signposting. However, the knowledge we learn as deer hunters often becomes twisted, leaving us misinformed. Much of what we know about scrape hunting comes from legends and traditions rather than scientific facts. Let's look at the latest research with Dr. Keith Causey, professor of wildlife science at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama about scrapes and scrape hunting and take advantage of it to harvest more bucks at these naturally occurring whitetail bulletin boards. Causey brings an advantage to the table in his discussion of deer behavior -- his own hunting experience. As a deer hunter, he can draw conclusions he cannot document with scientific fact and research. However, because of his experience in the woods during hunting season, I consider his assumptions very valuable to the rest of us who hunt whitetails.


In many areas of this country, sportsmen hunt rubs before, during and after the rut. But according to Causey, "Based on recent studies using remote-sensing devices, we now understand that bucks primarily visit rubs at night but will come to scrapes during daylight and nighttime hours."
Causey also has learned from his observations that bucks will demonstrate rubbing activity at any time they're in hard antler. However, you can pattern bucks at scrapes during daylight hours beginning with the prerut. "Rubbing does not seem as urgent an activity as scraping," Causey suggests. Although for years hunters have believed bucks make rubs on trees and bushes to mark their territory, we do not understand the exact purpose of rubs or what information the deer actually communicate at rubs. However, we do know rubs make up a form of signposting for deer.

Dr. Larry Marchinton, longtime professor in the School of Forest Resources at the University of Georgia, now retired, and Dr. David Hirth, associate professor in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Virginia, in the book "White-tailed Deer -- Ecology and Management," define a rub as, "... stems of shrubs or saplings debarked by bucks rubbing them with their antlers and foreheads. The forehead skin contains glands that produce secretions during the breeding season and leave scent on the rubbed objects. Occasionally, a buck will break a sapling when rubbing escalates into a vigorous thrashing. The most intense rubbing occurs during and shortly after velvet removal but continues throughout the rut. Rubbing can function in communication between the sexes, since does sometimes sniff, lick or even mark buck rubs with their foreheads." From this research, we understand that bucks and does use rubs to leave messages for one another. But because researchers have not cracked the code of the whitetail's language, they only can guess what the information means in the messages left by the deer's glandular secretions.

"Hunting pressure remains the most-important factor in determining your likelihood of taking a 3-year-old or an older buck at a scrape or at any other place in the woods," Causey reports. When I asked what time of day I should best hunt a scrape in a region with light-to-moderate hunting pressure, Causey noted many factors that would affect this decision. "Weather conditions, moon phase, hunting activity in the area and the deer's biological rhythm weigh heavily on determining when a deer will move," Causey explains. "However, to hunt a scrape with light-hunting pressure, I'd hunt it early in the morning and late in the afternoon. If I did not see any deer activity around the scrape until 9:00 or 10:00 a.m., then I'd change my hunt patterns and not hunt the scrape until later in the morning. If I spotted deer moving at 3:00 or 4:00 p.m. but not moving just at dark, then on the following day, I'd hunt earlier in the afternoon. I determine when to hunt based more on the time I see deer moving, rather than on any other factor."

If Causey hunted a scrape in an area with intense-hunting pressure, he'd hunt that scrape at the very peak of the rut when most of the does in that area went into estrus. "I believe I most likely would see a buck at that scrape during the middle of the day when 90 percent of the hunters would come out of the woods to eat lunch," Causey remarks. Although bucks actively work scrapes during the rut, they do not necessarily lose their minds. They still maintain some of their wariness and try not to expose themselves during the time when they most likely will have an encounter with a hunter. "Deer learn to adapt to their predators' search times and patterns, just like any other animal," Causey states. "Hunters have learned to pattern deer according to the animals' movements. They often forget deer learn a hunter's pattern too by observing when hunters hunt and when the sportsmen leave the woods. Even during the peak of the rut, you have the best chances of bagging a buck at a scrape if you hunt at the time of day when deer experience the least amount of hunting pressure. But again, I can't document my personal opinion as a hunter with scientific evidence."

TOMORROW: WHAT TO DO FOR SUCCESSFUL SCRAPE HUNTING



 

 

 

Check back each day this week for more about Hunting Scrapes...

Day 1 - What is a Scrape?
Day 2 - Why a Scrape is a Productive Site to Hunt?
Day 3 - When is the Best Time to Hunt a Scrape?
Day 4 - Why Hunt Scrapes Instead of Rubs?
Day 5 - What To Do For Successful Scrape Hunting

John's Journal