Last night’s experience…

Last night I hunted my favorite spot from last year for the first time this year. This is a spot that I’ve known about for years but never quite figured out how to hunt it until last year. It is a low lying travel corridor between 2 parallel ridges with many intersecting trails coming from all directions. Last year I put up my stand in August and didn’t hunt it until Nov. 30 and saw quite a few bucks then and throughout the rest of the rut. There were quite a few rubs and scrapes throughout the area. Well yesterday I snuck in there hoping to catch a buck checking one of his scrapes and to my surprise, I didn’t see a scrape or rub anywhere in sight of my stand and I didn’t see a deer from my stand, however, there were some scrapes and rubs around the edges of the corn field about 100 yards away. I had my trail camera up in the area in August and had several bucks come through there and there were deer tracks on many of the trails so I know there are deer in the area. Is it possible that the bucks don’t create any scrapes or rubs in this area until the rut starts to heat up when they start moving through here on a regular basis? I always walk through this area later in the year after the rut and there’s always rubs and scrapes all around. I never come into this area until the rut nears trying to keep my disturbances to a minimum. I did have 2 coyotes come out of their den just around the hill from me near dusk but unfortunately they were just out of range for me. Not sure if they are part of my problem or not but they are around. What are your thoughts?

I have the same problem on a farm I hunt. Every year it is covered with buck sign, but very little this year. I think my situation is due to the lack of small bucks. I normally have to beat away the 1.5 year olds, but not so this year. My place has quite a few 2.5 to 3.5 year olds and I hope that’s what is the cause for the lack of sign. IMO the really young bucks like to tear up trees and make little scrapes very heavily in confined areas. Maybe you just have a couple of big bucks that are scaring off the little guys. Let me know if you need help finding out.

Ive talked to quite a few guys about this year w/ there not being as many scrapes as the year or two before in the general area that i hunt. Ive hypothesized that there are too many does so competition is very little or non really at all A buck will scrape to show dominance and to attract does. Later, the buck will meet up w/ the doe if she is ready or he senses that she will come in soon and keep w/ her. With there being so many does, like a ratio of 15:1 , a buck doesn’t need to go the extra effort and scrape when he can just go to a field at night and run into a doe that is close to being in heat

I think that scrapeing doesn’t have to do with does that much early on, I think its testasone levels increasing that makes them scrape, kinda like a bull infront of a bull fighter. I am a believer that smaller bucks make smaller scrapes and more of them while the bigger bucks make fever and much larger scrapes. I know they both visit eachothers scrapes but I think the smaller ones visit the bigger bucks scapes more then the opposite, this is just what I think and I don’t know if its true. Im kinda surprised that the scrapes aren’t being worked more down here compared to other years but I think that has to do with the weather being as warm as it has been and things being a few weeks behind.

Where im hunting I think one of the reasons why there also isn’t more scrapeing is because most deer are in the corn, that could be why your seeing scrapes along cornfield edges because thier use to being there and not laying up along the timber edges. Where im hunting I know theres a big buck laying up in a draw and theres scrapes along the edges of it that I found when when I initially checked that draw. I havent rechecked them like I have the others because I don’t want to spook him, kicking him out again from his bed. The other scrapes are being made by smaller bucks. I think because theres more smaller bucks and things are behind a few weeks that the scraping is mostly smaller bucks with a few scrapes being tended by a few bigger bucks and maybe just in thier immediate area where thier laying up right now, this is what I thinks going on at the piece I hunt. I look for things to really turn around from last saturday and for the next 3 weeks.

Im a believer that warm weather slows most of thier activities down and I was told the farmers almanac says its supposed to be halfway warm up until December then Janurary and feburary is supposed to be colder then usual. Maybe its going to be a long drawn out rut involving more time. I think its all got to do with the weather right now but the deer are still there. I do know that if it was getting colder quicker and staying that way that Id see more scraping down here. We just had our first killing frost two days ago so from now on I think they will start to go and really good twards the end of this month, if the seasons beind 3 weeks that would fit to me. I think thier starting to get interisted and are looking some but having the does so far away from estrous and the warm weather hasen’t triggered the intensity yet. Im going to see what its like a couple weeks from now.

Thanks for the comments. I plan to hunt this spot later next week and we’ll see what happens. It looks like the weather is going to be pretty nice starting on Monday. Hopefully the cold nights will get them moving.