When Do Bucks Start Making Scrapes, and Which Ones Are Worth Hunting?
Is this scrape worth a sit, and when?
Bucks start pawing scrapes in early fall and step it up through pre-rut. On our forecast’s estimates, pre-rut runs Oct 15–Nov 6 in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin, Oct 25–Nov 16 in Pennsylvania and Oct 29–Nov 20 in Kentucky. Scrape visits drop once bucks are tending does in the rut.
A scrape is worth a sit when most of these are true:
- Fresh dirt: raked clean, damp, maybe a track in it.
- A working licking branch above it, broken or chewed.
- On a travel line between bedding and food, not alone in the middle of a field.
- Part of a line of several scrapes along an edge, old logging road or ridge.
- Daylight camera pictures of a buck at it, not only night pictures.
One or two checks? Hang a camera and keep scouting.
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A fresh scrape on an old logging road gets every bowhunter’s heart going. Plenty of them are visited mostly after dark, though. Here is how to sort the ones worth a sit from the ones worth a camera.
Check your ZIP’s free deer movement score
Where to sit near a scrape
Don’t hang your stand right over the scrape. Bucks often scent-check a scrape line from cover on the downwind side and never step into the open. Set up downwind of the scrape line, where you can cover that trail and still see the scrape.
Keep your entry clean. Walk in on a route that never crosses the scrape trail, and wear rubber boots.
Mock scrapes
A mock scrape is one you make yourself under a good overhanging branch. They can pull a buck into a shooting lane or in front of a camera. Make them on travel lines, not in random spots, and don’t overdo the scent.
Reading camera pictures
Night pictures tell you a buck lives nearby. Daylight pictures tell you to go hunt. A run of morning pictures at a scrape near thick cover is about as good as sign gets.
Match the scrape to the day
Scrapes get busy after a rain and on cool, calm mornings. Check the 0–100 deer movement score for your ZIP the night before: Excellent is 88 and up, Good is 65–87, Fair is 42–64 and Poor is 41 and under. Save your scrape stand for a Good or Excellent day with a wind that keeps your scent off the trail.
FAQ
Do bucks visit scrapes in daylight?
Sometimes, mostly in pre-rut and on cool mornings. Many scrapes get most of their visits after dark, which is why daylight camera pictures matter.
Should I hunt a scrape during the rut?
Scrapes go quieter once bucks are with does. In the rut, doe bedding and the funnels between them usually beat a scrape.
Do mock scrapes work?
They can, on a real travel line under a good licking branch. They work best as a way to pull a buck into a lane or a camera view.
Check your ZIP
Get the free 0–100 deer movement score by ZIP for where you hunt.
Enter a 5-digit ZIP code.
This guide and the 0–100 deer movement score are weather-and-season guidance, not a promise you will see or take a deer. Always check seasons, hours, bag limits and regulations with your state wildlife agency before you hunt.