Early Season Scrapes

Discuss the science of figuring out our prey through good detective work.
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mobymikeguide
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Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2016 3:04 am
Location: Wisconsin
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Early Season Scrapes

Unread postby mobymikeguide » Thu Aug 26, 2021 9:39 pm

I was out on a public the other day to set a trail camera, its a public thats close to my house. Year after year I scout it in the offseason, and I just never see much sign that gets me excited. The place is cool and in my mind could surely hold a good buck. I thought this year I'll hang a trail camera and see if theres anything around the area being so close to my house. I'm walking in on a human trail that parallels the bottom of the south side of a ridge. I don't get too far along the ridge and I see this torn up scrap, grass is gone torn to the ground looks like something thats been used all season, my initial thought is someone made this mock scrap after watching jeff sturgis or something. I scour the area for a trail camera high and low and see nothing. In the scrape I see no tracks, but the ground is hard as a rock and despite my best efforts I can't make out anything that resembles a track, no evidence of poop or pee. I look around for a trail camera again or a tree that one might use to try and hunt that spot, there's nothing. I dismiss and carry on past the ridge towards the marsh, I see a decent 2.5 year old 8 come out the marsh feed on some bushes and tickling his antlers around on them and head back into the marsh and bed down. So even though a 2.5 year old some great intel, I hang the trail camera back towards there along a line of tree that leads to private. I went home and didn't think much about that scrape (assuming a mock) then I see Dan on Exodus youtube talking about scrapes and early season yada yada and there needs to be reason. Now last year I shot my buck Oct 2 off a scrap in-between 2 bedding areas, so that along with that recent podcast has me thinking about this scrape, we just got an 1" of rain 2 days ago so the ground should be soft enough to see if anything is using it or if its just a mock scrap. I'm heading out there mid morning to see what if there is sign in it, I think it could work, there is bedding along the military crest on the south side of that ridge so for a buck to drop down and get to that in daylight is no problem and depending where along the ridge he's bedding at could be less than 100 yards. It still just seems wrong to me, but like I said i'm going to follow up on it today and see if theres tracks in it here after the rain. Sorry this is not really a question just me rambling, but any thoughts post em like I said ill check here this morning and see if I can find evidence of use.



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