OUTDOOR LOGIC WITH BIOLOGIC
Use Mock Scrapes to Attract Bucks To Scam “Mr. Snooty”
Remember that the objective is to attract your target buck into the area for a shot during daylight hours, so don’t worry if they don’t physically interact with your specific mock scrape(s) like this buck is doing here. As long as he offers you a shot, that’s the goal. (Photo Credit: Todd Amenrud)
A buck’s scrape is a multistimuli sign post made by a buck to convey a variety of messages to the other deer in the area. Some call a “buck’s scrape” a “calling card to the does.” I disagree; I feel a scrape’s primary function is to be a buck’s “breeding-territory marker” to ALL deer in the area, especially the other bucks. After a buck makes a scrape, it can be worked over by many different bucks. One morning while hunting along the Red River in Manitoba, I witnessed 12 bucks work over the same scrape before 10 a.m. The other bucks are saying, “This is my territory, too.” Mother Nature gives them a way to sort out their pecking order. Through months of sparring and posturing, by the time breeding gets underway, they have a loose hierar32
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chy worked out. This helps to limit serious, life-threatening fights. When actual breeding gets underway, little attention is focused on scrapes. However, as an aid for hunters to learn about a buck and a contrivance to draw a buck close for a shot, scrapes are at the top of the list. During parts of the fall, they can be magnets for buck activity. While bucks can make scrapes without a “licking branch” present, one is usually necessary to trigger the act. It doesn’t happen often, 99.9% of the time an overhanging branch about 5 to 6 feet off the ground, most often referred to as a “licking branch,” is necessary to induce scrape activity.
