How To Deploy Fresh Scents?

Although there are a number of ways to skin a cat, here is the way I like to do it?I start out by watching for bachelor groups during the summer. Here in Pa, ground hogs are in season through the summer and I take the gun along and hunt ground hogs while I take notice to the bucks entering the fields to feed in the evening. Once I locate a nice buck that I want to hunt, I start patterning his feed habits and the times he is entering the fields. You'd be surprised at how consistent a buck is in his feed patterns going into the fall. I can almost set my watch to the times they enter the field, at least within 15-30 minutes.

Our archery season usually starts around the first of October. From what I've been seeing, the older dominant bucks will leave the group first and the smaller submissive bucks will stay grouped up for some time. So I start to hunt based solely on the food patterns that the buck has been exercising all summer. By watching the buck during the summer, I have a good idea of which trails he normally uses to enter the field and this gives me an idea of where I need to setup. I usually setup about 75-150 from the edge of the field, usually where several trails intersect. On my walks to find a location like this, I am always scouting for scrapes every time I enter or leave the woods.

I have also found that the dominant buck will actually move to areas where there is a pretty good group of doe, so take this into consideration and watch for the doe as well during the summer/fall. As soon as I find an area that has several scrapes in close proximity, this is where I'll setup. I'll start getting in the woods like 2 hours before daylight just so I can sit there and listen for the tale-tale signs of a buck walking, working a scrape or making a rub. This is valuable information as it gives me an idea of which direction the buck is approaching from, thus it lets me know where I need to focus on placing a scrape. Keep in mind; a buck usually hits his scrapes about 1/2 hour before daylight and a half hour after dark.

Now that I have an idea of which direction the buck approaches his scrape, I can wait it out until around 11:00AM and then make a mock scrape. I usually make the mock scrape and leave the area alone until the next morning, where I just climb my tree and sit and wait, hoping to catch the buck a little after sun up still working the area over. Some times it works but for the most part the buck moves through under the cover of darkness. As the sun comes up this is usually where I get a good look at the area and start noticing fresh rubs and scrapes everywhere. This is what I am ultimately trying to achieve, creating an area of interest for the bucks to frequent.

Then it's just a matter of keeping the bucks interested by making scent trails and keeping your mock scrape active. I will throw in another mock scrape or two and even make a few rubs to make it more appealing and challenge the buck even more. Keep in mind, you are scenting the areas and making the scrapes during midday.

I will usually keep this up until the end of October and then this is when I bring a doe into the picture by dumping doe urine in the mock scrape and using buck and doe urine, make scent trails. I feel I am already challenging the buck on his will to claim territory, and by bringing a doe into the picture I feel that i am sending a message that the doe are choosing me over him.... I always start a scrape with buck urine and work it a week or so only with buck urine BEFORE I bring in a doe.... If I can't get the buck to show himself during the day with the MaxDraw doe urine and I notice a little chase starting up, I will then bring in the TotalDraw and dump it in or close to the mock scrape and pull scent trails... Once doe urine is added to a scrape, I feel it becomes a breeding scrape..... -See the scrape setup illustrations below-....

I usually tag out by the end of October, if a shot presents itself, by using this setup. For the last couple years, I have a nice buck come into this setup during the daylight hours, before breeding activity really kicks in. It to me is a very successful setup and has put some nice buck within bow range.

I feel that early season scrapes are nothing more than a "marker" that defines a bucks territory or boundary. In early season as buck are splitting up from bachelor groups, they begin to establish territory. By making a scrape and then urinating in it, it gives the scrape a odor signature of the buck that made it.

Keep in mind that a buck?s territory is surrounded on all side by other bucks that are claiming territory and sometimes these area's "overlap". When I come across an area that has multiple scrapes and rubs, I feel this is an area that is being battled over by the neighboring bucks. In a sense, the bucks are pushing each other around in a battle for the real estate and the doe it holds. I have seen evidence of some hard fought battles occurring in these areas.

What I look for in addition to the scrapes, or a scrape line as many call it, is rubs in close proximity to these scrapes. I feel that all bucks, of every age including bucks fawns from the same year, will make rubs. Rubs that are along feeding trails and in areas that one might consider a staging area are the least of my concern. I am after the dominant buck and a buck of any age or social standing will make rubs. However, I feel that when a rub is in close proximity to a scrape, it is a warning rub put there as a message that the dominant buck in the area is willing to fight to keep this area.

So, when I find an area that has several scrapes with rubs in close proximity, I feel that this area is an area of interest for several buck and they are trying to establish who the law dog is. This is when I use mock scrapes and feel that mock scrapes are the most productive.

I will usually make a mock or "man made" scrape within 20-50 yards of the natural scrape, taking the rubs into consideration. I will look for a location to make a mock scrape that has an overhanging branch that is about 48-60 inches above the ground. As I dump the buck urine in the scrape, I make sure I am dumping it on the overhanging branch and the urine is falling into the scrape. I have my trail drag attached to my boot and it is in the scrape and the urine is soaking into it as well as the ground. Then I use the trail drag and run scent trials about 80-100 in each direction.

I will hunt this location 3 days on and 3 days off, freshening the scrape and pulling scent trails around 10:30 -11:00am each time I'm hunting. After about 2 days of working this mock scrape, there will usually be "other" scrapes made along with many new rubs in the area. This is what I'm looking for.... I got the bucks attention.

Now I'll keep pushing him around with mock scrapes and I'll even throw in a few mock rubs and spray buck urine on the rubs. By now, I usually have the dominant buck pretty worked up and this is when I bring a doe into the picture. Now is when I will put doe urine in the mock scrape and use both buck and doe urine to make scent trails. I'm trying to simulate a buck trailing a doe.

This setup has been a very successful setup for me. Since 2002, when I first started playing around with scrapes, I have taken 2 bucks that have made the Pa record book. Last year I held a 12-point that was in the 130-135" range in a 20-30-acre piece of woods all archery season. I had him within bow range on 3 different occasions but due to branches and trees, I wasn't able to get a clean shot at him. On the first day of PA rifle season, we jumped the buck on our early morning walk to our stands and wasn't able to get a legal shot. This buck was killed the second day of rifle season not more than 200 yards from where I worked him all archery season with mock scrapes and deer urine.

Mock scrapes work, but the biggest challenge is getting the buck to hit them through the day. I feel if you dress the scrapes mid day, the buck will usually venture out sometime though the day to check the area. Hunting scrapes requires a lot of tree time and is not the 1-day magic setup. Last year I hunted hard all archery season and still came up empty handed, but I did have the buck within bow range on 3 different occasions during legal shooting hours....

Good luck and give the mock scrape a try. You just might be surprised at the results....

The above is how I usually setup for a mock scrape, but last year I did something a little different due to having some friends up from NC. There wasn't a rub or scrape to be found in the 20-30-acre piece of woods we were hunting. The middle of October when we were spotlighting, I seen two nice buck battling it out in one of the fields next to the patch of woods. I decided that the following morning I was going to try and claim the territory first by placing a mock scrape and pull a few scent trails. Again, I knew the patterns pretty well and which trails the doe were using to gain access to the fields. So I found a little transition area between two thickets that I knew was a buck run. This is where I chose to put the mock scrape. It was on the western side of the thicket, as most dominant or older buck likes to scent check scrapes from cover, and the prevailing wind is from west to east.

It only took a few hours before it got the bucks? attention. This area at the end of archery season had 9 scrapes that were made and 3 mock scrapes that I made. I would feel comfortable on betting that there were close to 30 rubs in an 80-yard radius. It was one of the best results to a mock scrape that I have seen thus far.

Give the mock scrape a try and see what happens... Who knows, it may work as well for you as it has for me...

Here are some illustrated setups that I use...