Ground Scrapes

[dirt4life]

I was out rifle hunting today and got out of my stand at about 10 because the wind was ridiculous and i decided to walk around and see if I could find any deer.  Well long story short I ended up in a place with about 12-15 ground scrapes within a 50 yd distance most of them were large in size.  Most of them were fresh.  They were on a nice sized deer trail that went through fairly thick cover there was also very fresh rubs on the trees.  I was just wondering if its even worth putting up a stand in this area for when I go back out with my bow after rifle season.  I have read up on scrapes and it seems there is no sure fire way to hunt them.  I was just wondering if its a good idea to put a stand here or not such a good one.

[deadeye]

dirt4life,
I will have to examine the spot myself to tell if it is good or not.  Just give me directions to it and I will let you know in a week or two.   

[Mayfly]

dirt4life,
I will have to examine the spot myself to tell if it is good or not.  Just give me directions to it and I will let you know in a week or two.   

Ya know.... I think I should prbably come along as well. I need to see this

Seriosuly though, I would tend to think that is a decent spot to hunt. I have seen deer come into scrapes at all time of day. Does will check them as well. The majority will say these are used at night etc... Just like everything else in deer hunting it can go many ways. I do believe it will increase your odds. The biggest buck I ever saw was coming into a scrape at sunrise. Lats week hunting a big bodied deer came into a scrape right by "bowhunter73's" stand. Hunt there! 

[GOLDTIP]

Chances are you found either a doe bedding area or a mature bucks core area.  Greg Miller has a great book out on this subject. 
hope this helps

[HUNTER2]

Find the does and you will find the bucks.

[stevejedlenski]

this time of year i would start looking for food sources. but i like to hunt scrapes in the pre rut or just before the rut hits full swing. after it has started the scrapes dont seem to get much attention from the big boys.

[flaursen]

I was kind of under the impression that the rut has completed I got no responce from and of the tactics this weekend am I mistaken ?????

[sjohnnie26]

Flaursen, read the article here:
http://www.versuscountry.com/rutreport.aspx

Basically the rut is waning with some bucks still chasing does and others being done. 

[Mayfly]

I was kind of under the impression that the rut has completed I got no responce from and of the tactics this weekend am I mistaken ?????

The rut can last longer than you think. All doe's do not come into estrus at the same time and the peak period only lasts 24 hours. If that doe is not bred in that 24 hours she will come back into estrus in 28 days. So you can have some doe's coming into estrus as early as late october and some at about mid-november.  And again, the ones that were not bred will do it again. Once a buck or bucks get this in their system and their hormones start to change they will seek and seek. Obviously they may move more rapid when they find a doe that is coming into estrus but once that is over they will move onto the next. The highest percentage of does in the state of minnesota will be in estrus from Nov. 1-10.

[dakids]

The rut was still going on up by Remer, Yesterday I had 2 bucks fighting for about 10 minutes less than 150 yards in front of me at 3:30 in the afternoon.  They were in the thickest part of a slashing that was logged off 4-5 years ago.  Never got a shot but it was one of the highlights of the year.  I also had a smaller (basket 8)buck that was watching the fight from behind me.  The night before I had watched 4 does come out of the slashing at dark, so I figured that it was as good a place to hunt the last day of the season.  I can't believe the rifle season is over. I might try muzzle loader this year again.

[JCAMERON]

I hunted grand rapids this last weekend. I shot a buck that was chasing a doe. His glands were still perspiring and had a ton of bark in his horns. I'd say he was still rutting.

[Outdoors Junkie]

I hunted grand rapids this last weekend. I shot a buck that was chasing a doe. His glands were still perspiring and had a ton of bark in his horns. I'd say he was still rutting.

Where's the picture JC?  We want to see the buck you got!   

[speedymax10]

Yep I would be all over that area