What We Know About Scrapes

By: Kip Adams, QDMA

Another hunting season has come and gone, and I’ve received a new wave of questions about deer behaviors and sign that hunters witnessed in the woods. A friend recently remarked that even though he saw multiple active scrapes in the area he hunted this past season, he never saw a buck at any of them. Aren’t scrapes supposed to be good places to hunt near? Mike Tonkovich, another friend and deer biologist for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, asked about scrape use by does. Specifically, do does make scrapes and use licking branches? Even though you aren’t likely to see much scraping activity in your area at this time of year, deer hunters and managers enjoy talking about and learning about the rut at any time. While these questions are fresh on the mind, let’s consider what we know about scrapes to help you better understand this important whitetail behavior.
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Creating a Scrape
Scrapes are a visual and scent “signpost” for deer, and they involve a sequence of three steps. A buck will first mark an overhanging branch about 3 to 6 feet above the ground by licking and/or mouthing it, hence the name “licking branch.” If a suitable branch doesn’t exist at this height, bucks may stand on their hind legs to reach taller ones, and they frequently break the branch in this process. Bucks may also rub their preorbital glands (found in the front corner of each eye) and/or their forehead gland on the branch. This is not an indiscriminate marking; bucks will work the branch, smell it, and possibly work it some more until they get the right “concoction” of their scent on it. The forehead gland becomes more active during the breeding season and research suggests scent from it may persist on an object for several days. Next, bucks paw and scrape away the litter below the overhanging branch and create a shallow depression in the exposed soil. Finally, bucks urinate in the scrape. This urination may be directly into the soil or over the buck’s tarsal glands.

Rub-urination
When bucks urinate on their tarsal glands it is called rub-urination, and rutting bucks use this behavior to advertise their dominance status and breeding condition to does and other bucks. Rub-urinations are not limited to bucks or to the breeding season. Bucks, does and even fawns will rub-urinate during any season of the year. While this is an interesting behavior to observe, recent research estimates only 5 percent of urinations at scrapes are rub-urinations.

Who’s Scraping?
Mature bucks obviously engage in scraping behavior, and bucks may assert their dominance by making a scrape in the presence of a subordinate buck. The old adage that mature bucks prevent young bucks from scraping is not true. Yearling and 21⁄2-year-old bucks routinely engage in scraping behaviors, even at the same scrapes used by mature bucks. Does also use scrapes, and they use them on a regular basis. While I’ve never observed a doe making a scrape, they frequently visit them, occasionally mark the overhanging branch, and may even urinate in them. These activities suggest that does obtain breeding information about bucks as well as advertise their availability at these signposts. I’m sure many QDMA members who use scouting cameras have taken photos of does visiting and marking scrapes.

When are they Scraping?
Scraping activity typically peaks just before the peak of the rut, but active scrapes may be found over the course of several months, even in northern latitudes. However, most bucks almost completely stop visiting scrapes after the peak of the rut. Most scraping activity (85 percent) occurs at night, and this is probably why my friend didn’t see any bucks at the scrapes he hunted over.

Scraping Activity
Scraping activity can be divided into creating/marking and visiting/checking. Creating a scrape is self explanatory and marking entails working the overhanging branch and/or urinating in an existing scrape. Hunters typically refer to this as bucks “freshening” a scrape, and it’s what we do when we “doctor” a scrape for hunting or photography purposes. Research in Georgia by Dr. Karen Alexy (who is now director of the wildlife division of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources) showed the most frequent marking behavior performed by all age classes of bucks was marking the overhanging branch with their forehead, antlers or mouth (saliva). Pawing the ground and urination occurred in less than half of the visits that included some type of marking behavior during her study.
Deer that visit or check a scrape are obtaining information about other deer that visited the scrape without leaving any initial or new information of their own. Remarkably, bucks may visit scrapes on a regular basis, but they mark them infrequently. This suggests their scent may persist for several days and make frequent marking unnecessary. This also identifies the possibility for bucks to collect information downwind from scrapes without actually visiting them, and may partially explain why some mature bucks are never photographed at scrapes (or anywhere else) but are seen and/or harvested by hunters. Unfortunately the opposite is generally true. It’s more common for hunters to photograph bucks but never see them during the hunting season. Karen’s research also showed some scrapes are used more than others. She video-monitored two scrapes less than 300 yards apart and recorded two completely different groups of bucks using them. Only one buck was monitored at both scrapes. This makes you wonder about the validity of the term “scrapeline,” which suggests a chain of scrapes belonging to the same buck.

Unique Scraping Activity
Recent research by Josh Braun at Missouri State University, who was conducting his research under the guidance of Dr. Grant Woods of Woods & Associates, identified a unique activity at scrapes. Josh video-monitored bucks from a buck-dominated deer herd at scrapes, and he and Grant coined the term “auto-stimulation” to describe what appeared to be bucks emitting semen into scrapes. The activity involved bucks approaching a scrape, raising their tail, waving it up and down while pulling their hind legs together, thrusting their pelvis and walking away. This was a subtle behavior and not all encounters included the full sequence of steps. This may be another method of marking or something else that we don’t yet understand. QDMA members who attended last year’s National Convention in Chattanooga, Tennessee, were fortunate to hear Josh present some of these findings, including video clips of numerous scrape behaviors.

Two things we do know about scrapes though is that most visits occur at night, and bucks and does use them to communicate, primarily during the breeding season. Since most scraping activity is at night their immediate vicinity may not be the best place to hunt, but trails leading to and from them can be effective locations in early morning and late afternoon. If you are successful at hunting scrapes then by all means keep hunting them. However, if you’ve been unsuccessful with this technique hopefully you can use this information to improve your odds next season.

The Buck of a Lifetime

This is a pretty cool article/ pictures. The author/photographer followed and photographed this buck for 8 years. It is very interesting to make note of the body changes and antler changes from year to year. I came across this article on the Field and Stream website.

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America's Largest and Most Radical Hunting-Ban Group Endorses Barack Obama

A must read for American sportsmen before the upcoming election. I do not think that this is the only anti-hunting group that is helping to fund his campaign. I got this article from the NRA website.

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America's Largest and Most Radical Hunting-Ban Group Endorses Barack Obama--It's Just One More Association With Radicals That He Can't Run From: While Barack Obama lies to America's gun owners and hunters about his longstanding public record in support of legislation stripping Americans of essential liberties, his so-called friends are thwarting his campaign of deception. The Humane Society Legislative Fund, the political arm of the radical Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), is the most recent to foil Obama's best laid plans after giving him the organization's unequivocal endorsement. This should be a resounding wake-up call to America's millions of hunters.

Wayne Pacelle, President of HSUS has made no secret of his organization's desire to ban all hunting. Hunters would be well advised to keep in mind the following quotes from Pacelle that expose the true agenda of HSUS:

"If we could shut down all sport hunting in a moment, we would." – as quoted by the Associated Press in Impassioned Agitator, December 30, 1991

"Our goal is to get sport hunting in the same category as cock fighting and dog fighting. Our opponents say hunting is a tradition. We say traditions can change." – Bozeman Daily Chronicle, October 8, 1991

Pacelle knows that he has a proven friend in Obama after his support of Senator Ted Kennedy's legislation that would have banned virtually all rifle ammunition used by America's hunters. If successful, the legislation would have ended the vast majority of all hunting – a fact not lost on HSUS.

In Congress and state legislatures and city councils around the country, HSUS lobbies to defeat every measure that expands hunting opportunities for the country's sportsmen. It says it opposes only the most "barbaric and inhumane" hunting practices. What it doesn't say publicly is that HSUS believes that all sport hunting is "barbaric and inhumane."

There's never been a hunting ban or restriction that HSUS hasn't actively supported. It routinely lobbies to:

- Prohibit the use of traditional lead bullets and shot for all hunting;

- Prohibit urban and suburban archery deer hunting programs;

- Prohibit bear hunting in a number of states including New Jersey, Colorado and Alaska;

- Replace traditional hunting as a wildlife management tool, with expensive and unproven contraception programs;

- Retain Sunday hunting bans in states like Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia;

- Ban the hunting of doves, the most widely hunted game bird in America; and

- Ensure that emotion, not science, dictates wildlife management practices

In addition to its anti-hunting efforts in the public policy realm, HSUS uses its enormous financial resources to regularly file lawsuits to stop hunting and the scientific wildlife management practices that recognize hunting as an essential tool. A recent example of this came when HSUS filed lawsuits that successfully closed millions of acres of wildlife refuges to hunting. This is despite the fact that Congress has determined that hunting is one of the traditional activities that should specifically be encouraged in refuges.

HSUS is also the group most responsible for preventing the removal of the Rocky Mountain gray wolf from the endangered species list despite the finding by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that wolf populations have exceeded original delisting goals by more than 400%. Delisting would have allowed states to implement hunting to control the now healthy and sustainable wolf populations. The overpopulated and unmanaged wolves are taking an unacceptably high toll on game populations, such as elk and moose. This significantly reduces hunting opportunities and endangers the long-term viability of these species. HSUS will stop management through hunting at all costs. It's more evidence that the group could not care less about the consequences of its actions on wildlife, as long as Americans are prohibited from hunting.

In addition to all of this, Pacelle's endorsement of Obama is proof positive that the anti-hunting, anti-gun front group American Hunting and Shooting Association (AHSA) is no friend to the country's sportsmen. AHSA had already endorsed Obama. HSUS and AHSA are now working hand-in-hand to elect the most anti-freedom presidential ticket in the country's history.
Sportsmen must now ask themselves what will happen to America's proud hunting heritage with an Obama administration that is beholden to radical groups like HSUS. We know from his own words that Wayne Pacelle's goal is to end all hunting, so the answer should be self-evident.

Father's bow shot kills grizzly attacking his son

This is a pretty scary story that I am sure everyone has thought about before.

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Father's bow shot kills grizzly attacking his son

By Carole Cloudwalker

This document was published online on Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Printable E-mail Archives 68 comment(s) Comments
A bloodied Ron J. Leming, 37, bends over the 11-year old grizzly bear (No. 1029) that attacked him twice Friday along Castle Creek on the South Fork while he and his father, Ron G. Leming, 62, were on their annual bowhunt in search of elk. The elder Leming managed a tough shot with an arrow that killed the bear and saved his son’s life. (Photo by Ron G. Leming)

A Cody bowhunter in search of an elk found a grizzly bear instead in a Sept. 12 mauling incident on the South Fork.

And Ron J. Leming, 37, attributes his father's lifetime of bowhunting for saving his life.

“There are not many people who could stand their ground like that, especially with a bow and arrow,” Leming said Wednesday.

“I would have been mauled way worse, if not killed, if Dad hadn't had the nerve to stand his ground and shoot that bear with his bow. There's not many people who could have done that.”

Leming said his father's shot with a compound bow severed a major artery in the bear and hit his heart. The bear then moved about 80 yards down hill after being shot before falling dead over a log.

Leming's father, Ron G. Leming, 62, rushed to his son after the grizzly's initial attack, and managed the compound bow shot as both his son and the bear were running down the hill.

“Dad had missed two shots at elk” earlier in the several-day hunting trip to the family's favorite spot, Leming said.

“The night before, Dad said a prayer for God to guide his arrow.”

Leming added that while his father had elk, not bears, in mind as he prayed, he's glad the right arrow found divine intervention.

“If my Dad hadn't been there, who knows?” Leming said. “The look the bear had, the way he was doing ... I could have done absolutely nothing.”

Leming and his father had taken their gear 15 miles up the trail from the Boulder Basin trailhead for their annual bowhunting outing. Though they had spotted a black bear and her cubs, there had been no sign of grizzlies, which Leming said was unusual.

On Friday morning they headed out from camp, located at about 9,500 feet in elevation, and spotted a good elk.

The elder Leming was standing about 30 yards down the hill when his son heard a noise behind him and turned to see the bear standing there.

“He was king of the woods,” Leming said. “He thought there was an elk in there and he would bring it down.”

Leming yelled at the bear, but it charged him.

Trying to pull the trigger release string on his bow, Leming realized there was no time to shoot the bear himself, so he moved behind a tree and began running around it to buy time. Then he ran down hill, figuring he could move faster in that direction.

“I passed my dad and I saw an arrow fly right by my leg, about two feet away,” Ron said. He realized his father had shot at the bear, but he was unsure if the arrow went home.

“I took three or four more steps and I fell,” he said, “The bear was on top of me.”

Leming was kicking at the grizzly and possibly put his hands out defensively.

“It's kind of blurry,” he said.

The bear grabbed Leming's arm and, “I felt like I was in a vice, with the power that thing had,” he said.

He managed to rise and head for a forked tree, where the bear again jumped on his back.

“It was pretty scary,” the long-time hunter said.

The bear attacked again and Leming was hitting him with his bow as well as struggling with the animal, who suddenly moved away.

“He took a few steps toward Dad, then he started walking down the hill. I told Dad to kill him, but he (bear) was already starting to check out,” Leming said.

The bear soon fell on a log, dead.

“I got super cold - I think I was in shock,” Leming said.

His father kept asking how badly he was hurt, and he said he felt OK, considering what he'd been through.

“Things got blurry and I lay there for about 45 minutes. I thought I was going to pass out.”

The two men finally were able to get back to camp - Leming walked because he was unable to mount his horse.

They made sure the camp was clean and Leming “stood on the bear box” to get on his paint mare, Josie, which his father led over.

They took their other horses and got to the trailhead, then loaded the horses and even stopped by the Leming home to drop them off before going to West Park Hospital.

Leming was admitted overnight. He received stitches for wounds to his hands and arm, and the bites on his back were patched up as well.

Dennie Hammer, information specialist for the Game and Fish Department in Cody, said the men spotted a bull elk and were about to take aim when the elk spooked, probably because he spied the bear.

“They were trying to call in the elk when he spooked,” Hammer said.

Leming stood up and so did the grizzly, an 11-year-old male that was about 15 feet from the hunters.

“The bear charged and bit (Leming) on the right arm,” Hammer said.

“His father shot the bear with an arrow,” Hammer said.

The bear, though mortally wounded, charged the younger Leming again, this time biting his left hand and arm, as Hammer described the 9 a.m. incident.

By the time a game warden could reach the spot where the attack took place, the bear's body was badly decomposed because of high temperatures during the weekend, Hammer said.

For that reason, the bear's carcass was left where it fell. Hammer said it appears the grizzly was known to game officials, though he did not know whether the bear had worn a tag or radio collar.

He was captured in 2003 after he broke into a shed at Brown Thomas Meadows on the upper South Fork, Hammer said, and was relocated to the Jackson area.

The Friday incident remains under investigation, but Hammer said it appears to be a case of self-defense.

In such instances, it's legal to kill a grizzly bear, he added.

He said while grizzlies are no longer considered a threatened species, no hunting season for them has been established. They are under G&F management and eventually a season will be set, Hammer added.

Final Prep For Deer Season

This past weekend I went to Brady for my final preparations before deer season. I had to fill a few feeders, replace some batteries, and make sure that all of my stands were in working order. While I was there I also got a chance to check out my game cameras. Click on the title of this post to see the pictures.

Unfortunately I have not gotten any pictures of anything big yet, certainly not the quality of deer that we saw last year. I am not too worried yet, as I have never really gotten any pictures of good bucks this early in the year in the past. I had most of my game cameras set up on corn feeders that have only been feeding for about a month. From my past experience it seems that the big bucks do not usually start showing up on the cameras until mid to late October.

This is the best buck that I got a picture of, From what I can tell he is just a big 8 point. He may be a consideration for a management buck this year. From the 1st picture he looks to be a mature buck, look at the difference in body size compared to the other buck. The second picture is a head on picture of the same buck. He looks to be fairly wide, 18" or so.





He has really good main beams as you can tell from the first picture, it is ashame that he did not grow any more tines and add some trash.

I got plenty of pictures of some young bucks with potential. This one for instance looks like a son or brother of the Pope & Young buck that I killed last year. His G2 are forked like my buck form last year and if you look closely he has G4's that are just starting to show. This buck still needs a few years, but he has potential to be a really nice trophy.



I thought that the following 2 pictures were funny. You know that you have a pig problem when you see them sleeping right underneath you stand. Oh well, if the quality of bucks that I am seeing does not get any better, at least I will have some good pig hunts.





I am in the process of going back through photos that I got last year and trying to pick out some potential bucks to look out for this year. If I find any that are interesting I will post them.

Unbelieveable Whitetail Buck Video

This is about 6 or 7 minutes of video of an amazing whitetail buck. It was filmed by Scott Kirkpatrick of Buffalo County Outfitters in Wisconsin. It is hard from this footage to accurately estimate the score, but many experts that have reviewed the footage estimate it in the 240 range. If this buck is killed this year, depending on deductions, it could contend for the new world record. Regardless of the net score this is one very impressive buck!



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Moon Phases

I have never really given much attention to moon phases, but some people swear by them. I am thinking about watching it this year when I am hunting to see what effect it really has on deer activity. Click Here for moon phase calendar.



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