Welcome to TheOhioOutdoors
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Login or sign up today!
Login / Join

Iis it TOO late TOO start Mock scrapes an use scrape drippers?POLL

Is it to late in the season to get any use out of Mock scrapes an scrap dripper


  • Total voters
    8
  • Poll closed .

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,721
248
Ohio
We are already finding scrapes. I think you would be better off to save your money and hunt the existing scrapes. On the flip side though, maybe it is perfect time because your mock scrape could pull in the bucks to check out your scrape right now to see who is intruding on their turf. Maybe I should rescind my "Yes" vote?
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
I think you are better off finding the actual scrapes and hunting the trails leading to them...


I watched a cam over a community scrape in VC two years in a row.. 2-7 bucks would hit this scrape daily... maybe once or twice in the 2 years that BuckEye cam was there did a deer visit it during the daylight. I think that's why JD is saying hunt the trails.
 
I watched a cam over a community scrape in VC two years in a row.. 2-7 bucks would hit this scrape daily... maybe once or twice in the 2 years that BuckEye cam was there did a deer visit it during the daylight. I think that's why JD is saying hunt the trails.

But it would till be a inventory tool when paired with a cam wouldn't it?..Or is that a waste of time this late in the game?Keep in mind i am not picky on the deer I shoot..I am not even close to that level of a hunter yet..I do appreciate all the input fellas
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Great for inventory. I set a cam today over a big scrape and there we're 4 more around the same area. I prefer the natural route. I say lace up the boot leather and go find the real deal.
 

JD Boyd

*Supporting Member*
3,173
0
Urbana
I've never even tried a mock scrape before. I've always tried finding a good scrape that has big tracks going to it. Find a good trail (50-100 yards away) that you can position a stand on depending on the wind that day, where its going cross wind...
 
Last edited:

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Where would be a good spot to start looking..Edge of corn?Creek??Closer to bedding ..Or anywhere an everywhere?

Edges. Field edges. Creek edges. logging roads.. etc.. Although most of these will be made and tended at night. I don't know the habitat where you hunt but the real money is interior scrapes. If you have a 50 acre woodblock surrounded by ag fields odds are you'll find scrapes around the outside edges. But if you find one in the middle of the wood block. That sucker is money because odds are it will occasionally be tended during shooting hours. Especially if it's close to bedding.
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
IMO, it's almost never too late to try running mock scrapes. The bucks will be scraping all the way up to the seeking phase of the rut, which IMO is still a week or two away. Mock scrapes are the only thing I've had success with when using commercial deer scents. I like to make them near an intersection of trails, to ensure they see the most traffic. Over the past few years, I've had several bucks come down the trail and stop for a shot opportunity over top of a mock scrape. Last year, while hunting the WNF, I made a mock scrape down in front of me, in a transition zone between two ridges. The one morning I had a 120-125 eight-pointer come strolling through, and he stayed over that mock scrape for a solid 2 minutes.... it stopped him right in his tracks. Yea it wasn't a shooter, but it COULD have been. By the way, this was during the second week of November...


I've got an experiment going right now, actually. A few weeks ago I was helping a buddy scout some new property, and every time I came upon a fresh scrape, I cut off the licking branch and put it in a ziploc baggy. I put it in the freezer when I got home. A week later, I went down to the farm to hunt and took these licking branches with me. After the morning hunt I took them to a spot and tied all the licking branches up to overhanging limbs in a food plot. I then positioned a trailcam to watch over them. I'm really curious to see what kind of activity these have gotten since then. I've read that some experts think the licking branch is the most critical component of a scrape. Hopefully, by introducing the scents of some unfamiliar bucks, I've stirred up the curiosity of a local slunger. We shall see.
 
Last edited:

Thunderflight

Dignitary Member
17,770
167
Shermans Dale, PA
Don't waste your money on mock scrape kits or drippers. If you want to make a mock scrape do this. Take a stick and clear out a circle about two to three feet in diameter. Second, wearing clean gloves, break a branch so that it dangles over the scrape (if there isn't a branch low enough then break one off a tree close by and tie it in place. Third take a long piss in the scrape. I will guarantee you that if there are deer in the area they will take it over. I've done this countless times and EVERY time it has worked. The bad thing is that all the deer come at night.
 

Beentown

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
15,740
154
Sunbury, OH
I met a guy that kills huge deer every year. He swears by making tons of mock scrapes as TF said above. He said it is nothing for him to make twenty on a small woods. His thought process was the more scrapes they tend the better the chances of catching them in daylight at them. He pisses in a bottle while on stand uses it to make new ones.
 

JPN

Junior Member
618
94
coshocton
Don't waste your money on mock scrape kits or drippers. If you want to make a mock scrape do this. Take a stick and clear out a circle about two to three feet in diameter. Second, wearing clean gloves, break a branch so that it dangles over the scrape (if there isn't a branch low enough then break one off a tree close by and tie it in place. Third take a long piss in the scrape. I will guarantee you that if there are deer in the area they will take it over. I've done this countless times and EVERY time it has worked. The bad thing is that all the deer come at night.

I do the same thing, or even pee in an existing one. As others have said it works great on inventory but I haven't had any luck hunting over them yet.
 
IMO, it's almost never too late to try running mock scrapes. The bucks will be scraping all the way up to the seeking phase of the rut, which IMO is still a week or two away. Mock scrapes are the only thing I've had success with when using commercial deer scents. I like to make them near an intersection of trails, to ensure they see the most traffic. Over the past few years, I've had several bucks come down the trail and stop for a shot opportunity over top of a mock scrape. Last year, while hunting the WNF, I made a mock scrape down in front of me, in a transition zone between two ridges. The one morning I had a 120-125 eight-pointer come strolling through, and he stayed over that mock scrape for a solid 2 minutes.... it stopped him right in his tracks. Yea it wasn't a shooter, but it COULD have been. By the way, this was during the second week of November...


I've got an experiment going right now, actually. A few weeks ago I was helping a buddy scout some new property, and every time I came upon a fresh scrape, I cut off the licking branch and put it in a ziploc baggy. I put it in the freezer when I got home. A week later, I went down to the farm to hunt and took these licking branches with me. After the morning hunt I took them to a spot and tied all the licking branches up to overhanging limbs in a food plot. I then positioned a trailcam to watch over them. I'm really curious to see what kind of activity these have gotten since then. I've read that some experts think the licking branch is the most critical component of a scrape. Hopefully, by introducing the scents of some unfamiliar bucks, I've stirred up the curiosity of a local slunger. We shall see.

A little revist here.............Jim how did the licking branch experiment work out?
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
A little revist here.............Jim how did the licking branch experiment work out?

To my surprise, it didn't work very well. I hung the licking branches over one of my food plots, in a spot where I've had success with mock scrapes in the past, and for some reason the deer didn't go anywhere near it. Past mock scrapes were just working the ground over and applying deer urine... The ones last year were no different, except for the addition of licking branches obtained on another property. I don't know if I got too much of my own scent on them, or if the strange odor intimidated the deer, or what. I really thought they'd see some activity, knowing how curious deer really are... but that was not the case. I had a camera pointed in that direction and got nothing. The scrapes went cold in a matter of days. I may try it again this year but in a more secluded area... and I'll try to be even more cautious with my own scent.
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,855
260
SW Ohio
IMO, you can mock scrapes in November effectively. Of course it's better within the next month but when bucks get horny they lay down scrapes during the rut all the time. I've also pissed in mock and buck scrapes many times to find bucks have worked them over.