Scrape

[Ski]

BSK is certainly more qualified to answer this, but I will say I've seen more shedding earlier this year than most years…and on three large properties where I hunt across 3 adjoining counties in eastern middle TN. Two of the three have massive acorn crops, so it's not stress from lack of nutrition. A couple of guys from our largest lease keep their cameras running a lot later than I do. They've sent pics of at least 3 bucks having lost their antlers. Those pics were dated December 28 and January 2. You're right though, most years it's usually February through March.

I'll keep an eye out for a change. It's been a week since my most recent check, and it was only on one property. There weren't any shed heads yet on it. I have 4 other properties in 2 states I keep up with so I'll look for early shedding when I check them.

 

[BSK]

Early antler shed timing in the Southeast is due to nutritional or physical stress, or both. Even in a healthy herd it's not uncommon for the most active rutting bucks to drop antlers early due to rut stress. For that reason, I don't get too worried if I see the most dominant buck that has been most active during the rut losing antlers early. What gets me really worried is seeing quite a few bucks losing early. If nutrition isn't a problem (like this year with the bumper acorn crop), then other problems are driving the stress, most commonly too many does, too much chasing for bucks.

 

[ruger7mag]

My son and I went for a walk yesterday in the snow. I decided to check a cell cam that was nearby. While we were there I reopened the scrape and peed in it. 4 or 5 bucks have hit that scrape in the last 24 hours now.
Another cell cam I have on a scrape is still getting pics pretty regularly.

 

[BSK]

I see it both ways. Most scrapes seem to dry up as rut winds down and some even go away completely. Some scrapes are only for the one season, or only part of one season. Then other scrapes are used year round, year after year. It's been my experience that the specific scrape itself is the biggest determining factor in how much use it gets. That said, all scrape activity across the board drops significantly as rut winds down. But with certain scrapes it never completely shuts off.

I've never figured out why certain scrapes stay busy while others die off. All scrapes seem to require a licking branch and being on a travel corridor. But beyond that I have no idea why deer put more importance on one than they do another. I see that it happens. I just don't know why.

Often, it's impossible to predict which scrapes will be a dominant traditional scrape and which just temporary. I still put cameras on temporary scrapes (or scrapes I don't know the status of) because I check cams frequently and can always move a cam off a scrape if it goes dead. But I always keep a camera on each known traditional scrape, even if for a week or so it goes dead. They will be back.

The trick is finding traditional scrapes. The best advice I have for finding those is to scout for them NOW. Scrapes that clearly show now, this late in the season, have a high probability of being a traditional scrape. Another physical characteristic I look for is a cluster of scrapes right next to each other. Several of my favorite traditional scrapes I've been using for years end up with three or four big scrapes right next to each other, often under the limbs of the same tree (in my area, usually a Beech or Maple).

 

[BSK]

What I find interesting is how some traditional scrapes eventually die out. No idea why, except possibly habitat changes that alter deer travel patterns. The first traditional scrape I ever camera monitored was one I created myself, using my own pee. That scrape became the hottest camera spot on my property for several years. Then after bucks used it intensely for 5 or 6 years, it just started to fade away in usage (and that area experienced considerable habitat changes due to logging). Another great traditional scrape was along the edge of one of my tiny 1/3 acre food plots. I camera monitored that scrape for over a decade. But I've noticed it isn't getting the usage it once did. It is slowly fading away as a hot spot. Again, no idea why travel patterns and hot scrapes come and go over a number of years, other than perhaps habitat changes altering travel patterns.

Another interesting pattern I've noted is very seasonal, short-duration traditional scrapes. I have three of these I know of on my place that are GREAT camera locations just before the rut peaks, but then are completely abandoned once breeding starts, not to be used again until the following October. Again, no idea why these particular scrapes are ONLY used pre-rut each year every year, then abandoned as the rut progresses.

 

[Ski]

Another interesting pattern I've noted is very seasonal, short-duration traditional scrapes. I have three of these I know of on my place that are GREAT camera locations just before the rut peaks, but then are completely abandoned once breeding starts, not to be used again until the following October. Again, no idea why these particular scrapes are ONLY used pre-rut each year every year, then abandoned as the rut progresses.

My theory on those is that the does using that specific area have all been bred. Once the last doe there has been bred, there's no more reason to keep posting. I might be way off base on that thought but it seems logical and coincides with what I've seen. On my big woods property it seems each hollow and each food plot has its own family group of does calling it home, and the matriarch of each group is aggressively territorial in keeping strangers away. It's as if they self segregate.

Contrast with the ag country property, deer there seem to be more of one larger unit. Rather than several scattered plots & isolated habitat zones like in big woods, there are large crops and a few chunks of thick wooded bedding cover. I still see separate doe family groups but once out in a field together they blur together. Fawns intermix and play. It looks like one big herd. The way deer utilize ag country is completely different than how they utilize big timber country. Even their social dynamics have noticeable differences. I don't see doe groups form up into large herds in the timber until way late winter.

 

[BSK]

My theory on those is that the does using that specific area have all been bred. Once the last doe there has been bred, there's no more reason to keep posting. I might be way off base on that thought but it seems logical and coincides with what I've seen. On my big woods property it seems each hollow and each food plot has its own family group of does calling it home, and the matriarch of each group is aggressively territorial in keeping strangers away. It's as if they self segregate.

Definitely the way it is on my place. Different doe groups inhabit different sections of the property and they only intermix at the food plots, where we see lots of posturing and aggressiveness between doe social units.