How do you confirm a scrape is a community scrape?

[greg728]

I found a couple scrapes this offseason that stood out more to me than the average scrape. I’ve learned not to pay attention to scrapes that aren’t near bedding or areas without good security cover. One of the scrapes is in a hub area off a creek bottom on a worn trail that has doe bedding on the one ridge above and buck bedding on the opposite ridge with the scrape in the valley between the two. I found it in early March and looked like it was still being hit and went to check it again today and it still appears the ground is being pawed at. It’s not tore up like it’s being hammered all day but it doesn’t look like it went cold like some of the rut scrapes I’ve found that you can tell hasn’t been hit in several months. The scrape is about the size of a couch cushion and there’s a licking branch about 5-6 ft over the scrape and there’s some missing branches broken off the main branch.

I know this might be too vague to get a definitive answer but I was just curious how everyone qualifies scrapes. I imagine the bedding above is getting the rising thermals during the day and they’ll come down to feed in the evening after the thermals drop down. I put a cell cam 25 yards away from the scrape to confirm how or when it’s being used and what’s traveling through. I’m more interested in intel as I already have a lot of the immediate bedding areas located but I’m not opposed to hunting it if I’m getting activity before or at sunset. The reason I think it might be a community scrape is because it’s off a well worn trail with good security cover that connects doe to buck bedding (probably 40 yards to doe bedding and 60 yards from buck bedding) so any deer using that trail has to walk by the scrape. The main exit trails from the buck and doe bedding areas lead right to it. The doe bedding doesn’t look like it’s been used recently but there’s a circle of several smaller beds with hair in them. There’s a ton of browse and white oak clusters in the bottom by the scrape. I’m thinking this could be a good early season/pre rut location but time will tell.

Scrape pics never look the same as they do in person but I figured I’d post it anyway. Curious what your thoughts are and your experience qualifying community scrapes.

 

[Jimdude]

it sounds like that one checks all the boxes to me. The camera will tell will tell you for sure. That’s how I confirm it. I have only found one so far. I put a cell camera on it in late July. Nothing at all for about 3 weeks and then at the end of August it blew up. Mostly 2 big bucks in velvet every day and occasionally a doe or fawn. Suddenly it went dormant for a while. The bucks finally came back hard horned and more of them. 2 bachelor groups of 3 bucks. The videos showed me later that they would be heading to bedding and 1 would stray over to hit it as the other two would be way in the background walking to their destination. This happened every day between 6-8:30 am and 4-6 pm. Then it happened… 2 weeks before the opener 2 hunters setting out their stands walk right through the scrape And one of them even moves the licking branch out of his way with his hand. That camera only got 1 more pic of a deer after that and it was a spike. Sorry for the long story but I think it has a lot to teach people.

 

[Jammintree]

Sounds likely you’ve found a community scrape. Your pics should help definatively answer your question.

One thought on hunting community scrapes: I’ve been monitoring a community scrape near my house with a camera for a few years now. There’s a dominant buck who seems to manage and maintain the scrape. He’s the only one who ever urinates in the scrape. Other bucks and does poop near the scrape and everyone tastes the licking branch and smells ground in the scrape while standing over it. The dominant buck ONLY comes to the scrape immediately after another deer has come to the scrape. This leads me to believe that he scent checks the scrape from specific locations. So, I’ve come to think that hunting right over that community scrape is a waste of time, if I’m hunting the dominant buck. I’m now attempting to locate the places that I can catch him scent checking the scrape.

- I’m no expert and this is simply my current hypothesis. How does this relate to experiences that others have had?

 

[greg728]

it sounds like that one checks all the boxes to me. The camera will tell will tell you for sure. That’s how I confirm it. I have only found one so far. I put a cell camera on it in late July. Nothing at all for about 3 weeks and then at the end of August it blew up. Mostly 2 big bucks in velvet every day and occasionally a doe or fawn. Suddenly it went dormant for a while. The bucks finally came back hard horned and more of them. 2 bachelor groups of 3 bucks. The videos showed me later that they would be heading to bedding and 1 would stray over to hit it as the other two would be way in the background walking to their destination. This happened every day between 6-8:30 am and 4-6 pm. Then it happened… 2 weeks before the opener 2 hunters setting out their stands walk right through the scrape And one of them even moves the licking branch out of his way with his hand. That camera only got 1 more pic of a deer after that and it was a spike. Sorry for the long story but I think it has a lot to teach people.

Ahh man I was all excited until I got to the end of the story, haha. That’s a shame though I’m sorry. Have you continued to monitor it? I wonder if it will rebound without human presence.

On another note would you say you qualify a community scrape based on how often it’s getting hit by different types of deer instead of the terrain factor? I guess I’m confused between a community scrape and a hub scrape and wondering if there are any differences. Or would you say a community scrape is most likely going to have a thermal advantage and the names are interchangeable?

 

[greg728]

Sounds likely you’ve found a community scrape. Your pics should help definatively answer your question.

One thought on hunting community scrapes: I’ve been monitoring a community scrape near my house with a camera for a few years now. There’s a dominant buck who seems to manage and maintain the scrape. He’s the only one who ever urinates in the scrape. Other bucks and does poop near the scrape and everyone tastes the licking branch and smells ground in the scrape while standing over it. The dominant buck ONLY comes to the scrape immediately after another deer has come to the scrape. This leads me to believe that he scent checks the scrape from specific locations. So, I’ve come to think that hunting right over that community scrape is a waste of time, if I’m hunting the dominant buck. I’m now attempting to locate the places that I can catch him scent checking the scrape.

- I’m no expert and this is simply my current hypothesis. How does this relate to experiences that others have had?

This is a great point. I’ve heard of more experienced hunters talk about bucks scent checking areas and I haven’t fully connected the dots on that, probably because I’m switching from hunting deer to trying to hunt more mature bucks. I do like that strategy though and I would say unless intel is telling me otherwise my gut feeling would be not to hunt over the most obvious thing but to find out where he’s bedding near that thing and try to ambush him between the two.

I started bringing milkweed with me to scout and it’s changed the way I see the woods. I used to only use it while hunting but on calm days I can really see how thermals are behaving in different areas and have a better idea how a buck will be bedded.

 

[Jimdude]

Ahh man I was all excited until I got to the end of the story, haha. That’s a shame though I’m sorry. Have you continued to monitor it? I wonder if it will rebound without human presence.

On another note would you say you qualify a community scrape based on how often it’s getting hit by different types of deer instead of the terrain factor? I guess I’m confused between a community scrape and a hub scrape and wondering if there are any differences. Or would you say a community scrape is most likely going to have a thermal advantage and the names are interchangeable?

I’m no scrape expert so unfortunately I can not answer your questions.

 

[greg728]

I’m no scrape expert so unfortunately I can not answer your questions.

All good man. I’m not sure if there’s any hard rule to any of this just curious on peoples general experience

 

[SNIPERBBB]

I think you'll find that this pattern holds across nearly all animals that scent mark territory. The alpha male predominantly does all the markings. Sometimes the alpha female will remark on an existing mark. Rarely will beta males remark on an alpha mark .

Betas or a new alpha in the area marking on an alphas mark is a challenge and you'll have a fight of nobody backs down

 

[Topdog]

Proximity to thick cover, depth of the actual scrape… I like to see exposed tree roots from years of scraping, a big chewed off stub of a licking branch, these are all things I look for when guessing if it’s a true community scrape, the trail cameras will ultimately tell the whole story. I’ve watched bucks scent check a scrape, I have no doubt they do it, that’s why if your camera goes silent on a good scrape it doesn’t always mean much, and when the same camera gets hot, it gets real hot fast. I don’t like hunting directly over any of my scrapes for this reason, but rather a pinch point before or after. One of my best rut spots is a major funnel 200 yards from an active community scrape, I have a killer entry/exit strategy to get in there unnoticed and it’s setup for a West wind, anything only scent checking that scrape will usually still commit to my funnel.

 

[weekender21]

I found a couple scrapes this offseason that stood out more to me than the average scrape. I’ve learned not to pay attention to scrapes that aren’t near bedding or areas without good security cover. One of the scrapes is in a hub area off a creek bottom on a worn trail that has doe bedding on the one ridge above and buck bedding on the opposite ridge with the scrape in the valley between the two. I found it in early March and looked like it was still being hit and went to check it again today and it still appears the ground is being pawed at. It’s not tore up like it’s being hammered all day but it doesn’t look like it went cold like some of the rut scrapes I’ve found that you can tell hasn’t been hit in several months. The scrape is about the size of a couch cushion and there’s a licking branch about 5-6 ft over the scrape and there’s some missing branches broken off the main branch.

I know this might be too vague to get a definitive answer but I was just curious how everyone qualifies scrapes. I imagine the bedding above is getting the rising thermals during the day and they’ll come down to feed in the evening after the thermals drop down. I put a cell cam 25 yards away from the scrape to confirm how or when it’s being used and what’s traveling through. I’m more interested in intel as I already have a lot of the immediate bedding areas located but I’m not opposed to hunting it if I’m getting activity before or at sunset. The reason I think it might be a community scrape is because it’s off a well worn trail with good security cover that connects doe to buck bedding (probably 40 yards to doe bedding and 60 yards from buck bedding) so any deer using that trail has to walk by the scrape. The main exit trails from the buck and doe bedding areas lead right to it. The doe bedding doesn’t look like it’s been used recently but there’s a circle of several smaller beds with hair in them. There’s a ton of browse and white oak clusters in the bottom by the scrape. I’m thinking this could be a good early season/pre rut location but time will tell.

Scrape pics never look the same as they do in person but I figured I’d post it anyway. Curious what your thoughts are and your experience qualifying community scrapes.

Is that this year’s green up? If you found a scrape that looks like that this far into the following years green up, it’s a community scrape.


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[Fgirtyman]

Proximity to thick cover, depth of the actual scrape… I like to see exposed tree roots from years of scraping, a big chewed off stub of a licking branch, these are all things I look for when guessing if it’s a true community scrape, the trail cameras will ultimately tell the whole story. I’ve watched bucks scent check a scrape, I have no doubt they do it, that’s why if your camera goes silent on a good scrape it doesn’t always mean much, and when the same camera gets hot, it gets real hot fast. I don’t like hunting directly over any of my scrapes for this reason, but rather a pinch point before or after. One of my best rut spots is a major funnel 200 yards from an active community scrape, I have a killer entry/exit strategy to get in there unnoticed and it’s setup for a West wind, anything only scent checking that scrape will usually still commit to my funnel.

I agree with what you are saying. Maybe over simplifying, but if does are always near that scrape proximity anyway It will be used by several bucks. In my areas even the older bigger bucks share with little guys but usually after dark or pink light. We all try to find spots like you have. I have a few of those hard to find spots myself that have worked for me, some for decades.

 

[kbetts]

Large community scrapes can be almost anywhere depending on travel patterns. One of the most consistent ones on a farm I hunt is along a river bank and rarely ever gets visited during the day. Numerous deer will visit under the cover of darkness per camera intel.

I like trying to find a cluster of pie plate sized scrapes inside cover. Generally these seem to be used by one particular animal. The scrapes are small, seldom worked like a community scrape, but are often damp from the deer standing in it and urinating.

My observations.

 

[greg728]

Is that this year’s green up? If you found a scrape that looks like that this far into the following years green up, it’s a community scrape.


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Yes. I visited it twice so far. Once in early March before green up and again last weekend when I hung a camera. The pic I posted is from Saturday it still looks like it’s getting pawed at occasionally. Thinking of possibly adding the same type of licking branch to it to give it a better opportunity to hold scent. Maybe use a rubber glove or something. I don’t wanna booger it up too much though