Hunting scrape lines?

[Guyon]

Friend of mine recently toured some land owned by his father-in-law and was astounded by the size and number of scrapes he saw. He got permission to hunt there and even finagled an invitation for me to hunt with him.

I haven't seen the land, and I won't be able to scout much for the first morning of hunting. I should manage to get in five hunts though (Friday morning and evening, Saturday morning and evening, Sunday morning).

It's about 150 acres of hardwoods and some pines. I'm aware of one food plot with a shooting shack, but we'll be hunting out of climbing stands. My friend is going to do a bit of scouting on Thursday, find a couple of spots and mark them with some Night Eyes as well as their GPS coordinates so we can find them in the dark on Friday morning.

Where would you set up? Along one of these scrape lines? Between the scrapes and the food plot? Over the food plot? Somewhere else?

This land is in east-central Alabama, and I'm told that the rut can run as late as January there, so some deer may well be in rut.

Just looking for advice here from more experienced hunters.

 

[Will Beararms]

I would set up in the area they travel between their Bedding area and where they hide out for the day in the morning. This will be in proximity to both the food plot and the scrapes. By this time, they are Feeding after dark, bedding down and then slipping into a thicket or other area to hide for the day. I have had good luck catching them slipping into the hiding are right at dark. I whacked an 8 point this year using this strategy.

In the evening, I would focus on the plot as deer prefer to feed at night and will be easing into the area before dusk. I have always find they check the scrapes at night. What ever you do, don't set up on top of that scrape line. Fool with it as little as possible. Don't even walk near it. The Buck will notice anything out of place to enth degree.

Remeber there are morning stands and evening stands.

 

[Will Beararms]

By this time the Buck have bred and are worn out. They will be leary and often travel together. If you shoot a big one, just sit tight, you may get to shoot another one. If you see a small one, the Big Daddy may be not to far behind him.