Mock Scrapes

[Fever]

I'm a highschool teacher and actually just got back from a little trip to Vegas to celebrate our (my wife and I) 10 year wedding anniversary. This weekend is our daughter's 8th B-day... Point is, very little free time between now and rifle hunting. I won't be able to get up to my / hunting land (North central Mn) till MEA which is the 20th of Oct. Just wondering thoughts on if that is too late or still ok for me to go hang a couple drippers, make some mock scrapes, and do a touch of scouting for heavy trails and new sign. In years past most of this was done and we were able to leave the areas we hunt completely alone for 3 plus weeks before hunting. This year I feel I am pushing it a touch by setting them up a bit later. Also, In years past I've used "Active scrape" by WRC with my drippers. I was thinking of using that same product in one but in another trying to use some "Dominant / Trophy buck" by Tinks along with "attract 2" also by tinks. Any thoughts welcome.

[gurkster]

I don't use drippers or mock scrapes, but I don't think you need to worry to much if you are out scouting and stuff over MEA. I often use that weekend for deer camp prep and have not noticed any issues. I hunt east central MN. Control your scent as much as possible and I would think you should be fine.

[slimngrizzly]

Ya... I dont think you have to worry about being too late.

[leech~~]

As a HS teacher how can you be out making scrapes MEA weekend when you are suppose to be at the conferences??????

[Fever]

whoops..... shhhhhh. I mean of course I'll be at those interesting conferences. Maybe I'll do the scouting and the mock scrape thing later that weekend.

I've been really surprised at the strong opinions that are against using scents. I've always thought that good scent elimination and a little cover scent along with some estrus or a scrape or two would do nothing but help swing the odds in my favor. Surprising enough to me; alot of guys don't see it that way. So be it I guess. IMO anything I can do to get the attention of a wandering buck is a good idea.

[Musky Buck]

lol mock scrape is one of our deer camp names given to a buckless guy for 20 years that keeps making them, he's also spent about 200 bucks on dripplage lol, eventually he'll buy enough dripplage he could go on a free elk hunt if he saved his money. I give him credit though, he has passed on some yearlings over the years and is content taking a doe. I'm not saying for some in some parts of the state etc. that I bet it would work, just our area and experience says let em make their own scrape and hunt the daylights out of it with wind direction in mind. You also can in my area tell if it's a mature buck or not by the fresher it is closest to Nov. 5th. Bigger has meant bigger buck, smaller has meant hunt someplace else as the small buck isn't worried a dominant one is patrolling that area. Think those small bucks pray a doe will smell it and do it's thing in it for the little guy to trail. There are years of overlap, big scrapes and not far away on the fringe the runt buck doing his thing, and once he's with a doe that's where he is and likely to refreshen after hours to pursue again, hope it's during hours then you're in business.

[Fever]

Well, I guess to clarify my original post; I hunt in an area that is very very thick woods (conifers mostly), swamps, areas of logging, areas of older more mature trees, some hardwoods and oaks, and very few roads that even a 4x4 vehicle can drive on. There are some loging roads mixed in and very few people and very little pressure for the size of the acreage. We (my group of 4-6) hunt rifle and usually around the pre rut to rut. Deer are usually moving unpredictably and bucks are usually searching during day light hours - although their activity is random. I figure with the very little human pressure in the area, and a dense large area of habitat, anything I could do to get bucks to get within site when they are cruzing I may as well try. Mock scrapes are just part of the presentation. I do look for areas of real scrapes then extend the line adding a couple new ones using similar species of tree for licking branches. Occationally rattling, grunting, scent wicks with buck urine or doe in estrus to go along with the sounds all are part of the illusion. My buddy harvested a 180 inch bruiser last year around 9:45am. I ended up shooting a small 4 point on my last afternoon - about 1:30pm Although I was hoping for a more mature buck it was / is still good meat though.

[nubbin]

Don't waste your money on pea in a bottle. Just find a good trail, a tree branch at the right hight, don't touch branch, scrape ground under branch and pea on the bare dirt yourself. Last year the first night after doing this we had 8 differant bucks visit the scrape and they kept comming back.

[DHost21]

I would think you would be fine with the timing. It would still be two weeks or so before the season. If you wanted to try a new type of product try Scent Blocker wind pro its a powder you put on the licking branch and in the scrape and its been working wonders this year for me so far. I like the dripper but this stuff is definitely worth a try too

[leech~~]

Don't waste your money on pea in a bottle. Just find a good trail, a tree branch at the right hight, don't touch branch, scrape ground under branch and pea on the bare dirt yourself. Last year the first night after doing this we had 8 differant bucks visit the scrape and they kept comming back.

nubbin, I will have to try this! But if my pee don't work, how much will you charge me if I send you a empty bottle for some of that 8 buck pee of yours!

[nubbin]

wear rubber boots and try to be scent free yourself. Hang a cam and wait for the show to start.

Two years ago I hit a buck with my car in late october and rubbed his forehead with a paper towel while wearing gloves and put that on the licking branch and that also worked.

[MUSKY18]

Nubbin......please tell me that hitting the buck with your car was an ACCIDENT and you weren't just looking for a way to get free scent!!

[Fever]

Well I hate to be skeptical but I'm not sure peeing on scrapes myself is really that much of a good call when I really will have only 4 days in the stand. I realize that some of these products are over advertised and aren't guaranteed to magically bring bucks into a scrape but spreading a bunch of "my" urine around my stand site doesn't seem to click for me. I'm not saying you guys can't try that approach at all, especially if you really had 8 bucks visit your pee site but I will stick with staying as scent free as possible and using some products collected for that purpose. I don't mind spending a few bucks on the stuff.

[B. Amish]

i've been wizzing in scrapes for years. trail cameras say it doesn't bother the bucks one bit, in fact it probably encourages them to revisit.

[LABS4ME]

just read an article by a biologist... Pee is pee to a deer. His feeling is they cannot differentiate if it is human pee and if they can, it matters not to them.

Doe in heat scent is not 'doe in heat' scent. Marketing hype. The part of the estrus scent diminishes in less than a few hours. The stuff in the bottle has close to zero of the scent needed to draw a buck into thinking it's a 'doe in heat'. His feeling is that a good quality doe urine (not the in heat stuff) has a marginal benefit and would be about as far as he would go in suggesting a scent. Forget cover scents, they do not work... a deer's nose can differentiate many scents at the same time. Use skunk and it will just smell like a human and skunk were on the same trail...

Take it for what it's worth... he was supposedly a biologist...

Good Luck!

Ken

[Bear55]

This might come off a little strong but I feel the entire Scent (Buck/Doe) and Scent Free stuff is the biggest scam the hunting industry has ever pulled. We as hunters give thses companies millions if not billions of $$$ for products that migth work once every 10 or 20 years, even then you probably could have shot that deer anyway because you were in the right place at the right time.

Scout like crazy in the off season, hunt hard, and play the wind and you will have success. Learning how the deer use the woods for travel, bedding, food is the best way to hunt them. Magic bottles of pee and scent free everything is a short cut to nowhere. Get out in the woods like our ancestors did, those guys could hunt.

[reinhard1]

i have to agree with you with what you said in your post. i'm old fashion when it comes to deer hunting. since i first sat in a stand when i was a kid upnorth to this day i still mainly sit in my stand almost the whole day, with just taking a break for about an hour at the camp for a little lunch. i have to admitt that i did use a bottle of that magic urine one year with no results from it. i didn't blame it on that bottle, just had one of those seasons. i dont use anything right now, just that one year. got convinced by reading the hunting threads that season but back to my old ways. get up in the morning, have some coffee, and walk slowly about half a mile to my stand and sit and enjoy the day, deer are a bonus. good luck.

[leech~~]

just read an article by a biologist... Pee is pee to a deer. His feeling is they cannot differentiate if it is human pee and if they can, it matters not to them.

Ken

Ken, I had also seen a hunting show where the guy did all kinds of testing right on trails with live cameras setup in blinds. It showed Bucks coming right up to the Human pee and actually doing a fleming (sp) test on it where they pick it up in their mouths. He said until they learn that the scent is a danger from some experience they had they don't know that it's bad or a danger to them. So, who knows? I quit wasting my money long ago on that store stuff and still put deer on the wall!

[ClownColor]

I'm still sold on mock scrapes. Buck pee, doe pee, human pee...what ever you want to put in the bottle is up to you but I've been having great results with mine.

to the OP, I've been placing stands and my mock scrapes out for over 4 years now two weekends before opener (mainly because thats how long the mock scrapes last) and have never had problems. However, the area I hunt always has people in and out of there, big public area with ATV trails.

I'm sure most people here know, but for those who don't, people who typically use mock scrapes aren't placing these out randomly in the woods hoping to bring out a deer. We still scout and use all other resources on hand to bag a buck. I put mine out in a area that I scouted, that show evidence of a mature buck, and use this mock scrape to hopefully bring it out will I'm on stand. If the buck feels that there could be another deer in the area, He'll want to investigate and he'll check that mock scrape...sometimes (and for my short season, thats good enough for me for $9.99)

[Fever]

I'm still sold on mock scrapes. Buck pee, doe pee, human pee...what ever you want to put in the bottle is up to you but I've been having great results with mine.

to the OP, I've been placing stands and my mock scrapes out for over 4 years now two weekends before opener (mainly because thats how long the mock scrapes last) and have never had problems. However, the area I hunt always has people in and out of there, big public area with ATV trails.

I'm sure most people here know, but for those who don't, people who typically use mock scrapes aren't placing these out randomly in the woods hoping to bring out a deer. We still scout and use all other resources on hand to bag a buck. I put mine out in a area that I scouted, that show evidence of a mature buck, and use this mock scrape to hopefully bring it out will I'm on stand. If the buck feels that there could be another deer in the area, He'll want to investigate and he'll check that mock scrape...sometimes (and for my short season, thats good enough for me for $9.99)

Exactly...... well said.

[BuckmasterG]

Have never tried wizzing myself, but I've been hanging 2 magnum drippers with anywhere from 2 to 5 mock scrapes in a usual scraping area for the past 5 or 6 years, as well as freshening the scrapes every week or so.. from my experience it has induced earlier season activity already have noticed alteast 4 fresh scrapes and 1 rub within 40 yards of my stand.. 1 rub and 1 of the scrapes were just made between Monday evening and Tuesday evening, and one of my mocks was hit hard during that same time. Good Luck with whatever you decide!

[goblueM]

well after reading this thread i think i'll try drinkin some coffee and wizzing in the scrape about 30 yards from my stand this evening

[Musky Buck]

I'm with you Bear and the other 25 of us in our hunting party. I wonder about the last 2 weeks of October if the stuff could pay off for that buck getting denied by the does and they smell that 1st estrous of the season, but come November when they are locking up with doeheads I don't know. Like hitting the lottery you only need to hit it just once, like pouring doe urine if it works just once, but no thanks, what I save by not spending $ on it I will go on a mule deer hunt once in my life.

[B. Amish]

over half of those scents don't originate from a deer anyways. if might attract a deer 1 out of 100 times. but so will old spice after shave. deer are curious creatures.

even if you think you're buying real urine. how well would urine hold up in a bottle on a shelf in a store, non-refrigerated. by the time you dump the stuff on the ground it probably doesn't smell anything like what it's supposed to.

it's all marketing gimmicks. none of it really works. but, if it makes your mind believe that it'll work and makes you sit in your stand longer... more power to you.

[Musky Buck]

This would be my luck. I agree Amish. I dump a load of doe squirt on an intersecting trail on opening morning, nothing attracts to it but Sunday morning walking in I have a buck right on the stuff, I scare/spook the buck away and at day break someone else puts their tag on him. That's a small % of my anti-baiting angst, with my luck I'd scare the deer away from the bait just far enough that someone else would light them up during legal shooting time, I want 0 deer in my area as I'm walking in, I want them there from shooting light on.