“YOUR ADVENTURES” By Randy DuMez, Mossy Oak ProStaff
Scrape hunting is one of those hunting discussions that everyone has an opinion on. Everyone seems to have a different level of success hunting them. I have seen some nice bucks come into them at the right time of the season and I have sat many times and seen nothing come in. But what about mock scrapes? I have found them to be an excellent tool. But make sure you get them started NOW or even sooner.
In previous years I have made mock scrapes using many different products on the market and haven’t had a lot of success, so I stopped making them for a while. Last year I was walking through the scent aisle in September and saw Tink’s Power Scrape®. I thought why not give it a try. So I bought some with the dripper and took it out to the woods and set up the trail camera on it. The first time I checked the camera there were a bunch of does, fawns, and small bucks that came in and were very interested in it. The next time I checked, it made up my mind. Every time after that I would have pictures of mature, shooter bucks for the rest of the season. Now remember I started the scrape right around the middle of September, well before the rut. The beauty of it is it got the bucks coming in pretty regularly to check it out. Most of the pictures were at night, but as the rutting activity started to pick up there was more daytime visits. They even made their own scrapes within 20 yards of mine and my stand.
Now I wish I had a picture of the beautiful buck I harvested off the scrape, but unfortunately I didn’t capitalize. But, both me and my brother, who also hunts the property, had an opportunity to take mature bucks within a week of each other out of the same stand. Both of us missed! Not that we are proud of it, but it happens, and believe me we have been motivated to shoot that many more arrows this season to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Don’t be afraid to try making some mock scrapes. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Try different scents, I like Tink’s Power Scrape® Starter because it is more of a curiosity smell and not the rutting smell. But as the rut proceeds I usually start putting some Tink’s #69 Doe-In-Rut® on the scrape also.
I have two mock scrapes going this season and the big boys are just starting to show up on camera, right on schedule. Now it is time to wait until they make that one mistake and step in front of us in the daylight. I hope to have the camera rolling and hopefully I can share that with you all. Good luck this fall.