My cousin Frank (FAV 52 here) and I put up a couple stands today and found a scrape about 50 yards from his stand! This is the earliest either of us can recall seeing one...hope it is a good sign!
Pretty common to find them in late Sept./early October. As soon as the bucks come out of velvet they are ready to go and just waiting on the does to come around. I think of them as frustration scrapes and mostly find them on field edges in the same places every year. If you know where they are going to be it is a great place to set a camera and get shots of the bucks in your area but where I hunt they are mostly hit at night. After the middle of October these usually are abandoned for more important scrapes. I also get a lot of photos of does in the early season scrapes.
Mmmm that's early!
I was traversing my woods looking for my buck Friday and found three little ones. Not uncommon at all.
Saturday's getting closer Russ! I hung my Iowa stands two weeks ago today and the tree where I shot a big ten pt. last year had three active scrapes with fifteen yards of it. Yes, I'm excited! I'm hoping I have a repeat. Last years season in Iowa totaled 10 minutes.
Bernie Bjorklund
NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin
I saw one Saturday.
I've been hunting this same timber for 30+ years and this is the earliest that I personally have seen a scrape . There are always scrapes on this timber road but usually not until around October 15 . But according to our DNR there are no deer in this county of Iowa ; so it's probably just one love sick buck that has no chance of finding a mate . Good hunting to everyone
Yup,. I always start to see scrapes in early Sept. These are mostly on field edges and are just bucks starting to feel their oats. I also am a firm believer that some doe's come into heat in early to mid-october where I hunt, most years they are missed and not bred but some years the bucks seem ready and a few get bred, that is why we see fawns on occassion as early as the first week in May instead of the first two weeks of June. I have counted over 20 scrapesin the last week or so and counted 9 the first week in Sept. this year. Shawn
Shot a buck last night right after he made a scrape behind me. I think they start as soon as the velvet comes off.
Depends on when the rut is. On my home ground, the rut isn't until December, and I rarely see a scrape before mid-November. Some years they're earlier than others, but it's rare to see them early here.