last Saturday i took a walk in a field near my house and noticed 2 large scrapes. now i have never saw where the buck has hit the ground so hard with his antlers like this buck has. figured i would monitor this field. took a walk today and there are now 7 scrapes all the same way. heavy dug ground and pawed up good. the first 2 times i looked you could count 5 drag marks per side as he used both sides of his horns, that tells me 12 point right?? i doubt the spikes are hitting so would assume 12 pt. my neighbor (non-hunter) has saw the buck by the house, standing in a small cemetery twice now. he told me lots of points but not really wide which would go pretty well with these scrapes, tines close together but many points. on a side note i have now named this buck Stiffler for standing with, well.... the dead.. ok now i have set up my stand by the 3 biggest scrapes about 10 feet back in the hedge row that has some hard wood trees.  i would guess he is traveling in the afternoon/night as he is close to the houses yet when my neighbor saw him it was when coming home from work at 4:30. many other deer tracks in the field edge so looks like quite a few. i have saw many scrapes North but never have i saw one rake the ground so hard with his horns. heres some pic's and info you can give me will be greatly appreciated!!
 
 
 
 

heres how Stiffler got his name. the trees in the back is where my stand is as the bean field is on the other side.
 
my set up and area. click in the pic for short video.
 

Ive never seen a buck rub the ground with its antlers...  I believe what you are seeing is the marks from his hooves scraping the ground.  If you watch one closely they tend to just drag the tip of the hoof on the ground, scraping it and leaving marks like your seeing.

Good that your seeing so much fresh sign though!

I am the same.  I believe also what you are seeing is the hoof marks.

One thing I've noticed is scrapes on open field edges seem to get used at night, where as scrapes found around thicker cover are more likely to be used during the day. These observations are made in fairly pressured areas so maby the deer in your neck of the woods are a bit more bold if not pressured.

-Dan

Ken your over thinking it bud, you have some great sign there but several bucks can be using or will be using that scrape. Those are hoof marks not antler scrape marks.

As mentioned most scrapes are not worth hunting except for breeding scrapes and they will not be found on a field.

Don't over scout right now wait for later in the season. Just get out there and hunt! this spot is much much better then the spots you have hunted in the past. Good luck!

Tracy

Hoof marks X4.

Perfect application for a trail camera set on video mode and you will witness them clearing the leaves from it and making those marks. I think that is also a way they disperse their interdigital gland scent into it as well.

trail camera is set up across the field. man if they are hoof marks he is an artist as his lines are perfect and about 5 to a side EVERY time. just hard to believe it could be that PERFECT on each one. like i said i had NEVER saw one scrape with his horns but dammmm if thats not what it looks like!

Ken, Definately hoof marks. Ken they usually will stand in one spot and paw the same spot which will cause not only a dug trough but also the marks all in the same consistant line perfectly parallel to each other.

I think you are right that the field edge will see more action at night. I think some of those old apple trees we saw while rabbit hunting a few years ago would have a great breeding area.  

Good luck, that woods is awesome. I was thinking that all the while we were trying to walk through the snow.

I would get off the field about 100 yards on an east/west trail. And if you get a visual on him you can adjust your stand accordingly if needed.I have noticed bucks here tend to run east/west as the prevailing wind is north and sometimes it blows south when a warm front moves in. He may not come into the field but he might scent check that scrape during the day. Good luck Ken.

i got to watch a big buck do exactly that this past Monday morning for about 5 minutes.

I'm goina say its his hoof.  And he probably ain't staying in the woods by the looks of that corn.  Can he scent his scrapes from the field?

the corn field is only seoerated from the bean field by a 100 yards of think brush so i think he could wind the scrapes from there BUT i walked the whole corn field all the way around and there is no where near the sign of the bean field. there is a small trail from cornfield to bean and i am with in range of that from the stand. i will be sitting there bright and early in the morning.

Ken; Forget the scrapes and hunt any funnels between bedding and feeding area's. Good luck!

Hoof marks for sure

Ken that buck is most likely hitting that area at night in the dark. You might beable to get him out during the day with the use of some good doe in heat scent and a decoy but hunter scent control is crucial in this circumstance.

Ken can you get to that stand in the morning with out bumping any deer? If legal spot light the field right after dark so you can try to tell what time there entering the bean field. The scrapes should give you a line of direction and help you decide weather to hunt it am or pm field scrapes are mostly visited at night.GOOD LUCK. TD.

That's some nice bunch of sign, but find the does and your buck will come to you when the time is right. If the does are feeding there as well, find the hot trails to and from the field and find out where they're bedding. If the rut is heating up, you can bet he'll start cruising the bedding sniffing around for hot does.

I have a similar situation here- see a monster about every evening I'm out. Time to figure out where his does are and find a spot to set up between where they feed and where they bed.

Never had luck hunting scrapes. But it's cool to see all the sign that they leave behind. I hunt the does and wait for the bucks .as for the marks in the scrapes I believe they are from his hooves . Good luck. Don

Scrapes  have left me holding an empty bag. I  shot a state record buck back in 1990 but I set up about 80 yards from a scrape I know was his. I was in a pine on the edge of an overgrown apple orchard that had one bearing apple tree in it that year. Three does showed up followed by the buck. Butternutz is right about keeping track of the does. They are the best buck magnets there are. If you want to hunt buck sign I think you will be better off  hunting a rub line if you can find one. I think if I were in your situation (as I understand it) I would set up about 50-75 yards downwind from the scrape line as the buck(s) will more than likely be scent checking them from a distance.