Do Mock Scrapes REALLY work!!!?

[Taylormike]

Anyone with experience with Mock scrapes?  Do they really work?  I am speaking on fair game chase property, not the stocked farms which we are inundated with 130+ bucks.  The really thing, fair chase? 

 

I am setting 2 drippers up Saturday morning after I get out of my stand and head to lunch? 

 

Any thoughts?  Any opinions?  Any advice on products?

 

I love trying things in the wood... I once rattled with two 2" saplings and brought a beautiful 6 point in.  Weird thing It was in early September.

 

Anyway, looking forward to hearing some responses.

Edited October 8, 2014 by Taylormike

[Jeremy K]

I've made them before , some get action and some don't, I usually just take a leak on them myself, I have noticed what appears to be a more aggressive clean out on the ones I go on as opposed to the ones I pour a bottle on.

[Taylormike]

Interesting!  Yea, the theory behind it is cool, what a tool if it works.  I will put a Moultrie over one of them and see what happens.

 

Where are you in Niagara County?

[Jeremy K]

I live in north tonawanda and hunt mostly in 9h

[nyslowhand]

Where's BUCKSTOPSHERE? This is one of his hunting obsessions. Posted an interesting article in NYON not long ago, possibly a reprint...?

[growalot]

I'll let you know I finally got some prints in a couple so I moved cams.....

[Buckstopshere]

I'm right here.

 

Been too busy.

 

"Mock scrapes" work very well indeed. But, I have been fooling with them since the early 80's...and have learned a few things through trial and error. I have killed a bunch of bucks and does coming into them and standing under the Overhanging Branch.

 

Yes, I am obsessed with them and have a hard drive full of videos and photos of bucks and does at my zip-tied scrapes. I prefer to call them zip-tied scrapes because the emphasis is on the branch...not the pawed up area on the ground. Without the overhanging branch, the scrape does not exist. The ground scrape, the pawed up soil is only ancillary...a by product, and not important. Urine is not important. If you want to enhance a scrape...forget urine. Wear out some boot rubber and find some hot scrapes, snip the overhanging branch, put it in a plastic garbage bag, and zip-tie it to the scrape you are hunting over. That's all you need to do. Many commercial urines (or whatever they put in the bottles) have ruined uncountable scrapes for me. However, I have killed some nice bucks when using them...but for every buck I killed over a scrape using lures...five of them have "gone dead." I have 8 trail cams on zip-tied scrapes now on three different hunting properties, miles apart. Things are beginning to heat up. Notice the "bouquet" of zip-tied branches this buck is hitting on Monday 10/6/14.

 

[jjb4900]

if you were hunting a stocked deer farm why would you even bother trying this?

[Buckstopshere]

More info on the zip-tied scape on my Facebook page:

 

//www.facebook.com/Oak.Duke.whitetail.page

[Cabin Fever]

That overhanging branch is key! I've been making and using mock scrapes for years. It's my favorite place for trailcams and have gotten many great videos over mock scrapes! Love seeing how the deer interact with the overhanging branch! Even though the scrape itself doesn't appear freshened, it certainly does not mean it hasn't been visited! Only a small percentage of bucks freshen the scrape itself, but they all seem to give some love to that overhanging branch!

[The_Real_TCIII]

Seems like any time i just brush out a quick scrape with my boot the next time i come by it will have deer prints in it

[Vector]

The thing about scrapes is they are most often visited at night time.

Mock scrapes work awesome for getting cam pics. I usually tear up the ground under a limb, strip and break the limb, then urinate in the fresh earth.

Deer are usually on the scrape within hours. Once one deer validates the scrape, it is on from there.

One tip in making a mock scrape is to place it near a food source, so it can become a community scrape that does visit too.

[Izayah12]

I'm right here.

Been too busy.

"Mock scrapes" work very well indeed. But, I have been fooling with them since the early 80's...and have learned a few things through trial and error. I have killed a bunch of bucks and does coming into them and standing under the Overhanging Branch.

Yes, I am obsessed with them and have a hard drive full of videos and photos of bucks and does at my zip-tied scrapes. I prefer to call them zip-tied scrapes because the emphasis is on the branch...not the pawed up area on the ground. Without the overhanging branch, the scrape does not exist. The ground scrape, the pawed up soil is only ancillary...a by product, and not important. Urine is not important. If you want to enhance a scrape...forget urine. Wear out some boot rubber and find some hot scrapes, snip the overhanging branch, put it in a plastic garbage bag, and zip-tie it to the scrape you are hunting over. That's all you need to do. Many commercial urines (or whatever they put in the bottles) have ruined uncountable scrapes for me. However, I have killed some nice bucks when using them...but for every buck I killed over a scrape using lures...five of them have "gone dead." I have 8 trail cams on zip-tied scrapes now on three different hunting properties, miles apart. Things are beginning to heat up. Notice the "bouquet" of zip-tied branches this buck is hitting on Monday 10/6/14.

[Izayah12]

Whats the point of the bag on the branch just wondering, new to this

[mbucks27]

Have 2 mock scrapes setup since early sept. Between now and then i have a total of about 14 different bucks hitting them and numerous does.  All i did was take a stick and scratch up the leaves down to dirt and to loosen the soil and create an overhanging branch by breaking a branch that was up high so it was about 4 1/2 feet off the ground.   Then on the branch i put code blue rack rub. i didnt put any scent in the scrape at all yet. Only on the over hanging branch.  Seems to be working great for me.

 

John

[mbucks27]

here are a few of the pics 

 

 

 

 

 

[Buckstopshere]

Izayah12: It is not a bag hanging on the scrape, if that's what you mean in the photo...those are zip-ties, cable ties, that attach the overhanging branch. I cut an overhanging branch off a hot scrape from another area, but transport it in a bag to keep ambient odors off it in the truck, and then, zip-tie it to a scrape I am watching and/or have a camera on. A branch from a new area brings in new scent from other bucks and does...and the resident deer can't seem to resist it, and then adding their "two scents" to the branch themselves...which enhances it more.

[sampotter]

I've never used the zip-tie method. I've found that the most important thing is providing an overhanging branch at the right height (40" or so) and don't leave your scent all over it. Also, it needs to be in a conspicuous place, like along a field edge or logging road. I also like to make "live" licking branches by one of two methods: 1) find a 3-4" sapling growing about 10' back from your intended scrape spot, climb the sapling until you can bend it over and then wire or tie it to a tree so the top of the sapling becomes your licking branch. 2) If there are overhanging branches that are too high for deer to reach, grab one of the higher branches (7-8' up) and bend it down (without breaking it) and wire or tie it to one of the lower branches so it is angled almost straight down. With either method the branch or tree stays alive and becomes a perennial scrape spot. 

 

Here's a clip of a buck my Dad shot under a mock scrape I made by bending over a sapling in 2008. That scrape is still in action 8 years after I made it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEH8nK8BeFQ

 

Mock rubs are also a blast:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI-w-M2fXr8

 

[TrophyHunter33]

I love to use mock scrapes and I generally just miss in them however this year I am using some products from code blue. I don't know how much action they have because I am in Jamaica on my honeymoon but I will be back in the stand on Monday to see what kind of progress was made. I am also going to try the overhanging branch trick that's an ingenious idea

[NFA-ADK]

Answers is yes they do work, if done properly. 

[Buckstopshere]

Sam and Trophy33: You gotta try the zip-tie overhanging branch from another area...so the bucks where you are feel challenged...and the does are intrigued. It will blow your minds! Enjoy!

[ANTLERS]

Well here's one method, I placed a red tape ,about 3 feet long, on a branch next to a tree I use as a stand location. The sole purpose of the tape is to help me find that tree in the dark pre dawn hours. I arrive one morning to find the ground pawed out beneath it.

[mbucks27]

http://www.brothersofthebow.com/html/wickedwicks.html

 

could also try this method. 

 

John

[Buckstopshere]

Very interesting John, but like they say, "if you give a man enough rope..." What I like about zip-tied branches from other scrapes is...it's simple. Find a hot scrape somewhere else, cut the branch, zip-tie it to the scrape where you want it. No muss, no fuss, - and no "hanging ropes" in the woods. After some of the big bucks I've missed, I don't want to be tempted! Though some people might encourage me to try it!

[mbucks27]

lol ive heard of taking a branch from another area and i will def try that out this year as well.

 

John