Licking branch help

[Buckstopshere]

1 hour ago, wooly said:

Agreed.

I don't think a lot of guys even realize deer have glands between their hooves that they use to communicate with. (interdigital glands)

I'd bet that has something to do with all the scratching and the pawing ritual under the branch as well.... but I can't say EXACTLY what.

 

When a buck tests a scrape and discovers a hot doe is in the area, it just becomes a matter of following in her footsteps until he catches up to her and the chase is on.

Pretty sure they're not just following trails of doe piss through the woods for miles when they put their noses to the ground and single out that one hot  doe from the rest of the herd.

That's my own personal belief anyhow, without any scientific evidence to back it up.

My own personal belief is that one of the reasons why bucks and does use the overhanging branch at the scrape is that it is nature's way for them to set...or synchronize their internal breeding clocks, so they can metabolically get on the same page with each other. Rut timing. Kind of like the way sheep breeders put a melatonin-laced suppository up into the ewes so that they can time the lamb drop.  I believe that in an analgous way, whitetails and other short-day breeders use the overhanging branch as a timing instrument. And sometimes, they really seem to enjoy it.

Wide-racked 7 pt. 10:21:13 .AVI

[wooly]

40 minutes ago, Buckstopshere said:

My own personal belief is that one of the reasons why bucks and does use the overhanging branch at the scrape is that it is nature's way for them to set...or synchronize their internal breeding clocks, so they can metabolically get on the same page with each other. Rut timing. Kind of like the way sheep breeders put a melatonin-laced suppository up into the ewes so that they can time the lamb drop.  I believe that in an analgous way, whitetails and other short-day breeders use the overhanging branch as a timing instrument. And sometimes, they really seem to enjoy it.

Wide-racked 7 pt. 10:21:13 .AVI

I was only implying that I don't believe the dirt has no value at a scrape sight when they put so many clues into it. I don't think anyone is gonna argue with you about the importance of the licking branch.

We don't need to understand all the technical details about scrape science to know they can be productive sights where deer deposit a lot of personal information. Scrapes are like the whitetails version of "Facebook" when it comes to finding out everything they want to know about each other, without ever even seeing the others in person.

[Buckstopshere]

Finally got a good one for my neck of the woods coming into the licking branch set up. He hits the branch...sticks out his tongue (that's why they call it the licking branch) and then comes up to the tree where I shinnied up it to fix the branch. He checks it out and goes back to the branch. I think he is an "old fashioned 12 point." His split G2s are cool. I call it old fashioned because we used to say that if you could hang a ring on a point...it was a point. But now with the technical scoring...he would be an 11 pointer.

Edited September 29, 2016 by Buckstopshere

[burmjohn]

That's a nice deer

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[BuckThornBooners]

BSH send me that branch.  I would like to see if that buck can find it 60mi away 

Edited September 30, 2016 by Odorless

[Buckstopshere]

6 minutes ago, Odorless said:

BSH send me that branch.  I would like to see if that buck can find it 60mi away 

You wish!  

[dbHunterNY]

On ‎9‎/‎29‎/‎2016 at 9:24 AM, Buckstopshere said:

Right, I agree it is not just the urine in the soil. I think it is mainly the drool and saliva that falls off the branch which they will smell once in a while on a visit. I believe that when they defecate in the scrape, and sometimes when they urinate, it is just because they are there at the licking branch, and they don't want to move. They are not adding attractant or message scent to the scrape. Some bucks in the peak of the rut have strings of drool and saliva run in streams down on the ground scrape. The saliva is what is full of pheromones and chemical messages, not urine. 

i agree there's more in that soil than dirt and urine.  what's the point of them being deliberate and taking much more time to use their tarsal glands though?  any deer hunter that gets a whiff of tarsal gland gets a
message whether it's the same message deer get is another thing.

On ‎9‎/‎29‎/‎2016 at 11:06 AM, Buckstopshere said:

My own personal belief is that one of the reasons why bucks and does use the overhanging branch at the scrape is that it is nature's way for them to set...or synchronize their internal breeding clocks, so they can metabolically get on the same page with each other. Rut timing. Kind of like the way sheep breeders put a melatonin-laced suppository up into the ewes so that they can time the lamb drop.  I believe that in an analgous way, whitetails and other short-day breeders use the overhanging branch as a timing instrument. And sometimes, they really seem to enjoy it.

Wide-racked 7 pt. 10:21:13 .AVI

I agree that they feed off each other especially with the presence of more mature versus young bucks leaving scent.  Similar to when a young buck prematurely harasses doe before they need to and a more mature buck will ignore much of it until breeding truly draws near.  I still think the primary factor is length of day when it comes to actual breeding.  Rutting activity observed is different.

....my thoughts for conversation.

[LET EM GROW]

Made a couple quick in the rain just now. Didn't bring enough zip ties. Probably make another 1 or 2 tomorrow at other end of farm.

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[Buckstopshere]

38 minutes ago, LET EM GROW said:

Made a couple quick in the rain just now. Didn't bring enough zip ties. Probably make another 1 or 2 tomorrow at other end of farm.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 

Looks pretty good. I don't think they will be able to resist a setup like that. Will be a perfect shot from that blind down at the far end of the field during gun season.

[Buckstopshere]

5 hours ago, dbHunterNY said:

i agree there's more in that soil than dirt and urine.  what's the point of them being deliberate and taking much more time to use their tarsal glands though?  any deer hunter that gets a whiff of tarsal gland gets a
message whether it's the same message deer get is another thing.

I agree that they feed off each other especially with the presence of more mature versus young bucks leaving scent.  Similar to when a young buck prematurely harasses doe before they need to and a more mature buck will ignore much of it until breeding truly draws near.  I still think the primary factor is length of day when it comes to actual breeding.  Rutting activity observed is different.

....my thoughts for conversation.

I think the length of the day is most important too, because it is light after all that controls the rut timing. But isn't the moon just reflected sunlight? The way I like to think of it is that the sunlight is the major dial, but the moon fine tunes it, or is the fine tuning dial...set trigger. Sure, rutting activity  is different that the actual breeding phase of the rut. But the crazy time, the running time, just prior to the actual breeding is when a lot of us love most to be out there. It's when anything can happen, and it is exciting. But activity at the scrapes drops to a low percent of what it was just a few days before. When the scrapes go dead, you know the breeding phase is on.

Edited September 30, 2016 by Buckstopshere

[LET EM GROW]

On 9/30/2016 at 6:08 PM, Buckstopshere said:

Looks pretty good. I don't think they will be able to resist a setup like that. Will be a perfect shot from that blind down at the far end of the field during gun season.

Yea its a 40 yard shot from the blind, but only 25 from the double setup i have to my left in this picture. Going to place a cam on it this week. Made 2 mock scrapes on this plot, and this licking branch/mock scrape. 

[Bionic]

Now when a mock scrape is fabricated, are there places to not set them up because they might seem far fetched to the deer? No farms/fields here. 

 

Thanks

[Buckstopshere]

I don't think so. Deer are funny. Sometimes the perfect deep woods location lays an egg. And other times whitetails will rip a scrape next to a house. One of the best scrapes that I snip overhanging branches from is right behind an old farmhouse, with a fenced garden out back. There are a few fruit trees, and one little apple tree on the edge of a field is pounded by scrapemakers every year. The elderly folks that live in the house don't care if I "prune" a few twigs off their tree as they have allowed me to hunt their property for many years and due to their age, have let the garden and the fruit trees go wild. (But it is a good idea to ask all landowners if you plan on sniping any branches off their trees. Common courtesy goes a long way.) Bucks and does pound that scrape at night...but rarely except at the peak of the rut would they hit it in the daytime. The twigs I snip off are transported to my other scrape sites and zip-tied on them to make the deer think intruder bucks and new does are in their area. I have noticed over the years through trail cam photos that this is the best way to increase whitetail traffic at a scrape. The deer in the deep woods don't know the licking branch came from behind a farmhouse!

[Buckstopshere]

I don't think so. Deer are funny. Sometimes the perfect deep woods location lays an egg. And other times whitetails will rip a scrape next to a house. One of the best scrapes that I snip overhanging branches from is right behind an old farmhouse, with a fenced garden out back. There are a few fruit trees, and one little apple tree on the edge of a field is pounded by scrapemakers every year. The elderly folks that live in the house don't care if I "prune" a few twigs off their tree as they have allowed me to hunt their property for many years and due to their age, have let the garden and the fruit trees go wild. (But it is a good idea to ask all landowners if you plan on sniping any branches off their trees. Common courtesy goes a long way.) Bucks and does pound that scrape at night...but rarely except at the peak of the rut would they hit it in the daytime. The twigs I snip off are transported to my other scrape sites and zip-tied on them to make the deer think intruder bucks and new does are in their area. I have noticed over the years through trail cam photos that this is the best way to increase whitetail traffic at a scrape. The deer in the deep woods don't know the licking branch came from behind a farmhouse!

[Bionic]

Thank you for that info, I appreciate that!

[Bionic]

Thank you for that info, I appreciate that!

[Buckstopshere]

A couple more good ones at the zip-tied licking branch.

[Zag]

On ‎9‎/‎28‎/‎2016 at 6:01 AM, Lawdwaz said:

Any update on this mildly scientific experiment??

Ok, I have had the cam on this since late September. I have had 0 bucks walk over to it until yesterday. I set a stand just NE of this scrape the first deer season hunting it. Its a great spot and having this scrape here makes it a gem of a spot.

So this is the buck my brother shot yesterday. Its literally moments before he shot it. He is the first one who came over to it. Ill give myself a little credit for helping him on that hunt.

Edited October 12, 2016 by zag

[LET EM GROW]

I habe only managed to get a couple cams up over several mock scrape/licking branches Ive made so far, only checked this cam, this area doesn't see much for buck activity until they start cruising. But seems like it might pay off. I'll set up a couple new cams over these and check the other this week.

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[LET EM GROW]

Not to bad for a first time mock scrape licking branch maker.. lol he tore this up for about 5 minutes straight .. all on video 

IMG_0112.AVI

[Big Indian]

On September 29, 2016 at 9:40 AM, Buckstopshere said:

 

Hey buckstopshere Can u link the article you wrote in NYON a while ago about this topic? I can't find my copy. TYVM

[BuckThornBooners]

 

11 minutes ago, LET EM GROW said:

Not to bad for a first time mock scrape licking branch maker.. lol he tore this up for about 5 minutes straight .. all on video 

IMG_0112.AVI

 thats kinda scary!!  looks like hes ready to fight

[LET EM GROW]

i know right, he did look a little p*$$ed .. im guessing, probably since i tore up "his food plot" with mock scrapes lol

[Buckstopshere]

4 hours ago, LET EM GROW said:

Not to bad for a first time mock scrape licking branch maker.. lol he tore this up for about 5 minutes straight .. all on video 

IMG_0112.AVI

Now that's what I call a close-up! Nice job!

[Buckstopshere]

4 hours ago, Big Indian said:

Hey buckstopshere Can u link the article you wrote in NYON a while ago about this topic? I can't find my copy. TYVM

I've written a few articles about this in the NYON over the last few years. I will try to find the links...I might have to go to other newspaper sites though.