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Deer scrapes.
JW_Halverson:
Some of you have read my post about the area I have scouted intensively and the poachers setting up bait and treestands. I got some good advice that nicely told me to quit whining like a mosquito in heat and move on. Thank you.
I did. Yesterday morning I was up long before the sun and off to the woods. I passed thru the poacher's bait stations and paused to take a leak on all three. Good strong coffee is inspirational! I continued on at least another half mile west along the ridgeline and found a great saddle I had not seen before. The draws that the saddle connected along this ridgeline were very heavily forested and after opening weekend, likely holding deer hiding out from the Orange Brigade. I moved from tree to tree looking for the best coverage/field of fire and kicked up a flock of sharptailed grouse. Sharpies are common in western South Dakota, but as a prairie bird! Fortunately, I had done more than relieve the bladder when I passed those baited treestands, or I'da had to jettison my shorts!
There was no movement on the saddle for two hours and the wind was up and blowing good. I moved off the ridgeline and down into the trees where the wind would disguise my movements. I worked down the ridgeline, stopping to rattle a smallish pair of whitetail antlers at every likely spot. Sure enough, the second set up gave an opportunity. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a bit of greyish brown ghosting thru the doghair pines. I was too busy counting tines and the opportunity passed without me taking up the slack. Spent the rest of the day alternating between "You idiot!" and "Too early in the season to not be picky."
Anywhich....I kept moving, eventually dropping into the valley and going up the next ridgeline where I found a large meadow at the top. Radiating out from this meadow is one finger ridge after another, between finger ridges are draws and shallow bowls of varying densities of pines and quakies. I worked a lot of them before the day was over and probably covered a good 9 miles of back and forth wandering. I kicked up plenty of does and fawns, but not a lot of bucks.
In a few areas I saw scrapes. Sometimes just one in a random place, others spaced out along a trail - one after another. However, none of the scrapes were much larger than a dinner plate, except one. And at no time did I find a rub tree from this year. What few rubs I found (three total all day) were last years or older.
Are these just younger deer or less dominant bucks making such small, weak scrapes? Or is this early in the season where they have not really worked long on the projects?
BowEd:
Your assumptions are pretty much right I think.A scrape will get larger with more visits and to me the bigger bucks pick on bigger trees.You gotta sit still,sit still,sit still.Randomly stealth hunting against them usually turns out bad for me[they have far superior eyesight and nose]as you saying you chased up does and fawns.I guarantee you they warned any bucks in the area too.Unless you see one bedded down now and put the sneak on em wind being to your favor or getting him interested in your rattling to come to you.Finding where they are bedded down in the morning and knowing where they want to feed and being on an ambush point between them works for me.My route does not spook them from their bed when going to sit.It's a lot of work but fun when it all comes together.Checking on those scrapes to see if they are being visited helps.Doing that in the afternoon after they've eaten.Usually I don't sit in the same stand more than once.Even though I think and did'nt see any deer spooked they still know something strange has been there.In otherwords they are watching me when I don't see them....lol.
JW_Halverson:
Yeah, that sitting still thing is almost impossible for me. It works later in the day after I have tramped many miles up and down the ridges. If I am tired, I can handle it for a while.
I have now been 3 weeks without seeing the big 5x5 buck in the area I have my cameras. And today as I was stalking slowly thru the trees I saw something white on the side of a pine. When I got close, I saw it was an intact and filled scrotum from a whitetail buck. There was a gutpile 10 yds farther down the hill. Best I can guess is that the buck had shinnied up the tree to hide during the day and when he slid down after dark, his sack got caught on a broken branch and was torn off. He was so distraught and panic ridden he literally crapped his guts out. Not saying that is exactly what happened, just my best guess.
I saw a few does today. By moving very slowly up a ridge and over, I could glass the treeline ahead every few steps. When I saw does, I copped a squat close to a tree and rattled a pair of basket rack 4x4 whitetail antlers. The gals didn't seem to be impressed and didn't move in to investigate and no bucks showed up either. Later in the afternoon I was rattling next to a fairly large scrape with 6 sapling pine trees in sight that had been worked into a frenzy. The wind had died down to almost nothing and I stretched my ears for any sound at all. I heard a deer walk behind me, but never got a chance to peek. Probably a doe. When I got up to leave, I bumped two bucks just 50 yds away. They were standing in a thick clump of pines. Had I sat tighter, they would have probably stepped into the clear for a shot. Yeah, well, it's early, right? I still have until the end of the month.
BowEd:
You got some real a$$holes your dealing with there.To be out there experiencing the whole deal is what makes the memories.You can just imagine the way it was back when a person had to hunt to eat.Countless woods knowledge acquired.It helps to get lucky though too....lol.If your seeing some like described you'll get your chance this year.At least to plant an arrow in the toooolies anyway like me.
JW_Halverson:
You are right, Ed. I paid for the ticket, I am here for the whole ride. That means enjoying all of it, whether I take meat home or not.
The other day I counted 9 species of birds in the three trees right in front of me, including a rare subspecies of junco only found in the Black Hills of South Dakota. I found a super-duper cool rock today and toted that 9 lbs of limestone for 4.5 miles while I hunted. I found a 10x8 cave under a limestone rock that would make a great emergency shelter and spent 15 minutes gathering ultra high quality tinder, small sticks, dry firewood, and some pitch pine stump material for that late muzzleloading season emergency. I left some strike-anywhere matches and a note for anyone that finds the spot that they are welcome to the firewood, but please replace it in case someone gets caught out here in bad weather and needs it. I watched some clouds.
Yeah, I paid for the whole ride, I am taking the whole ride!
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