Transferring a scrape. Thoughts.

[Lowg08]

Seems like you are grasping at straws to kill a certain mature buck. Digging up dirt from a different scrape, with the thought that it is going to pull a certain buck past your stand during daylight hours for a shot (?!?!?) is unlikely to work. Work to find out where that deer beds, on a regular basis, and where his core area is. Work backwards from there and get closer in subsequent hunts. Window is small, and sometimes less is more.

If you want to go the “gimmick” (LOL) route, hang up a vine and disturb the ground underneath it. That is an effective way of taking inventory of deer on any given property. This is helpful to identify deer in a certain area, and their travel directions and patterns, if they are using a certain trail, but it doesn’t not significantly change those patterns.

Said differently, a hanging vine is not going to make a buck travel a mile just to leave his scent there, but if he’s close and using a certain trail he may stop and see what else has visited the vine.

Good luck!

Oh you’re right. I’ve gotten kinda obsessed with this deer. From the wisdom of my 14. “ Dad it’s time to move on. “ so from reading this and opinions. I’m going to move to a new area that I had mentioned early and give them a go. And “ just kill deer”

 

[fatlander]

Just because you’re only getting night time pictures of him, doesn’t mean he doesn’t move during the daylight. One of the mature bucks I killed this year, I only had night time pictures of him. Killed him on the morning of November 10th while a cold front was blowing in. My other target buck on that place is the same way. I have never gotten a daylight picture of him. I saw him in the daylight 3 times this year. Every time there was a hot doe or cold front involved. I killed an exceptional buck a few years ago that I only had one daylight photo of during the summer. The rest were night time. Killed him on November 1st during a cold front blowing in. It was the first sit that year hunting him.


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[Swamp Fox]

We do have a later rut sometimes. This year is about normal for us. Between the 13-27 of November. I’ve been squeezing down on him for three years. Just seems he only moves at night. As another commenter said. He may be unkillable. I hope not. Just seems it’s always at night minus one picture. I pee in scrapes all the time. Seems it’s just the same as moving one. My understanding is pee is pee

I wouldn't say pee is pee, other than it all prompts curiosity. I think a deer can probably tell the difference between animals it smells, so I don't see why it can't tell the differences among predators and herbivores and 200-pound red-blooded Umuhrcans who've been eating a lot of venison sausage and asparagus. Whether that causes a problem with mature bucks is an open question.

What's the pressure like in the area? Dogs, bears, coyotes, other hunters ... leaf peepers, mountain bikers, moonshiners.... Wandering hippie chicks ??

Have you thought about switching gears and hunting him well outside the rut? He's most unpredictable when he's searching for does. Once he sets his mind to do that, you have a lot of ground to cover. I think you want to be on top of him in his non-rut bedding area to catch his small, late, or early movements ( i.e., within the bedding area or running off-schedule during shooting light exiting or entering the bedding area).


OR, you want to catch him feeding on a favored late-season food source when the weather turns really bad.

 

[Lowg08]

I wouldn't say pee is pee, other than it all prompts curiosity. I think a deer can probably tell the difference between animals it smells, so I don't see why it can't tell the differences among predators and herbivores and 200-pound red-blooded Umuhrcans who've been eating a lot of venison sausage and asparagus. Whether that causes a problem with mature bucks is an open question.

What's the pressure like in the area? Dogs, bears, coyotes, other hunters ... leaf peepers, mountain bikers, moonshiners.... Wandering hippie chicks ??

Have you thought about switching gears and hunting him well outside the rut? He's most unpredictable when he's searching for does. Once he sets his mind to do that, you have a lot of ground to cover. I think you want to be on top of him in his non-rut bedding area to catch his small, late, or early movements ( i.e., within the bedding area or running off-schedule during shooting light exiting or entering the bedding area).


OR, you want to catch him feeding on a favored late-season food source when the weather turns really bad.

I have considered. Waiting til December and then going after him trying to find his home during early archery or even late spring. We only have 3 weeks of rifle season. A couple weeks of muzzleloader. The last three weeks are archery and antlered only. I feel like I have a better chance at him in early archery when the acorns fall. Just have to figure out where in the world he lives then. I can not get him on camera before November. Leaves very little sign until the rut. Almost like a ghost. I started getting a new buck this fall I had never seen. He is nice too. My biggest down fall is I don’t hold out for big deer. We have such low deer density. If you get a chance you better not let it get away. I try to to hold a buck tag for late season for him but I keep eating that tag.

 

[Swamp Fox]

There's no glory shooting small bucks. Just tasty meat. : )

If you have your heart set on this buck, there's too much food and sex through November for a buck on night patrol.

I'd really focus on December when he's vulnerable on food sources.

 

[Lowg08]

There's no glory shooting small bucks. Just tasty meat. : )

If you have your heart set on this buck, there's too much food and sex through November for a buck on night patrol.

I'd really focus on December when he's vulnerable on food sources.

I like it. We luckily have 2 buck tags. I don’t know if my heart is just plain set but I guess I have so much history with him at this point. I may just stay out of there til December.

There is not much pressure where he is. If you didn’t know any better the forest service road looks like a drive way. Lots of bear hunters though. Had a dog run off a doe when I was about to draw in her.