Improving Your Chances With Mock Scrapes
Mock scrapes are one of the best ways to improve your favorite hunting location or take inventory of the local deer herd. Whether you’re hunting from a treestand in deep timber or an elevated ground blind over-looking a food plot, a well-placed mock scrape can improve your hunting experience. I utilize mock scrapes to take inventory of the bucks in the area and help bring a buck into shooting range, especially when hunting field edges.it to be the perfect compromise between the affordability of the Tascos and the performance of my more expensive Moultries.
ScrapeStick Review
The ScrapeStick is a versatile tool that allows you to create a mock scrape anywhere! It’s the perfect way to improve your favorite hunting spot and hopefully attract that big buck you’re after into range.
Retail: $34.99
■ 17 possible height adjustments
■ Accepts up to 1.25″ in diameter branches
■ Multiple mounting options: T-post, Strap or Screws
■ All mounting hardware included
What Are Scrapes and Why Do Deer Use Them?
Deer use scrapes to communicate with one another, consider a scrape the social hub of the whitetail woods. However, you must understand that deer are not communicating verbally at a mock scrape, they’re communicating through scent. Each deer that passes by a scrape checks the area for the scent of other deer and some leave their own scent behind to let the other deer know that they’re in the area and other deer just stop by to see what other deer are in the area.
Now that you understand the reason why deer make scrapes, you can take this information and use it to your advantage. Remember when I compared mock scrapes to trapping? The goal of a mock scrape, just like a post set for coyotes, is to attract deer to an exact location. This can be achieved with a well-placed mock scrape and the ScrapeStick is the perfect product to improve your mock scrapes.
Buck activity at the ScrapeStick! Trail camera photos courtesy of a Spartan Ghost.
What is a ScrapeStick?
The ScrapeStick is a simple, yet effective product that helps you make the perfect mock scrape. The most important part of a mock scrape (besides the location) is the licking branch. We often walk up on scrape and notice the freshly kicked up dirt but it’s not the urine in the dirt that’s keeping a deer’s attention, it’s the secretions from a deer’s forehead and pre-orbital glands that really piques their interest. The height of the licking branch can be adjusted with the ScrapeStick, allowing you to position the licking branch anywhere. You can attach the ScrapeStick with a strap or screw it directly into a tree for permanent installation. However, my favorite feature of the ScrapeStick is its ability to be attached on top of a t-post. Attaching the ScrapeStick to t-post in the middle of the food plot is a deadly combination.
ScrapeStick Review Summary
The ScrapeStick proved to be a great addition to my hunting arsenal during the 2019 season and I will definitely be purchasing more of them in the near future. My favorite trail camera technique involves monitoring deer activity on scrapes throughout the season and the versatility of the ScrapeStick allowed me to make a mock scrape in places that the perfect limb didn’t exist and in open fields.
Here are a few more tips to help improve your mock scrapes. Pay close attention to the licking branch! Deer will get aggressive and break the licking branch from time to time, so when this happens, simply replace the licking branch in your ScrapeStick and you’re good to go. Also, it’s a good idea to keep mock scrapes in the same place from year-to-year. In fact, you can leave them up all year long because deer will visit community scrapes all year long. You may not see the dirt being kicked up as much, but deer will still stop by and check out that licking branch from time-to-time.
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Thanks to Camron for writing this unpaid gear review and to ScrapeStick for providing a sample unit. Hunting Gear Deals is funded by affiliate commissions. We may receive a small commission when you buy from our partners using the links provided. There is no additional cost to you. Thanks for supporting us by using our links when making your purchases.
AUTHOR BIO
Camron is the owner of Hunting Gear Deals. He is an avid bowhunter with a knack for finding smoking deals on hunting gear. He currently works in the oil & gas industry as an Environmental, Health, and Safety professional.
Instagram- @camronhuntinggeardeals
