Scrapes/Rubs

Do you have any success hunting scrapes or rubs? Do you use powerscrape or any scrape activating solutions? Also, has anyone ever used the scrape drippers or Code Blue's heated scent attractant packs with any success?

I never found one scrape last year on my new place all last year. I watched lots of bucks chase does around and never once seen one paw a scrape out on the ground. Very strange deer activity here. Other ranches I have managed had so many scrapes it would be a waste of time to zero in on one. I watched a 160+ class buck make a scrape one day on a very long sendero. We put a camera on it for a week. Had 11 or 12 different bucks visit that same scrape. The big buck only came back to it once the next day and not again during the time the cam was on it. One smaller buck came back 5 times. One was there 2 times and the rest one time.

I've shot several over scrapes over the years...got to where I'll use a "wickster" to start a few scrapes around my stands in strategic locations. Now they make their own in those spots every yr that look like craters.

I always heard that you can use your own piss but was too skeptical to try it. I had a camera an a scrape that had not been worked in a while so I peed in it and left the camera on it. I had 5 different bucks work the scrape over the next few days.

I did that to one last yr and had activity pick back up, unfortunately nothing special showed up.

Wow. I've heard about peeing to make a scrape, just didn't know if it would work or not. Hmm, I might just try it. Definitely cheaper than buying scent.

I actually do this quite a bit. The first time I did it I was targeting a stud that had a very specific home range. Unfortunately I did not get him, but he came back and damn near uprooted the tree that the scrape was under thrashing it with his horns and doubled the size of the scrape.

I have not had luck hunting one particular scrape, however I have had luck where there are several in a row in a small area. I usually set up where I can see bucks that are checking the scrapes downwind of the prevalent wind direction. What I read about and later confirmed was the bucks don't necessarily come all the way into the scrape and instead check it from a distance at first. As noted above, I have had decent luck freshening them on my own. I have poured all kinds of money out on the ground with scents, wafers and gels, used the scent drippers, etc and can't really say that it worked any better. In regards to rubs, I don't think that they matter to hunt over. It just tells me that a specific size deer was on the property at one time. The signpost rubs that are used year after year are more "huntable" than the one that shows up freshly blazed and is never touched again. Just like with scrapes, history on the property will tell you a bunch about whether the scrape or rub will be worth hunting near.

Rubs are not that good to hunt but very good to tell what is in the area and what direction they are traveling. I have set cameras an very large Bumelia Tree rubs and gotten 10-12 different bucks using it over a week long time frame with the oldest being a 4 yr old in a pasture full of all age classes. You can follow a rubline to and from bedding to feed/water. Usually one line in and another out. What I found on a ranch in the Hill Country is the bucks would pick a tree with bright colors once rubbed that would shine in the sun. They always seemed to travel with sun at their backs when making scrapes in some areas it seemed in certain areas. Rubs and rub lines were good early season or pre-rut. First good cold snap before the rut you could walk hunt and see bucks moving and working rublines and scrapes. Some rubs and signposts were used year after year. Some used a few years then never again. I have cameras on small rubs with huge bucks using them and huge rubs with nothing over 2 yrs old using it on the same ranch.

STX, I had heard that you could generally tell the direction a buck had bedded from the side of the tree that the rub was on, assuming that it wasn't 360 degrees. Based on your info above it might not have been necessarily their bed but definitely the travel path, right?

Don't waste your money on scrape gimmicks. Just make your own and pee in it. I've been doing it for years and have pics to prove it works.
I don't hunt over rubs, unless they are next to a bunch of scrapes.

I have never heard nor thought about the bedding/rub idea. I do know for early season hunting that a rubline can tell you their travel path from bedding to feed and back to bedding cover. Those bucks just can't move around without making or leaving their mark for others to see. When the rut starts it will not really tell you as much since so many different bucks will use the same rubs and some of the bucks might move or be pushed to a new area.

I've got a place down in the flats where about a dozen hackberrys are clustered and before the end of season they'll all have serious rubs. I'm going to put a cam on it this year. Theres some big bucks working that area.

I've never had good luck hunting a scrape but I have gotten a lot of pictures, mostly at night.