Sunday, March 25, 2012

Outdoor Tip #3

It's the Mr. here with a short, Spring tip for all you deer hunters out there.  I've been anxiously waiting for Fall and have been doing some research to pass the time.  Now is a great time to go out on your hunting property and make some mock scrapes.  "Scrapes" is a term used to determine markings on trees when a buck rubs his antlers on the bark as a sign of territory during the rut.  Hunters use scrapes as a sign that at least one buck is in the area.  The larger and higher the scrape on the tree, the larger the buck.  Bucks also lick the edges of tree branches to mark their territory. They visit scrapes year-round, so hunters can go out and make mock scrapes to attract bucks to a certain area near their trail camera.  Just take a deer antler (or something similar to it's size, shape and durability) and rub the antler on the sides of trees about 5 - 6 feet high.  Rip off some bark along the edge of some branches of the same tree to show signs of licking.  Finally, put some buck urine on the ground for other bucks to smell.

Early spring is a great time for this because the lack of foilage (leaves) makes it easier for the deer to see your fresh scrapes.  Pick spots at or near water (streams, lakes, ponds etc).  A mock scrape will bring velvet bucks to the area of your trail camera all summer long, and can start a pattern that can increase your chances of seeing more deer in the fall.

One more quick tidbit.  We just purchased some minerals to see if they attract bucks to our property.  Minerals are a great way to help increase antler size.  There's several different types of mineral, so you'll have to do some research on what works for your area.  I read some reviews online and we ended up going to our local Gander Mountain to purchase Trophy Rock All Natural Mineral Lick.  It's a 12 lb.  life size rock that looks exactly like a rock.  We also purchased a 20 lb. bucket called Lucky Buck Mineral.  We'll just spread the mineral grain along the ground, stumps, and rocks.  We'll put these near trail cameras so we'll let you know if we see anything. 

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