It always makes it easier when you have a plan the night before you’re headed into the woods under the cover of darkness. Kentucky and I made a plan and decided to be on the road at 4:30 a.m. I would hunt an area he found a few days ago, and he would hunt over a scrape that has had a lot of activity recently.
In my experience, I was pretty sure one of us would get a look at one of the bucks he had on camera. There had been too much activity to think differently. Although the heat won’t let up, it was fairly cool for the morning sit. When we left the house, it was overcast and the temperature hung in the high 50s.
After getting in the tree, I sat back and waited for it to get light. Kentucky had sat in the same tree a few days earlier, so I knew I was in a good spot. When it got light, I felt confident about my chances. However, as the morning dragged on, my confidence waned with the leaves falling from the trees.
Neither one of us saw a deer, but I did get out of the stand and wandered around to see if I could find anything in the area that would warrant more attention. In my search, I found a giant scrape that had recently been opened, and the licking branch had also been torn apart. As soon as I saw the scrape, I knew it was a no-doubter. It was on the top of a finger where a few runways came together. The runways merged into one patch along the top edge of a bowl, and the deer would be forced to walk a thin line if they committed to the runway after being in the scrape. It would put them 10 yards from the base of a tree I glanced at while taking it all in. If I were a betting man, which I’m not, I would guess a decent buck will be in that scrape in the daylight next Monday or Tuesday when the summer-like weather finally breaks. It will be the first true cold front, and I’m almost certain that area will attract a few bucks. Time will tell. Here are a few pictures of our find. We found the fresher scrape on our way out. It was about 100 yards from the primary scrape.
