I'm seeing scrape lines and tons of new rubs,found a bunch of new scrape lines that weren't there yesterday.
Lots of new rubs near my fake scrape lines too-the technique works-it's not too late to make one.
All you have to do is take a small rake,or one of the rakes that are used in gardens-they're about 12" long and have 3 or 4 tines. I carry one in my hunting pack,just in case I see another place to make a few new scrapes.
Clear an area about 18"-2' x3-4' make it sort of an oval shape-the important things are to clear away all debris so you have bare ground,and be sure there's a branch at about deer height directly over your fake scrape,bucks will reach up and lick the branch,plus rub their foreheads on it-the overhanging branch has to be there-if it's not,find a new place for your fake scrape. If you are making a scrape line,having one or two in the line w/o the branch won't hurt-I've seen scrape lines made by deer that have one here and there with no licking branch.
Once your scrapes are made,either use some active scrape scent,dominant buck scent-or just piss in the scrapes yourself-piss is piss-it's from a "buck" and has testosterone in it .
Now's the time to rattle and use a grunt tube. Use estrous doe bleats once in a while,it's just about the time around here for the first does to come into estrous-it's close-a week or so will be the peak rut week around here.
Starting next week,on Mon.,use grunt tubes and doe bleats more than rattling. Don't stop rattling-bucks still fight during the rut-but all the local bucks have the fighting done,and the dominant buck decided by now-but since some bucks travel out of their home range during the rut-it's still worth rattling,and rattling hard,not the sounds of sparring-the sound of full out combat,crashing antlers and loud rattling.
Use the doe bleat often next week,and the grunt tube.
I'll start with at least a full minute of loud antler crashing rattling,wait 15 minutes,hit the grunt tube a few times,wait another 15 minutes,then hit the bleat can a half-dozen times.
Be careful about moving,sit as still as you can-you have to move to rattle, and use the bleat can and grunt tube-just try to keep your movements hidden as much as possible.
I hunt from a ground blind-nothing fancy-just some camo burlap with a 12"x12" window cut in it to shoot through.
That hides my movements when rattling and using the bleat can and grunt tube.
Pay attention to the woods-sometimes a buck will hear the rattling and come to check it out,but he will hang back,and approach real slow and quiet-watch for movement-if you spot a buck moving towards you,hit the doe bleat and see what his reaction is-it it gets his attention,wait a couple minutes,then hit the grunt tube-a lot of times,that will bring him in fast,because he thinks there's a hot doe,and another buck trying to breed her.
The 2 best weeks for fall deer hunting are next week,and the week after.
Don't forget-28 days after you see the peak of the rut in your area-there's a second rut-then 28 days later-there's a third.
Hit the woods as much as you can the next two weeks-it's your best chance at a big buck.
