Mock Whitetail Scrapes: Whitetail Strategies

Hey everybody, this is Tyson Harris, with Harris Outfitters. It is early September and we're out trying to get inventory on some of our bucks by using mock whitetail scrapes.

We're hunting in a travel corridor here. We have a cornfield and a bean field, which means deer are always passing through here. We want to find a way to make them stop in front of the camera, so we can get some pictures and see what's out there. And one of the ways we like to do that is by making mock whitetail scrapes.

Out here in early September, they are starting to do a little bit of it on their own. But we come in here, make a scrape and it makes every buck that comes through here will stop at the scrape. That lets us get a picture of them on camera and be able to identify which ones are which, which ones we're going to have on the hit list for the year, and so on and so forth.

Scent

Now we've got our mock scrape started here and we got a licking branch up above. We're using this Tink's Power Scrape, but you can use anything. This just happened to be all we could find at the store, but we use a lot of either doe urine or buck urine. We put anything in there that's going to get them to stop. They're going to see that, smell that, come over here and stop.

That's going to drip out slowly over the next few days, so one other thing we do when we first get these mock whitetail scrapes started is pour a little extra scent. So we always keep a little bit of extra so that we can pour it on the ground - just to get it going.

Now that we got that done, we got a tree picked out already, we're going to put up a camera and we should start getting pictures of deer.

Setting Up The Camera

We got our scrape made and we're getting ready to put up our camera. We're using cameras from Sky Point. We have it paired with a cell link that allows me to send pictures directly to my phone. That way, we don't have to be in here messing with anything. We don't have to worry about coming in here, leaving more scent than we need to. Any bucks to come through here and the other deer can find it completely undisturbed.

Direction

Another thing to consider when you are choosing where to put these mock whitetail scrapes is being able to place your cameras in a good direction. Where we’re sitting, North and South is the way this camera is going to face. That way we don't have to worry about the sun coming up in the morning shining or setting in the evening and shining in the lens. This will help make sure you're always going to have clear pictures and you don't have to worry about that shine off the sun.

Clear Branches and Brush

So we're getting our camera on the tree here, but we've got a few things to fix. Once we get it on the tree, we got to clear out some of this trash in front here. But we want to get the camera on the tree and position it how we want to first. Now that we've got everything clear here we want, we're going to clear some of this grass and brush out from underneath right in front of the camera. So then it's not blowing around.

Alright, we'll get this baby hooked up and turned on, make sure everything's working, get out of here and hopefully start getting some pictures.

Summary

Just a recap of what's going on, we got our mock whitetail scrape made. We have our camera up and we make these scrapes early season to get an inventory on all the bucks that we have on different farms. By doing this, we get a good-quality picture of the bucks right. They got to stop at the scrape and they’re right directly in front of the camera. I've been doing this for a long time and this has been one of the better ways we have to get an inventory of the bucks and to see what's on camera.

It also helps to age them, seeing what bucks are going to be on the Hit List, and what bucks aren't. If you're looking for a good way to get a bunch of pictures, and even videos, this is one of the best ways to do it.

When you are ready to head out opening morning, make sure that you have the right gear to keep you comfortable and set you up for success.

Make sure to check out SKRE's Early Season Whitetail Bundle before opening morning. Good luck hunting this fall and will see you in the woods.