Ticking Off the Monarch;

an In-depth look into Mock Scrapes with Tony Korfhage of Awesomeantlers.com

By Rod Luke

As the buck chewed on the overhanging limb above his scrape, my arrow blazed thru his chest and buried deep in the soil beyond the beast. A quick thirty yard dash ended when the bucks head hit the dirt and his massive body rolled end over antlers also ending my two year quest for this buck. If you have ever spent any quality time hunting over scrapes, you know by now that not all scrapes are created equal. In fact, many are not worthy of your precious “stand” time. Scrapes are one of the most misunderstood signs bucks leave us each fall. I can tell you I’ve spent countless hours of my life hunting over the “wrong” scrape, but in the last decade I felt I had a pretty good understand of how, when and why bucks use scrapes. But my good friend Tony Korfhage of Awesomeantlers.com has a far superior understanding of how to exploit scrapes to put a mature buck in the back of his truck. Tony’s interactive strategy proves beyond a doubt the beliefs that experts like Greg Miller and Lenard Lee Rue have theorized for years. Their theory is that bucks scrape not to attract a girl-friend, but instead are used as a means of communication, predominately between bucks.

Tony has turned the use of mock-scrapes into his leading tactic for killing mature white-tail bucks. Keeping with tradition, Tony and his dad killed two more Pope and Young class bucks this year while bow hunting over mock-scrapes. In fact, between Tony and his dad, they have killed 15 bucks that gross score over the P&Y minimum and a number of other bucks just under that mark, most of which were taken over mock-scrapes. Tony learned years ago that mature bucks don’t tolerate intruder bucks using their scrapes. So Tony set off to find a way to make the mature bucks in his area visit their scrapes more often and eventually take over Tony’s mock-scrapes as their own. To do this, Tony chose to make the buck think an intruder buck was trespassing and didn’t attempt to use doe scents to trick the buck into thinking a hot doe left him a message. This is the reason Tony has had such success with this tactic. Tony isn’t mimicking a doe visiting the scrape; instead he mimics an intruder buck which totally ticks-off the dominate buck that uses the area for his scrapes. Tony has graciously agreed to share his routine for mock-scrape building in precise detail for this article. Here is the technique Tony uses to fire-up his bucks.

“When I first started paying attention to scrapes, I had found an area that had a number of huge rubs and a few scrapes. I decided to try and make my own scrapes in his area and see if I could coax him closer to my stand by making a mock scrape-line from his staging area to below my tree stand. I added a dozen scrapes between his scrape zone and my tree stand. In my shooting lane, I made three scrapes with the center scrape being the biggest and deepest. I tore up the dirt about four inches deep, really trying to get the fresh earth smell in the air. The licking branch swept down from high on the tree and was about three inches in diameter at the base of the tree. Two days later I went in to freshen up the mock-scrape line to find FIVE new scrapes. Most of my scrapes had been hit, but my big scrape in the center had been hit really hard and a section of my licking branch was broken off and laying in the scrape! Two days later I got my chance to hunt the mock-scrapes and was in my stand by 6:30 a.m. At 7:30 a.m. a small buck came in and stood in my main scrape. I thought to myself, NO WAY! This little buck could not have done all that damage. Suddenly the little buck snapped to attention looking straight in front of him. I turned to see a great buck heading into my scrapes. He was licking his lips and nose feverishly, ears pinned back, and a stiff legged strut with the hair on his back standing at attention. I stood to ready for the shot as the small buck tucked tail and left in a hurry. Once the larger buck was in the scrape, he mouthed the licking branch as I anchored my sight-pin on his chest. As he lowered his head to smell the scrape, I released the arrow. That buck scored 168 2/8 gross B&C points”.

“While hunting scrapes I have seen both does and bucks interact with scrapes. Does typically pay more attention to the scrape, whereas bucks will focus more on the licking branch. Does also shy away from mock-scrapes with scent in them too early in the year. Bucks on the other hand, will generally investigate mock-scrapes, but seem to become interactive with them after the second week of October or shortly there after. So I begin making my scrapes after the second week of October and keep them active until the last week of November. I will start them again the second week of December and continue them until January 1st. The first thing I do is locate ideal stand placements based on food source, cover, and staging areas. Once these locations are set up, I begin looking for potential licking branches within my shooting range. It’s important to note that I wear rubber gloves and boots thru the entire process. Clothing should be sprayed with a scent-eliminator and hip-waders would be a plus. I look for licking branches that are about the size of a fat magic-marker. I snap the branch in several places where the branch tapers to about the size of a pencil; just enough to break the limb but still firmly attached to the main branch. This is so that the branch actually dangles as it would had a buck actually made the scrape. Next I use my scrape tool to tear up the soil beneath the limb.

It doesn’t need to be fancy, just get the smell of fresh earth in the air. I then dig a small hole in the center of the scrape, then add some James Valley gel, about the size of a marble, into the hole and cover it. I use James Valley “Wall-Hanger” or “Scrape-Gel”. Once the gel is covered, I add “Jackies” scrape powder to the top of the scrape. Now I move onto the licking branch and add “Jackies” licking branch gel to the back of the limb far enough away from the end so that the buck can smell it but does not taste it. I always try to set up and freshen my scrapes between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. and always after a rain”.

“If the area is heavy with sign, I will make several scrapes leading from the closest bedding area right up to my stand. My main “hub” scrape will be ten to fifteen yards from my tree stand. By far the most important part of the scrape is the licking branch. It is the first thing a buck will check as he approaches the scrape. Once he smells the branch he will deposit scent to the branch from his forehead and pre-orbital glands near his eyes. Then he will mouth the limb, leaving additional scent on the licking branch. Once this routine is complete, he’ll scratch the scrape with his hooves and urinate down his tarsal glands while he rubs his hind legs together, depositing his musky scent into or next to the scrape. Once the buck takes over my scrapes, I know he’s convinced there is a buck that needs to learn the pecking order, so he visits my scrapes often in an effort to catch the intruder buck. As with all stand locations, it is always important not to hunt the stand until wind conditions are right for that stand. Never hunt these locations if the wind is blowing into the bedding area or feeding areas. Wait for a cross-wind before attempting to use your stand”.

“A few years ago I had a buck come in checking out does that were feeding in an oak flat. I had my three scrapes lined up in front of me and watched him work two of them before he walked off. As he walked away I thought to myself, “what have I done letting that buck walk”? Moments later the same buck came back and hit the third scrape. This time, he didn’t get a free pass. Mock-scrapes worked well again in 2007 for both my dad and I. I had built a mock-scrape on the edge of a bean field that was tucked back into a deep pocket that was very secluded. The scrape quickly became a communal scrape, as my cameras were capturing pictures of a number of different bucks hitting the scrape over a two week period. Once I saw a buck I had nick-named “Clyde” show up on my camera, I set up on him. The day I hunted the stand I had a huge bodied 130 class buck with a broken G-2 hit the scrape. As he worked the scrape I heard a twig snap behind me and turned to see “Clyde” working a scrape I didn’t know was there. “Clyde” finished working the scrape and jumped the fence into the field, then headed toward my scrape. The larger bodied buck let out a bone-chilling “WHEEEEZ”, and ole “Clyde” tucked tail and took a detour out of range. Two days later, I put my dad in that stand and he put an arrow thru “Clyde” as he worked my mock-scrape. After dad killed “Clyde” I gained permission on a new property that was only about 50 acres, but I knew there were some good bucks that used the small tract. I ran a line of mock-scrapes off a logging road down into a thicket and cleared some shooting lanes. I put a mock scrape on either side of my stand and set up my cameras. In just two days, I had 4 different bucks hitting my scrapes on camera. One of the bucks was one of the coolest looking bucks I had ever seen and decided he was the buck I wanted. On Thanksgiving Day, that buck showed up and started working one of my scrapes when I let the arrow loose from the bow. He went thirty yards and crashed to the earth in a heap. It was truly a Happy Thanksgiving”!

“Recently I have been experimenting with scentless scrapes. So far it appears the visual stimulation has been enough to cause mature bucks to take these scrapes over as their own. I build these scrapes just like the others except I don’t add any scent. The smell of freshly scraped ground emitted from the tilled scrape combined with the visual stimulation seems to be a real key to scrape behavior. It’s too early to say they work as well as scent enhanced scrapes, but I plan to continue my work with scentless scrapes and compare the data to determine just how important scent is to mock-scrape building. I hope to have enough data for a comparison by January of 2009”.

Tony has to be the most successful mock-scrape hunter I know. I should also add that Tony spends countless hours each season running trail-cams and freshening scrapes. This tactic isn’t an effortless tactic by any means. It requires dedication and determination to make it work. If you are looking for a quick-fix tactic, then mock-scraping isn’t for you. But if you are looking for an interactive tactic that can really pay off well and add a new dimension to your hunting strategies, give Tony’s proven techniques a try. It may just afford you a shot at that monster buck you’ve been hunting for.

To view more of Tonys photos and video clips of scraping whitetail bucks, view Tonys gallery at Awesomeantlers.com or click this link to Tonys gallery. http://www.awesomeantlers.com/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=2

As always, if you have any comments or just wish to talk to Rod about hunting, feel free to email him at