Buck Use Of Scrapes - What The Latest Research Reveals

Buck Use of Scrapes—What the Latest Research Reveals

by Karen Alexy

It is always exciting to walk through the woods on a cool fall morning and discover a well–worked scrape. Maybe we envision a mature buck vigorously pawing the ground and raking his antlers through the overhanging branches. Because of this, deer hunters often hunt near these scrapes, hoping to catch a glimpse of the animal that produced it.

Traditionally, it was believed that scrapes were used by mature bucks to locate does. The dominant buck would create a scrape, and then an estrous doe would visit the scrape and leave her scent by urinating in the pawed area. The buck would then revisit his scrape and follow a scent trail to the receptive doe. Given this information, hunting over scrapes during the rut appears to provide a good opportunity to harvest a mature buck. However, two years ago I reported in Quality Whitetails on the results from the first year of a study conducted at The University of Georgia that caused us to reconsider many traditional beliefs about scrapes. Since then, we have completed another year of research, and the results reinforced our findings from the first year.

Previous Scrape Research

Past research indicated that scrapes function as signposts, containing signals that can be detected by other deer through vision or olfaction. Additional studies revealed that scrapes are created and maintained by dominant bucks and likely communicate information to other deer such as dominance status or reproductive condition. These past studies have shown that yearlings and 2.5–year–old bucks rarely mark scrapes and these behaviors are delayed until later in the season. They found that subordinate bucks may mark overhanging branches, but rarely paw the ground or urinate, and that older bucks may actually suppress this behavior in younger, less dominant bucks. Furthermore, it was believed that only one buck would work any particular scrape. While this research provided valuable insight about the function of scrapes, many of these conclusions were based on studies of captive animals. There are unavoidable biases associated with captive studies since the animals are confined and observations are limited to daylight hours. Another method used for monitoring scraping behavior is through motion–activated still cameras. While this technique provides valuable nocturnal data and pictures of deer visiting the scrape, it is nearly impossible to determine behaviors associated with the pictures.

The Georgia Study

In early October 1997, we began a research project focusing on the scraping behaviors of a wild population of white–tailed deer. We employed a technique using motion–activated video cameras that allowed us to observe scraping behaviors 24 hours a day. The set–up consisted of an 8mm video camera, a passive motion–activated trigger, a 75–watt floodlight (powered by a 12–volt battery) covered with a red lens and a waterproof enclosure (5 gallon bucket). When movement occurs in front of the unit, the camera records until the animal leaves the area. The light is programmed to turn on during evening hours, and the red lens is used to minimize deer disturbance.

During this two–year study, we monitored six scrapes per year on a 3,460–acre study site in Madison and Oglethorpe counties in northeast Georgia. These properties have been managed under a Quality Deer Management program for the past 11 years. Therefore, young bucks are protected and doe harvest is liberal, resulting in a population with a nearly balanced adult sex ratio and numerous mature bucks. Deer densities for these counties are about 40 deer/mi2, and most breeding occurs during the first two weeks of November.

In late September 1997, we located six traditional scrape sites that had been used during previous breeding seasons. We placed four units along field edges and two in forests. We recorded behaviors at the scrapes from 7 October 1997 to 21 February 1998. Monitoring for the second year began on 27 August 1998 and ended on 6 February 1999. Antler and body characteristics were used to identify individual bucks and estimate their age.

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