FirstFreedom
Moderator
OK, planning ahead, there are three Saturdays to choose from prior to deer archery season, on which I can do my last scouting run, for rubs/scrapes, and still give the area time to "settle" down with no activity. They are:
Sept. 9th
Sept. 16th
Sept. 23rd
Now, I will doubtless do scouting *while* I am hunting, and at other times later, but I must pick just *one* of these 3 weekends to scout for rubs & scrapes, because I'm going to be busy doing other stuff the other weekends not set aside for the scouting trip.
In choosing between them, I want to choose the *earliest* among them, but yet that will actually be late enough to where the deer have begun to make scrapes, so that I can find them. So I want to choose Sept 9th if possible, to give the area maximum time to settle before going back on Oct 1 for archery. BUT, maybe there will be no scrapes yet that early on in the south?? (rubs but no scrapes yet?). Can anyone say for sure that there will or will not definitely be scrape activity by Sep 9, or Sep 16, or Sep 23, based on the natural pre-rut cycle of things? Which is the earliest I can go and still have luck finding good sign? Or is it even fruitless to search for scrapes until October, given that peak rut is not until early to mid-November, in which case none of these dates will work? Thanks.
Sept. 9th
Sept. 16th
Sept. 23rd
Now, I will doubtless do scouting *while* I am hunting, and at other times later, but I must pick just *one* of these 3 weekends to scout for rubs & scrapes, because I'm going to be busy doing other stuff the other weekends not set aside for the scouting trip.
In choosing between them, I want to choose the *earliest* among them, but yet that will actually be late enough to where the deer have begun to make scrapes, so that I can find them. So I want to choose Sept 9th if possible, to give the area maximum time to settle before going back on Oct 1 for archery. BUT, maybe there will be no scrapes yet that early on in the south?? (rubs but no scrapes yet?). Can anyone say for sure that there will or will not definitely be scrape activity by Sep 9, or Sep 16, or Sep 23, based on the natural pre-rut cycle of things? Which is the earliest I can go and still have luck finding good sign? Or is it even fruitless to search for scrapes until October, given that peak rut is not until early to mid-November, in which case none of these dates will work? Thanks.