The frequency with which a buck revisits a scrape is a complex behavioral pattern dictated by the phase of the breeding season, the scrape’s location, and the buck’s dominance hierarchy. A scrape is a communication post, not visited on a fixed schedule, but rather in response to biological triggers and the need to exchange information with other deer. Understanding this variable frequency helps predict buck movement throughout the year.
The Purpose and Anatomy of a Scrape
A deer scrape is a highly structured communication tool that serves as a scent-based bulletin board for the local deer population. The scrape is composed of two main components: the overhanging branch and the exposed patch of earth beneath it. This signpost allows bucks and does to exchange information about identity, social status, and reproductive readiness.
The overhead branch, often called the licking branch, is marked primarily by the buck’s preorbital and forehead glands. The preorbital gland is rubbed onto the branch, while the forehead gland secretes a fatty oil transferred through contact. Both glands deposit a unique chemical signature that other deer can interpret.
The scraped earth is created when the buck repeatedly paws away the leaf litter and debris to expose the bare soil. This action facilitates the transfer of scent from the buck’s interdigital glands, located between the hooves. Mature bucks often complete this process by rub-urinating onto their tarsal glands. This mixes the urine with the gland’s waxy secretion, allowing the pungent scent to fall into the scraped earth.
Factors Determining Scrape Revisit Frequency
The rate at which a buck revisits a scrape is highly variable, changing dramatically as the breeding season progresses. During the pre-rut phase, which occurs in the weeks leading up to peak breeding, scrape visits are frequent and consistent. Bucks actively establish and maintain these signposts to advertise their presence and status, often visiting primary scrapes daily or every few days.
Once the peak rut begins and does become receptive to breeding, the focus shifts away from community signposting toward active pursuit. During this phase, bucks are preoccupied, and the frequency of scrape visits drops significantly, sometimes causing active scrapes to go cold. The intense focus is now on finding and tending to a specific doe, rather than maintaining a communication hub.
The scrape’s location and designation influence consistency, with “primary scrapes” being revisited far more often than “secondary scrapes.” Primary scrapes are larger, established in high-traffic areas near bedding or feeding zones, and are used by multiple deer. Secondary scrapes, created randomly along travel routes, may be visited only once and then abandoned. Older, more dominant bucks create significantly more scrapes and maintain their use more consistently than younger bucks, often depositing pheromones that signal their status to the herd.
The Timing of Scrape Visits
The frequency of a buck’s return to a scrape is closely linked to the time of day, a pattern influenced by deer security and hunting pressure. For much of the season, the majority of scrape activity, sometimes nearly 85 percent, occurs under the cover of darkness. Mature bucks are prone to visiting scrapes at night to minimize risk, making most visits nocturnal outside of legal hunting hours.
The most significant shift in timing occurs during the rut’s seeking phase, the period just before peak breeding. As testosterone levels rise and bucks intensify their search for receptive does, they become willing to move aggressively during daylight hours. During this roughly seven- to ten-day window, visits to fresh scrapes near heavy cover are more likely to occur during the day, occasionally even during mid-morning or early afternoon.
Trail cameras confirm that even during this peak activity period, nocturnal scrape use remains high. However, the shift to daytime visibility, even if brief, indicates that the seeking phase is underway and bucks are moving more freely. As the rut concludes, bucks focus on recovery, and remaining scrape visits become sporadic, returning primarily to the nocturnal pattern.