Something interesting happened today that a couple friends said I needed to share. We haven't had any rain here for almost a month. Our buck scrapes are all dried up and some are as hard as concrete. I commented to Mark Mitten that the next rain we had is going to cause an explosion in scrape activity. We talked about it. With no rain in the immediate forecast, I took a couple empty gallon milk jugs, filled them with water and doctored a couple scrapes that were as hard as cement. I poured half a jug into the scrape, let it soak in, then worked up the fresh mud/dirt with a 6" rake. Then I added the second half gallon. That's it. I already had rope wicks and trail cameras in place. This morning within 12 hours after I soaked the scrapes, I happened to drive past one while going in to hang a new stand. It had been torn up during the night! My camera showed that three different bucks had worked it over during the night. One was a decent nontypical I had never seen before. I suspect the water rehydrates dried up urine in the scrape dirt from who knows how many previous bucks. They can probably smell the wet dirt and urine from quite a ways off and come to investigate. If I knew how to post photos, I would be glad to share. I ought to write a book, huh?! Or at least sell gallons of special scrape water. Ha!
I had never thought of that, but it is a great idea!
Esp the selling of the Special Scrape Water!!!
Bisch
Your my hero uncle gene!!!thxs for sharing that!
(http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/jrod4220/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-10/002.jpg) (http://s300.photobucket.com/user/jrod4220/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-10/002.jpg.html) (http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/jrod4220/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-10/003.jpg) (http://s300.photobucket.com/user/jrod4220/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-10/003.jpg.html) (http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/jrod4220/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-10/004.jpg) (http://s300.photobucket.com/user/jrod4220/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-10/004.jpg.html)
Here you go uncle gene even shows that as long as you been at this you can still learn new tricks!!...WELL DONE!
That's pretty interesting right there. Who'd a thought? Cool buck too.
Awesome! Always the "thinker" and willing to share....good luck buddy!!
Just get a good looking girl to hold the jug, and have a snazzy name like The Ultimate Scrape Rehydrator and you'll be rich.
Great info! Might have to try that trick in the future, thanks!
Perrier or Ice Mountain? ;)
I'll have to check that out. Thanks bud!
Great tip Gene!
great tip Gene, thanks for sharing.
ChuckC
Great idea. Thank you for sharing.
We had very little rain here in SE Va until the Hurrricane blew through 2 weeks. I went from seeing about 5 scrapes to over 35 in a weeks time. Now it's going to get cooler and with this moisture, I look for the activity to hit the roof!
As Arte Johnson said, "Hmmm, verrry interesting". I have a couple of dried up scrapes that may need watering. Thanks for the tip.
I like it!
although here in SC we have had the opposite in terms of rain unfortunately...
Our scrapes look more like elk wallows at this point!
Thanks Gene. Your rope wick on this scrape looks different. Is that a branch hanging behind the rope? Are you doing that now or did the deer break it?
Kyle
Great info! Thanks
Great idea!
I deposit my own special "scrape water" in them, but at our age we'd probably get tired and have to take a nap before we deposited enough to get their interest, lol!
Thanks for sharing.
Kyle, yes, that is a green sapling I add to stiffen up the rope. The bucks seem to prefer rigidity. Viagra doesn't work on rope :>)
Gene...you ever pee in the scrapes?
The blacktails I hunt don't make many scrapes, but I plant treated posts out in the mountains and pee on the posts and surrounding ground. The bucks rub their glands and antlers on the posts, and quite often they pee on their tarsals before they leave the area. Here's one of my trailcam videos...
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/treekiller/Blacktail%20videos/th_PRMS0004_zps1c0942c0.mp4) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/treekiller/Blacktail%20videos/PRMS0004_zps1c0942c0.mp4)
Good info Gene. Yeah, I'l take a couple gallons of that scrape water.
Sweet! Thanks for sharing. Makes sense!
Great Idea Gene. Thank you for sharing.
Gene: (or anyone) do you have a real dripper above and into that rope? Or do you simply add scent to the rope at the top? I just read about similar setup in Bowhunter mag, and he mentioned Gene's rope as well.
Charlie the Lamb: Perrier or Ice Mountain? I wonder if you'd get in trouble for using salt water? BW
Depends on whether the salt is Kosher or Sea Salt.
:campfire:
Great info shared.. thankyou. When could I order a few gallons of Wensel Special Scrape Water...? Link on the website? LOL
I had never thought of this before, but it makes total sense. What if you just pee in the scrape?
Quote from: Sam McMichael on September 26, 2018, 09:32:18 PM
I had never thought of this before, but it makes total sense. What if you just pee in the scrape?
Been freshening scrapes with my "home brew" for years.
Last year I had a cam set over a scrape under a dogwood branch. I would freshen the scrape when I checked the cam. Nine different bucks ranging from a spike to a 145" ten point used the same scrape.
You and Barry are geniuses. Eventhough everything you come up with I think "Doah!!! why did I not think of that". Early Happy birthday and hope all is well with Donna. Cheers
Excellent finding...thank you for sharing
Gene,
Good info. I have had success with just tearing up ground with a rake after they had dried. I agree, they seem to smell the fresh earth. That smell is caused by mold etc in the soil but also microscopic organisms called actinomycetes, I am not sure if I spelled correctly, but I think they smell it and check it out for curiosity sake.
Due to his knowledge with whitetails is why I like to call him Geneeus.
Can someone tell me how the rope wick trick works?
Thank you
Tim B
Wow thanks for sharing that very cool
If you open brothersofthebow.com website and go to the free reading section there should be a complete article addressing the technique. BW
I usually just pea in them.