Do mock scrapes still work after the rut?

[timmy2bears]

Do mock scrapes still work after the rut?

[Hick-From-Hell]

They may but not as well as pre-rut, after the rut the bucks are concrentrating on food sources.

[Smitty77]

As long as a buck is in hard antler he is interested in breeding so yes, mock scrapes will work. Not as good as the peak scraping phase of the rut though. Some doe fawns may come into their first estrus at this time.

[texasfirst]

All I've ever seen is scrapes going completely cold after the rut.

[peter]

they will work but not as good as during the rut

[whitetail1]

peter is right. they do work because if a doe hasn't been serviced she will come back in around 30 days later,then a third time if needed.

[Del in KS]

I agree with all the above. Here in KS after the main rut we hunt food sources especially winter wheat. It's the only green food that late in the season and a real deer magnet. Bucks will bed in any cedar thicket that is within walking distance too. Find a remote wheat field with good cover nearby and you will find deer everytime.

[kjflorian]

I believe you can still hunt them. Plus I just read an article this year that said once you get one established deer tend to visit it year round.

[2Poppa]

I placed a dripper over a mock scrape and had deer coming to it all the time,even after deer season ended!
I visited the same mock scrape this year, and activated the dripper ... same results.

[Big C]

I think mock scrapes can work well after the rut. Deer are always interested in comminucating with other deer and scrapes are just one way of doing that.

[rudyglove27]

I had a lot of success in creating mock scrapes and by that i mean deer use them when i make them. I have not shot a deer over a mock scrape per say but i do feel they can be used to persaude travel routes and when making a scrape i begin by using a stick ( rubber gloves and rubber boots) too clear a patch of earth and beat up a lickin branch. Sometimes I substitute a lickin branch from another property and then i pee in it ( yea i know cardinal sin but it works) add a little bit of "realdeer" a sometimes one drop of dose. 7 out of ten get re-worked by deer at least once. I also pee in every real scrape i find and put a drop or two of real deer on the lickin branch and by my experience it seems to work.

[PSEbowhunter]

yes they do we had a trail camera over one and deer were proceeding to use the scrape regularly

[James Stugart]

yes they visit scrapes after the rut

[cas0905]

they will but not a honey hole

[libertyfirst]

I have seen deer work a scape long after rut is over but I don't know if they simply wandered to it in the first place. I don't believe that they are still an attractant after the rut.