I smiled to myself as the mid-day buck first made his appearance in the thicket I call the Orchard Spot. The low 150 class 10 point had been leaving a lot of sign in here of late, and I’d finally caught up with him.
Each fall around late October, I get excited for something as predictable as the sun rising…scrape hunting! As the whitetail rut approaches, bucks will lay down scrapes in an effort to find receptive females. Does will visit these scrapes to determine which bucks they’ll choose to breed with, when ready. This leads to increased activity from bucks as they re-visit these communication hubs. They’re seeking to learn the breeding status of these does. They’re also checking what other bucks might be honing in on these same does.
However, not all scrapes are created equal. Some are territorial, or boundary based. Some are more or less random as bucks let frustrations out. But, some scrapes become extremely popular for communication, and they get revisited often. As hunters, we are interested in those that get the most daylight activity. We tend to call these scrapes, primary scrapes.
Generally, primary scrapes will be found in thicker cover, somewhat close to bedding areas. Field edge scrapes might show nocturnal activity only, but a good primary scrape in thick cover can light up with daylight movement from mature bucks. Shhh…let’s keep this our little secret!
The Orchard Spot revealed everything I was scouting for in a late October stand location for a big buck. There was a giant, primary scrape with a super thick licking branch that was getting worked over by every buck in the area. There were old apple trees actively dropping food. Cover was super thick, and bucks were bedding nearby. If I played my cards right, I was confident I’d get my chance.
My first card played was an evening sit. Due to northwest winds, I hung my Lone Wolf Custom Gear 0.5 stand about 40 yards to the south of the scrape. It was so thick I couldn’t even see the scrape, but I had good coverage of the two main trails deer were using to get to it. I saw several deer that evening, including 3 young bucks, but nothing worth dropping a string on.
The following morning, I’d planned to hunt there again, but southwest winds forced a change of plans. Because the scrape was in such thick cover and winds would be calm at first light, I chose to avoid it entirely and went to a different area of the farm. I watched a 3 year old 8 point breed a doe during that morning vigil. When action slowed and winds picked up around 9:30, it was time to get down and make another play on the Orchard Spot.
I hung my stand about 10 feet off the ground and 30 yards to the NNE of the primary scrape. The mid-morning breeze hid any noise I was making well, so after some much needed trimming to get a couple shooting lanes cleared, I slipped out and headed back to base camp. I had a couple business things to tend to at the computer, and I wanted to practice my rifle a bit for an upcoming western hunt.
I was back on stand at 1pm. Forty-five minutes later was when I was smiling as his backlit rack and body made its appearance.
The impenetrable cover prevented a shot despite him being just 20 yards. The buck was just feeding casually on recently fallen apples.
I was laser-focused on getting my first good shot, conscious that any of his next steps might take him back into his bedding area and out of sight. For minutes, I strained to find an opening to shoot through. I came to full draw twice and twice had to let down.
On my third draw, the buck had worked broadside but remained covered by branches. Finally, he turned back around and stepped into an opening I believed I could shoot through. String drop.
The arrow struck very close to my point of aim, but maybe a touch further back. The buck loped away, tail-tucked, not full speed like most chest-shot deer. I also noticed most of the arrow dangling out the back side. The “almost-pass-through” gave me an uneasy feeling. Normally, with my setup, a broadside shot under 20 yards is an easy pass through. Something strange had happened. My arrow must’ve lost energy somehow, possibly from a small deflection.
I waited an hour and a half and took up the trail. My plan was to follow it a short ways and decide whether to continue or back out.
There was blood right away, slow but steady. I noticed some bubbles but mostly just brighter red blood. I found my arrow 30 yards into the trail. There was no sign of guts and the arrow was completely bright red, so I continued. Then there was a pretty large, frothy pile of blood. My spike in confidence was short-lived, however, as the trail dried up almost immediately after I found that pile. I scrutinized the ground for more blood, following very slowly and quietly, being careful to notice if any deer got up. Nothing did. I decided to back out until morning.
The next day was very frustrating. Rising temps, bright sun, open alfalfa fields, and little to no blood made for a frustrating day. We couldn’t find the deer. My attempts to call in a tracking dog were also met with frustration as the only couple in my area were too busy and wouldn’t be able to make it until the next day at the earliest. With temps rising to the low 80’s, the buck would surely be spoiled by then.
I was confident the hit was fatal, but when the window to finding it with salvageable meat closed, I was forced to wait and try to find my buck later in the season. There is also the issue of respecting the neighbors and not grid-searching their land during season, which can lower their chance of success too.
Three weeks later, I got word from a neighbor that they’d found my buck while gun hunting. It had traveled about 500 yards from where I had shot it. Although this wasn’t the ideal ending to a hunt, closure was found. He was a beautiful, clean, low 150-class 10 point, like I’d figured. The european mount is a proud addition to my wall. My strategy had worked. It’s also a good reminder of the hard lessons we must sometimes face as bowhunters.
About the Author
The author owns Erdody Studios, a custom website business. Besides running NextBuk, he also films for Whitetail Addictions. You can watch the video version of this story on Lone Wolf Custom Gear’s YouTube channel.