As white-tailed deer move into the late rut and post rut period they change her feeding habits and behavior. Successful deer hunters should change their tactics as well. This is especially true of treestand placement. The latter part of deer season for bowhunters and the start of firearms seasons is a time to move back into deep cover of woods, swamps, farmland sloughs, river bottoms and thick stands of cattails.
Big bucks will stay there and not go out to feed with does and yearlings. At this time the rigors of the rut and dodging hunters wears them out. They seek isolated locations to rest up. They find the nastiest, thickest cover around and stay there. Hunters have to go in there too if they want a big buck.
During the rut, a stand over a breeding scrape is a good bet. All scrapes are not breeding scrapes. They differ in both size and location.
Breeding scrapes are usually 2 to 4-feet in diameter and normally found in heavy cover with an overhanging bush or tree limb. Deer muddy the scrape with deer urine and leave tracks in it.
Territorial scrapes are smaller and made in more open areas. They usually are located at the corners of wooded areas or along grain or alfalfa field edges.
To hunt a breeding scrape, locate the stand downwind of the scrape about 20-yards and high up a tree. As the buck approaches a scrape he usually does so from downwind. Do not go anywhere near the scrape so as to avoid contaminating it with human scent.
After selecting the area for the stand it is time to pick the exact location. Try to predict what the deer sees and where he will travel as he passes the stand location.
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