Pinetag's Plot - 43 acres in Virginia
- Thread starter pinetag
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pinetag
Well-Known Member
I'm also giving a go at my first attempt of making a mock scrape. I took an oak branch I cut a couple weeks ago when clearing shooting lanes and tied it up right in front of the "pasture" stand, where I had good buck activity last season. It is about 20 yards out in a new shooting lane I cut, which you can kind of see in the dead center of the second pic.
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farmhunter
Well-Known Member
in my opinion - a mock scrape can work anywhere - especially on a field edge where bucks are in bachelor groups late summer - they turn on and off though. - BUT I think the best scrapes for trail cams are established ones in staging areas that you can doctor/open up early on. They stay viable all year long.
pinetag
Well-Known Member
Thanks farmhunter. I figured this would be a good first test spot as it's on an old ATV path with few low hanging branches and the bucks seemed to cruise through this area a lot searching for does last fall. I hope it gets a lot of action! At least during the season anyway.
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dogghr
Well-Known Member
You didn't say Pinetag but I hoped you pissed into the scrape. They will love you and the scrape within a day. Great way to get pics as they are busy working scrape and licking branch. I do have better luck with licking branch from a fragrant tree especially dogwood in my area. A plus is getting trail cam pics of you pissing in said scrape. Friends really like those. BTW your place looking ready to hunt. Good luck.
pinetag
Well-Known Member
Thanks dogghr! I did not pee in the scrape but I figured something should take an interest to it anyway. I'll be sure to check that card this weekend as it's only 50 yards off the corner of the yard, so it's quick, easy access. Maybe I'll pee in it then if it hasn't received much activity. After that I'm going to try to ease back on the camera checking by about mid Sept, and stay out of the woods until my first hunt in late Oct. I'm still pretty new at monitoring with game cameras so I get excited and don't wait as long as I should between card pulls. During the season though I can show restraint since I don't want to leave that extra scent lingering around.
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pinetag
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I did a little spray and throw on my two food plots today. I put down a mix of oats, ladino clover, white dutch clover, and some store bought beans and I will be adding some WR in a couple more weeks. The creek plot is seeing some decent usage even though it contains a lot of weeds, which actually gives me hope for my "natural browse" plot I'm planning for next year on the lower 20. Mostly does and fawns but there seems to be a bachelor group of young bucks cruising through from time to time.
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pinetag
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I checked the camera and so far only a slight interest by a couple does in the mock scrape, but no bucks on it yet. I did go ahead and pee in it this time.
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pinetag
Well-Known Member
Perfect timing! The food plots I broadcasted on Saturday are getting some good rain. About 1/20" yesterday and a little over 1" today.
On a non-habitat note, I got some other good news today! I was offered a new position at my company with a hefty salary bump and a bonus. The only downside is I potentially could have fewer days to hunt this season, but we'll see.
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On a non-habitat note, I got some other good news today! I was offered a new position at my company with a hefty salary bump and a bonus. The only downside is I potentially could have fewer days to hunt this season, but we'll see.
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farmhunter
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Congratulations Pinetag. The days you get to hunt will be that much more sweet!
pinetag
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Thanks farmhunter! You are correct! I am thankful for any amount of time I get to be in the woods.
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pinetag
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Well, my Egyptian Wheat is pretty lame along the old road bed so I went out and did some hinge cutting to provide better screening. I also did some hinge cuts to screen my pull off as well. I hope this helps hide my access for getting down to the river this season.
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pinetag
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I also noticed that my giant swamp chestnut oak has some serious leaf issues. It does not appear to be oak wilt as the leaves are almost completely see through. It almost looks like inesct damage but I can't imagine they have done this to practically every leaf. Any thoughts?
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pinetag
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The food plots are browning down from my spraying last weekend and most of the seeds are already germinating with all the rain we've had over the last 7 days. I didn't get any pictures but I can literally see the beans sitting on top of the ground with the root popping into the dirt. I'll be seeding rye in another week or two so with some luck both plots turn out decent for the fall.
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weekender21
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I also noticed that my giant swamp chestnut oak has some serious leaf issues. It does not appear to be oak wilt as the leaves are almost completely see through. It almost looks like inesct damage but I can't imagine they have done this to practically every leaf. Any thoughts?
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Grant Woods mentioned an insect oak issue on his YouTube channel (Growing Deer). I can't remember which episode but it was this summer. Apparently is can affect the crop but won't generally kill the tree.
pinetag
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the heads up weekender. I'll have to look into that.
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