Back when I was younger, like 28 I believe, I found a GIANT community scrape the size of a car..not a car hood..a freaking car! Dead in the center of a cedar thicket along a swamp. Around 20 to 30 trees all rubbed up all around them. I knew it was a hot spot as it was a huge bedding area.

I had been archery hunting the area and knew 2 of the biggest bucks in the area, and had missed one and knew they both used those cedars, or the swamp.

Opening morning of gun I went in over an hour before first light with a sleeping bag, binos, grunt call and my shotgun and crawled under the cedars to where I was around 70 yards from it. You had to lie down and look UNDER the tree branches because If you stood up it was too thick to see far.

I rolled out the sleeping bag as and laid on it and as it broke first light there was a hot doe in it..stomping her front leg.

Within minutes a young buck came in but too small to shoot. Within 45 minutes I had seen 8 bucks checking out that scrape and smelling where that doe had been.. The last one to come in was one of the big 8 pointers. Surprisingly he came out of the swamp and up the hill on one of the smallest trails, headed to the scrape. He stopped to eat a mushroom at 35 yards and I blasted him in the shoulder with a pumpkin ball slug.

I shot a big 130 inch nine pointer like 5 years ago at 11:15 Xmas am checking a scrape just out of the thicket on a cleared shooting lane, atv trail in Walker county. I posted the story and photos here.

The next year I shot that big 10 pt on a big scrape in one of my roads with thicket on both side. he came right to my drag rag that I hung over the scrape. I also posted that story and the photos of him on here. He was a stud! 140 inch buck.

I shot a big 14 pointer in Walker cty after passing him on video 6 days earlier where he made a few scrapes when I was doing TV. Mistakingly thinking he was too small as he wasnt that wide of a buck. When we reviewed the video we realized it was that big 14 pt I had gotten trail cam pics of! I had screwed up!

I went in 6 days later..my first try at him again, after a big storm as I knew hed come check those scrapes. I shot him an hour and a half later at like 330 or 4 pm coming out of the thicket headed to those scrapes. Ive posted that video on here as well. A 151 inch buck!

At the right time, and the right place scrape hunting is excellent. I hunt scrapes every year. I just only hunt ones in thick bedding cover, and I like to get as far as I can from them though as the bucks always come in front the downwind side, smelling them from a distance Ive found.

My big 170 inch 14 point buck I also shot in thicket where Id found over 30 of his scrapes surrounding it. He was chasing a hot doe with a 150 inch buck and they were getting ready to fight. I posted that story and his pics here too. Another Walker County stud. Again I shot him on a cleared trail/shooting lane going through the thicket. He had just got his head and neck into the other side and I almost didnt get him.

That was the SAME year I shot that 130 inch 9 pointer, so 5 years ago or so.

Hunting scrapes in thickets is WHAT I DO. I learned from that big community scrape in those cedars 30 years ago when I was a youngster and that big 8 pointer!

You can bet this year Ill be setting in a ladder stand 100 plus yards off some scrapes in my thickets more then a few times .