Who peed in my scrape?

I was raised to beleive that scrapes were made by bucks for the sole purpose for doe to use them to urinate in to let tha guys know that she was "in season". After years of experience and thanks to the technology of trail cams, in my opinion that is far from what is actually going on.

First off, I will admit that I have seen a few doe make scrapes and have seen a few urinate in them. However, this was during the pre-rut and it was oboviously they were not in season. More than likely these are just the mature doe in the area just goofing off!

Now, the prime time for scrapes will be in the pre-rut phase. This is the time that the acorns are dropping and the bucks are still running close together. They are worried about eating and checking out their competition for the area. I really beleive that most scrapes are community scrapes and they are mainly used by bucks for bucks only. More than likely if you find fresh urine in a scrape, it will be from a buck. Bucks make scrapes then they urinate in them, drawing their back legs in and letting the urine run down the scent glands on their inner back legs. Most community scrapes will have a "licking branch" about 4 to 5 foot above the scrape. What they are doing is just sizing up the competition of the bucks in the area. I don't feel that there is really any competetion going on at this point.

I placed a trail cam on a hot scrape last year during pre-rut and all the evidence that I collected strongly points to this theory. I put the camera up in the first part of November, here in Louisiana, this would be the opening week of deer season. Here is the results caught on camera from this "hot scrape" action.

*Picture 1: Here we have a spike that was caught in the act of urinating in the scrape. Back legs drawn in and going with the flow!
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y87...s/83903cad.jpg

*Picture 2: The spike steps off and a 4pt. steps in to get a whiff.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y87...s/8c4d10f1.jpg

*Picture 3: The 4pt. then smells and leaves his scent on the licking branch.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y87...s/218e4052.jpg

* Picture 4: Now, we have a 6pt. that moves in to see what he can smell from the other guys.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y87...deercampic.jpg

* Picture 5: Now, we have an 8pt. visiting checking out what has been going on.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y87...s/40a22aff.jpg

* Picture 6: Here is a button buck that is in the area. He don't know what is going on yet.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y87...s/6003f784.jpg

* Picture 7: Here we have a doe moving thru the area. The scrape is located between the food plot and the bedding area.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y87...s/d4fd34a3.jpg

* Picture 8: Here we have another doe, definatly a dominate doe in the area. She is the mother of the doe yearling in the previous picture. I seen them together alot. This doe was nick named "long nose" for obivious reasons.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y87...s/d4fd34a3.jpg

These pictures are probably not in the order that they were taken but, they were all taken within the span of 4 days and 3 nights. It was obivious that they were moving after dark.