John M. from Mississippi writes to ask about the overhanging limb at scrapes. “I’ve been following the advice of Gene Wensel from Iowa by placing pre-orbital gland scent on the limb that hangs over scrapes. I’ve been starting this in October and have had some good success in getting bucks to come to those scrapes, but if I started earlier, would more bucks use those scrapes?”
The answer is a definite “yes.” In fact, John Ozoga did a study on this in 1988 (though he didn’t use pre-orbital gland scent). What he did do was to set up a pair of limbs at each scrape. One limb he lowered to within the deer’s reach in the summer. The other limb he did not lower until the fall. He got 80 percent use of the scrapes with the summer-lowered limb, and 62 percent use with those lowered later. My guess is that you’d see the same higher use by placing pre-orbital gland scent out in the summer. Just add a few drops to the limb once a week and see what happens.
Be sure to visit Sportsman’s Guide for a wide assortment of scents and scent eliminators.
Dr. Dave writes a weekly column for sportsmansguide.com. Dr. Dave studied deer for 30 years as a wildlife management professor at West Virginia University. In addition he has been a bowhunter for over 40 years, with deer being his main prey. He’s also an outdoor writer and has been with “Bowhunter” magazine for 31 years.