How Should You Hunt Scrapes?

Question: 

This fall while hunting one of my spots in southern Ohio I ran into a situation that baffled me. In October I had found some really huge scrapes that were being freshened every day. I hunted them a couple of times without seeing a big buck, but decided to leave the area alone until the rut when I figured my chances would be better. When the peak of the rut rolled around I never saw a single decent buck on the scrapes. In fact they had gone cold. Did I spook the buck out of the area in October? What should I do differently next year? 

Answer:

You probably didn’t drive the buck out. In fact, hunting the scrapes in October was probably a very good idea. Many times bucks will use scrapes heaviest right before the does all begin to come into estrous. When that happens they tend to spend alot of time out looking for, and following, does. A big buck may be away from his core area for many days at a time during the peak of the rut, making scrape hunting a very hit or miss proposition. For best results, stick with the scrapes in late October and early November and then switch to areas with high numbers of does.