When hunting a MATURE buck on a scrape line, forget about the scrape itself. Start thinking about where he could lay and still monitor the scrape line; or where he could move in tight cover, and monitor his scrapes with out actually being at the scrape in daylight hours. A buddy and I found a real active scrape line several years back with a very mature buck using it. There was a real thick branch head to the south east of his scrape line which was running north and south. We figured the buck was bedding in that head, he could monitor his scrapes with out ever getting out of his bed. My buddy had never killed a decent buck, so I encouraged him to wait until everything was right and go in and hunt him. We hung a lock on due north of the branch head, far enough away he could climb in undetected and where a north west wind would miss him as he was bedded. He finally went in on his Bday as scent free as possible, and put out some Code Blue just far enough west of his setup that it would drift into the branch head. He had the buck on the ground about 45 minutes later. He couldn't see the scrapes from his setup but he could see the buck as he eased out of the branch head. I think most hunters hunt way too close to a scrape line. Mature bucks will sometimes check their scapes from a distance if they have cover or will bed down wind of them.
