Bucks, and all whitetails, do things that defy explanation.
QUESTION: My friend has a trail camera set up over a scrape. He has photos of a buck lying in the scrape for three hours. Is this normal in central Pennsylvania during November?
ANSWER: Yes, but only in central Pa., in November (kidding). Sometimes deer just do things that have no simple explanation, or reason.
I actually witnessed something similar once in Illinois. It was mid-afternoon and I watched a buck work a scrape then lie down in, or at least very close to it. I don’t know how long he would have stayed there because a doe came along and rousted him from his bed – and into my shooting lane.
Perhaps he’d been up all night tending scrapes and after that last one he’d had enough. It’s also quite possible that when the deer encountered the scrape it was simply time for him to bed down, so he did.
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