That makes sense from a survival standpoint. If a doe breeds too early, her fawns experience a higher likelihood of being born in winterlike weather, thus lowering their chances of survival. If born too late, they don't have the opportunity to achieve their full growth potential before winter. Once the photoperiod decreases to a certain point, all fawns stop growing and put their energy toward fat production. If the fawn was born late, it won't grow as large, and this also decreases its survival chances.

To minimize fawn mortality rates, timing is everything. Because of that, it makes sense that the majority of mature does are bred within the same time frame every year. Furthermore, increased testosterone levels are also spurred by the photoperiod. Since testosterone is the gas that drives a buck's engine to fight, scrape and seek does, the timing of the peak scraping phase can also be accurately predicted from year to year.

For the sake of this article, we will go on the assumption that the following dates coincide with each phase. Peak scraping will occur from about Oct. 23 and run until Nov. 3. The chase phase begins Nov. 4 and goes through Nov. 9. From Nov. 10 to Nov. 20 the majority of does will be bred. These dates can vary within a day or two from year to year, and from differing regions within the state. However, they are a very good starting point. If you find that one phase is off by a day or two, shift all three phases accordingly. With that, these dates can be applied every year.

As stated earlier, moon phases and weather conditions will impact the amount of daylight activity. However, if you look for the signs, you will find that -- even if it's relegated to the nighttime hours -- those activities are still occurring during those set time frames. It's a simple matter of nature ensuring the greatest odds of survival.

SCRAPING UP BUCKS
Understanding when each phase will occur allows us to cater our tactics to being in the right place at the right time. This is particularly true for scrape-hunting. I firmly believe that the reason scrape-hunting frustrates many hunters is because they are hunting the wrong scrapes or setup on the right ones at the wrong time.

A mature buck can make over 200 scrapes in a given fall. Of these, he even semi-consistently tends a very small percentage of them. To further complicate matters, young bucks are also out kicking up dirt at random. Much like a young boy trying to find a date, they emulate what the big boys are doing without truly understanding the time, place or subtle purpose for their actions.

Next, even when testosterone levels are high, most scraping activity occurs during darkness. For example, that field edge scrape may be getting worked hard and heavy, but the odds of running into a mature buck there during daylight hours aren't particularly good. As obvious as it may sound, to take a good buck it helps to be set up where he is most likely to move during daylight.

Understanding the purpose of seriously tended scrapes helps in identifying them. In essence, they're the whitetail world's equivalent of a billboard. They convey information about the product -- deer in this case -- to as many potential customers as possible. Researchers believe that a buck can advertise his presence in maturity, dominance status, readiness to breed and intimidate younger bucks all from the odors he deposits at the scrape. Because of that, it only makes sense that the most heavily worked scrapes occur in locations where many other deer can read this form of advertising. Some common locations for these to occur include field edges, locations where multiple trails converge, along woods roads, the outer edges of doe bedding areas and any other locations where deer activity is concentrated. Unless the habitat forces deer patterns to change from one year to the next, the most heavily worked scrapes occur in the same locations year after year. That's because they are the spots most ideally suited for advertisement.