2015 Mock Rub

[sampotter]

It had been a few years since I made a fresh mock rub.... This one did not disappoint. The big 12 is dead in case anyone is wondering.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fozwJnRzbvk
[youtube]fozwJnRzbvk[/youtube]



P.S. I can't figure out how to embed the video, so if someone can tell me how or do it for me it would be great.

 

[kenn1320]

Sam that is cool. I put (2) shumac in and one got rubbed, but the camera was dead. Schumacher isn't on this property and are always rubbed when I find them elsewhere. What kind of tree did you use, and is it common in the area? What do you think made them rub it?
Also you had some nice ones rubbing in daylight, guessing you were working?

 

[sampotter]

Sam that is cool. I put (2) shumac in and one got rubbed, but the camera was dead. Schumacher isn't on this property and are always rubbed when I find them elsewhere. What kind of tree did you use, and is it common in the area? What do you think made them rub it?
Also you had some nice ones rubbing in daylight, guessing you were working?

That was a red cedar. There are a bunch of them around, but most have heavy branches and limbs that keep them from getting rubbed. They rubbed it because it was in a conspicuous spot, smelled good, and looked good. Once that first buck rubbed it, his scent was on it too. That always seems to be the key- once the first buck rubs it no matter how little he may be, the other bucks really seem to key in on it.

I was 1000 miles away when those bucks were visiting. This was at my in-law's place and I haven't been putting in for a tag. It's a heck of a good spot if I ever do get the chance to hunt it.

 

[redsquirrel]

Sam, that was awesome footage. Thanks for sharing. Do you use mock rubs often? I hear about mock scrapes often, but not mock rubs. Can you talk a little bit about you thoughts behind making a mock rub?

Thanks!

 

[sampotter]

Sam, that was awesome footage. Thanks for sharing. Do you use mock rubs often? I hear about mock scrapes often, but not mock rubs. Can you talk a little bit about you thoughts behind making a mock rub?

Thanks!

Well, I guess first and foremost, I really enjoy manipulating deer behavior (within reason) and the "If you build it, they will come..." aspect of mock rubs. I read about them 4 or 5 years ago (I think in a Steve Bartylla article) and ran right out with a post hole digger and plunked some in the ground. I've had a love affair ever since and mostly use them to attract bucks for good trail camera footage. I like running trail cameras almost as much as hunting, heck there are times the trail cameras are MORE fun than hunting. Depends on the day I guess.

I've also used mock rubs in hunting scenarios. A mock rub 30 yards out from your tree in an otherwise featureless empty field will really stand out to a buck. Open areas are where they will work best, so long as they are near good cover. In thick cover they won't be seen as readily as they won't stand out. Rubs are visual first, scentposts second, so they need to be able to be seen by bucks easily. Scrapes are almost the opposite. Using mock rubs along a field edge actually can be better than a mock scrape because the deer can be drawn out away from the very edge of the field, potentially presenting a better shot angle or opportunity. AND- I typically make a mock rub/mock scrape combo, just in case a buck is in more of a mood for one or the other. I can't say I've ever killed a buck at a mock rub, but that's mostly because I was somewhere else when bucks were visiting. There clearly is plenty of daylight action at mock rubs.

I've learned that bucks really prefer coniferous trees, especially if there aren't any or many in the area. All deer seem to be attracted to a sweet-smelling mock rub, as are other wildlife. I have lots of videos of raccoons, coyotes, and foxes visiting mock rubs and using them as scentposts as well.

 

[redsquirrel]

Very cool info Sam. Thanks for sharing

 

[DaveT1963]

Sam that is cool. I put (2) shumac in and one got rubbed, but the camera was dead. Schumacher isn't on this property and are always rubbed when I find them elsewhere. What kind of tree did you use, and is it common in the area? What do you think made them rub it?
Also you had some nice ones rubbing in daylight, guessing you were working?

That was a red cedar. There are a bunch of them around, but most have heavy branches and limbs that keep them from getting rubbed. They rubbed it because it was in a conspicuous spot, smelled good, and looked good. Once that first buck rubbed it, his scent was on it too. That always seems to be the key- once the first buck rubs it no matter how little he may be, the other bucks really seem to key in on it.

I was 1000 miles away when those bucks were visiting. This was at my in-law's place and I haven't been putting in for a tag. It's a heck of a good spot if I ever do get the chance to hunt it.

Have you ever tried taking the head skin off a recently killed buck, and using that to fire up your rubs? Just curious if that would work or not?

 

[sampotter]

Sam that is cool. I put (2) shumac in and one got rubbed, but the camera was dead. Schumacher isn't on this property and are always rubbed when I find them elsewhere. What kind of tree did you use, and is it common in the area? What do you think made them rub it?
Also you had some nice ones rubbing in daylight, guessing you were working?

That was a red cedar. There are a bunch of them around, but most have heavy branches and limbs that keep them from getting rubbed. They rubbed it because it was in a conspicuous spot, smelled good, and looked good. Once that first buck rubbed it, his scent was on it too. That always seems to be the key- once the first buck rubs it no matter how little he may be, the other bucks really seem to key in on it.

I was 1000 miles away when those bucks were visiting. This was at my in-law's place and I haven't been putting in for a tag. It's a heck of a good spot if I ever do get the chance to hunt it.

Have you ever tried taking the head skin off a recently killed buck, and using that to fire up your rubs? Just curious if that would work or not?

Dave- you're assuming a lot- as in I'd actually have access to the skin off the head of a recently killed buck. :lol:

I'm sure it wouldn't hurt if you were careful not to contaminate the rub with your own scent in the process. It seems like in the frenzy of the rut there are plenty of bucks that only show up once, so I'm not sure the scent of one more "stranger buck" would add a whole lot.

I have read theories that dominant bucks do have a "dominant" smell that other bucks can detect, so perhaps bringing in the scent of a strange dominant buck could make a difference, but I bet it would be tough to really evaluate the results.

There are some other things I intend to try with mock rubs though. One for sure will be to basically build an in-ground "Christmas tree stand" set up for the spots where I want a mock rub every year, such as the spot in the video. This could at least save me some time plus reduce scent contamination during set up.

 

[DaveT1963]

Lol.... Im sure you get some.... Or you can borrow one of mine lol.

I was thinking more for the initial set up to help that first buck find it? I take q tips and dig out wax from pre orbitals glands to fire up licking branches.

I'm going to give this rub thing a try this year

 

[kenn1320]

I think to Daves point and yours, maybe getting the skin and rubbing a mock rub would "start the chain reaction" of other bucks rubbing it. Ive got some old cedar post that I made mock rubs out of and they havent been hit in the 3-4yrs Ive had them out there. Well it doesnt appear they have ever been hit. Ive even brushed them with cedar oil I bought from a company in TX. Last year I drilled 1/4" holes at a 45 deg downward angle and filled them with the oil to hopefully keep the scent longer and nothing. I might contact the local processor next year and have him give me a heads up when he gets a fresh one and just try it for kicks n grins.

 

[sampotter]

Lol.... Im sure you get some.... Or you can borrow one of mine lol.

I was thinking more for the initial set up to help that first buck find it? I take q tips and dig out wax from pre orbitals glands to fire up licking branches.

I'm going to give this rub thing a try this year

It could be something to try, just to see what you can get deer to react to. I just haven't ever felt like I needed to add anything more to make the mock rubs work.

 

[sampotter]

I think to Daves point and yours, maybe getting the skin and rubbing a mock rub would "start the chain reaction" of other bucks rubbing it. Ive got some old cedar post that I made mock rubs out of and they havent been hit in the 3-4yrs Ive had them out there. Well it doesnt appear they have ever been hit. Ive even brushed them with cedar oil I bought from a company in TX. Last year I drilled 1/4" holes at a 45 deg downward angle and filled them with the oil to hopefully keep the scent longer and nothing. I might contact the local processor next year and have him give me a heads up when he gets a fresh one and just try it for kicks n grins.

From what I've seen, there's no substitute for a good, fresh tree used for the mock rub. Some of the old cedars I put in fresh 3-4 years ago still get rubbed a little, but nothing like the first year. Even in prairie settings where bucks rub fence posts and telephone poles, I'd bet a fresh, green cedar would get mauled.

It would be interesting to take a smaller cedar, cut it 5-6' long, and rip it lengthwise with a chainsaw. Then screw the resulting pieces to your existing post and see if that would spice things up?

 

[kenn1320]

I think to Daves point and yours, maybe getting the skin and rubbing a mock rub would "start the chain reaction" of other bucks rubbing it. Ive got some old cedar post that I made mock rubs out of and they havent been hit in the 3-4yrs Ive had them out there. Well it doesnt appear they have ever been hit. Ive even brushed them with cedar oil I bought from a company in TX. Last year I drilled 1/4" holes at a 45 deg downward angle and filled them with the oil to hopefully keep the scent longer and nothing. I might contact the local processor next year and have him give me a heads up when he gets a fresh one and just try it for kicks n grins.

From what I've seen, there's no substitute for a good, fresh tree used for the mock rub. Some of the old cedars I put in fresh 3-4 years ago still get rubbed a little, but nothing like the first year. Even in prairie settings where bucks rub fence posts and telephone poles, I'd bet a fresh, green cedar would get mauled.

It would be interesting to take a smaller cedar, cut it 5-6' long, and rip it lengthwise with a chainsaw. Then screw the resulting pieces to your existing post and see if that would spice things up?

IF I had fresh cut cedars in my area, I wouldnt have bought poles from Menards. :lol: A guy in WI has good luck with black willow. I think like you mentioned, the key is location. They dont rub on natural trees in this food plot area. Funny the plot in my front yard has a rub on a popular tree.

 

[sampotter]

I think to Daves point and yours, maybe getting the skin and rubbing a mock rub would "start the chain reaction" of other bucks rubbing it. Ive got some old cedar post that I made mock rubs out of and they havent been hit in the 3-4yrs Ive had them out there. Well it doesnt appear they have ever been hit. Ive even brushed them with cedar oil I bought from a company in TX. Last year I drilled 1/4" holes at a 45 deg downward angle and filled them with the oil to hopefully keep the scent longer and nothing. I might contact the local processor next year and have him give me a heads up when he gets a fresh one and just try it for kicks n grins.

From what I've seen, there's no substitute for a good, fresh tree used for the mock rub. Some of the old cedars I put in fresh 3-4 years ago still get rubbed a little, but nothing like the first year. Even in prairie settings where bucks rub fence posts and telephone poles, I'd bet a fresh, green cedar would get mauled.

It would be interesting to take a smaller cedar, cut it 5-6' long, and rip it lengthwise with a chainsaw. Then screw the resulting pieces to your existing post and see if that would spice things up?

IF I had fresh cut cedars in my area, I wouldnt have bought poles from Menards. :lol: A guy in WI has good luck with black willow. I think like you mentioned, the key is location. They dont rub on natural trees in this food plot area. Funny the plot in my front yard has a rub on a popular tree.

Ah- I see. Do you have access to any other conifers? Poplar certainly is a good option too, even though it doesn't have the strong scent. Do you consistently have bucks in your food plot?

 

[kenn1320]

The property I hunt and food plot on is my neighbors 10 acres. He grows pines from seedlings and sells them. When the housing market crashed, tree sales plumeted, so there isnt anything on his place that isnt 5ft tall and up now. He never loses trees to bucks rubbing. As for that plot, I have only seen 1 buck in day light and most of my trail cam pics of bucks are 1am. Not an ideal location, but it gets me out in the woods when I dont have much time to go somewhere better.

 

[sampotter]

The property I hunt and food plot on is my neighbors 10 acres. He grows pines from seedlings and sells them. When the housing market crashed, tree sales plumeted, so there isnt anything on his place that isnt 5ft tall and up now. He never loses trees to bucks rubbing. As for that plot, I have only seen 1 buck in day light and most of my trail cam pics of bucks are 1am. Not an ideal location, but it gets me out in the woods when I dont have much time to go somewhere better.

I wonder if the branches on the pines are discouraging bucks from rubbing? There weren't many cedar rubs where the mock rub in the video was even though there were plenty of cedars around. Most of the trees have thick, strong branches on the trunk and I think the bucks prefer clear access to the trunk.

Maybe your neighbor will let you have one of his pines? Then again, maybe not as he might not want you to train the bucks to attack his trees.

The other major factor is of course the age structure of the herd. It is fact that rutting activity is much better in herds where age structure is good and the buck to doe ratio is as close to 1:1 as possible. I know the mock rub in the video had a lot more action than the ones I've done in NY.

 

[kenn1320]

:lol: Yeah even if I went 1000 miles away and cut a pine and stripped the limbs and stuck it in the ground, my neighbor would be scouring his place thinking I cut it off his place. :lol: My buddy has property up north and I will be doing a lot of habitat work up there this year, so Ill cut one out of the swamp and bring it down here for testing purposes. The herd structure actually isnt that bad in this immediate area, but the lacking cover is. The bucks that show up at 1am could be bedding 1mile or further away. This pine farm butts up to a big woods that is wide open mature like a park and well its rampant with trespassers from the surrounding subdivisions. Im happy to have a close place to do a quick hunt, but reality is its mainly a testing ground for my equipment and I get to do food plots, which I truly enjoy.

 

[huck72412]

I wonder if a small tree that is not indigenous to my hunting area would be a productive mock rub??

 

[kenn1320]

I put 2 sumac in my plot last fall. One of them did get rubbed, but not tore up. Other deer on cam would smell it. I want to try Daves method of rubbing a real deer forehead on a mock rub if I get access to one.

 

[sampotter]

I tried a box elder in one spot this year. Bucks will smell it but not rub it. The cedars I've put in have been getting plenty of action though.