Bed, Rub, Scrape?!

[woodsdog2]

Found this today on the private I hunt. Scrapes are all opening up again too and I sat in rain for four hours in this NW wind on my famous ridge spur I’ve shot a lot of
Bucks from hoping for daylight cruisers. This guy was in about an hour before me but the rain was soaking up in me so bad I had to get down. I took the opportunity to scout around a little bit more and found this.

So getting to my question, this scrape/bed is dished out pretty good and the licking branch seems kinda like one but not the classic broken/twisted branch just some remnants of a branch. The rub is weird too. The tree is about 8 inches across. I’m wondering if a doe was laying in this scrape or the buck or just interested in opinions.

 

[Topdog]

It’s hard to tell from just pictures, it would be best to just send me the coordinates of that monster rub and I’ll dive in and see what’s going on and get back to you, or maybe not!!!!!

 

[Skunkworkx]

Similar spot I found ...circle of about 6-7 scrapes about 8' around and all flattened like a bed in the middle

 

[MMN Outdoors]

To me that is clearly a "Hammer" of a Buck rub n scrape that appears to have a hoof print in it.... Time to get in a nearby tree n capitalize on the fresh sign!!
Good Luck n Hunt Safe....

 

[woodsdog2]

To me that is clearly a "Hammer" of a Buck rub n scrape that appears to have a hoof print in it.... Time to get in a nearby tree n capitalize on the fresh sign!!
Good Luck n Hunt Safe....

Believe me, I was 35 to 45 yards downwind for four hours plus today hoping he’d be cursing and cruising lol. The scrapes are opening back up here.

 

[Topdog]

Believe me, I was 35 to 45 yards downwind for four hours plus today hoping he’d be cursing and cruising lol. The scrapes are opening back up here.

I had some of the least amount of scrape activity on my cams ever up here this season, I’m not sure what exactly was going on, very different from other years, the past week or so they have been completely dead, you guys further south always seem to be ahead of us with pre and post rut stuff, I’m pretty sure we are now in lock down up here.

 

[elk yinzer]

It could be a bed, but a lot of scrapes are annual and just get bowled out over time from the distubance of topsoil.

There is almost always some sort of licking branch for scent over a pawed out scrape, but it can look like anything. They actually use the scent post feature year round, even when the ground pawing isn't active. And from my obsevation they are constantly leaving and checking scent on such branches, not just the obvious ones. The buck I shot this year stopped to give me a shot at a "licking branch" that had no apparent scrape, but make no mistake, he was working that branch.

Also not uncommon to find large trees only partially or barely rubbed. I've even seen yearling spikes and fawn buttons attempting to rub large trees.

 

[Topdog]

My brutal honest opinion for what it’s worth, 75% of the hunters out there that are looking to kill mature deer, assuming they are doing other things also correct, would have much more success if they focused on less attractive spots thinking like us humans think… a big rub in wide open hardwoods with good visibility…. and instead focus on cover that is more indicative of mature buck daytime movement, from the pictures it looks like open hardwoods, that big rub tells me one exists, a mature buck, and not much else, he hasn’t gotten old by working open hardwoods in NYS during any open season, now if that giant rub is on the edge of some super nasty thick swamp or other cover… and you can dive in there and find more big sign and figure things out you could be on to something, but big rubs in open hardwoods probably made at 2am usually lead to a wild good chase or a poke at a curious incidental 2.5 year old, that has been my experience after 30 years of hunting the same state as you. I never started killing mature bucks until I embraced the suck of hunting complete **** holes on a daily basis, this also greatly reduces deer sightings, so if seeing deer is a daily requirement to keep one’s confidence up then that is also just one more suck thing to embrace about hunting the spots that have worked for me, once I got over the mental aspect of going days on end without seeing a single deer or actually caring if I seen any deer, I started killing what we all really want, and doing it consistently. I have friends that can’t hunt more than a day in the same area if they see any less than 5 deer a day, I sometimes go 5 days without seeing a single deer, I don’t care, it has zero affect on me anymore, find the right sign, big sign…in areas around or in cover that you feel would hide an escaped convict for at least 30 days without being caught…. and set up shop… if the cover is thick enough, the sign big enough, and he’s still alive, that buck will come back eventually!

 

[woodsdog2]

My brutal honest opinion for what it’s worth, 75% of the hunters out there that are looking to kill mature deer, assuming they are doing other things also correct, would have much more success if they focused on less attractive spots thinking like us humans think… a big rub in wide open hardwoods with good visibility…. and instead focus on cover that is more indicative of mature buck daytime movement, from the pictures it looks like open hardwoods, that big rub tells me one exists, a mature buck, and not much else, he hasn’t gotten old by working open hardwoods in NYS during any open season, now if that giant rub is on the edge of some super nasty thick swamp or other cover… and you can dive in there and find more big sign and figure things out you could be on to something, but big rubs in open hardwoods probably made at 2am usually lead to a wild good chase or a poke at a curious incidental 2.5 year old, that has been my experience after 30 years of hunting the same state as you. I never started killing mature bucks until I embraced the suck of hunting complete **** holes on a daily basis, this also greatly reduces deer sightings, so if seeing deer is a daily requirement to keep one’s confidence up then that is also just one more suck thing to embrace about hunting the spots that have worked for me, once I got over the mental aspect of going days on end without seeing a single deer or actually caring if I seen any deer, I started killing what we all really want, and doing it consistently. I have friends that can’t hunt more than a day in the same area if they see any less than 5 deer a day, I sometimes go 5 days without seeing a single deer, I don’t care, it has zero affect on me anymore, find the right sign, big sign…in areas around or in cover that you feel would hide an escaped convict for at least 30 days without being caught…. and set up shop… if the cover is thick enough, the sign big enough, and he’s still alive, that buck will come back eventually!

I agree with this 100%. That picture is near a natural funnel, a ridge spur that comes up from a deep gorge that hits the main ridge. It is thick in the gorge and also the terrain is rough and is where the bucks are. I have permission on some but not all of that steep terrain. But you are correct, setting up in open hardwoods is a fools errand for big deer. I also agree that I don’t care if I don’t see deer either all the time but I do want to see cruising bucks daylighting when they are supposed to. The one big wide 9 I would like to see was just day lighting near this about 3-5 days ago. Great comments though and sage advice!!

 

[woodsdog2]

I was more surprised at the location of this whole thing, it was just off an old two track logging road that we use a lot and neither I nor my buddy have ever seen this scrape~bed before. It just looks so established and seems like it’s been there for years. I’m a pretty detail oriented person especially with this area and I was so surprised how much it was dished out. The picture doesn’t do it justice. What’s even more strange is there is little to no dirt or duff at the “back” end of the scrape. The best part is you know how many balloons I’ve found about 50-60 yards to the west of this?!?LOL!