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Is it too early to see rubs?

HuumanCreed

HuumanCreed

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2020
Messages
2,724
Location
Westminster Maryland
Scouted a few public lands today. Saw a few trails and droppings. But no signs of rubs. Im in Maryland. Too soon? When should I scout again, before leaving the area alone until Im actually hunting?
 
I would be pretty surprised to see a rub right now. They're still in velvet and that would be painful for them. Scrapes would be pretty normal though as they use them year-round. Contrary to common knowledge velvet sheds, they don't rub it off. As far as when to leave it alone, lots of factors there. But there's only one way to figure out what's going on, and staying out of the woods won't accomplish that.
 
Probably too early by at least a few weeks. Focusing on old rubs is a good tactic though because more than likely they’ll rub the same trees this year that they did last
 
You ever carve your name in a tree?? It will grow back over and turn back to a grey color.
Take a pocket knife and scrape the bark off a small tree, give it some time and you'll notice it healing itself and turning back grey, u will still be able to notice the original markings you did though.
Deer rubs on a tree are the same, I'll try to get you a pic of an old rub before long, somebody else may beat me to it on here though, the people on here are great about helping.
 
866d50359cf022a83df2b3f1fe65fe7c.gif

This is just from google. The obvious fresher rib and to the right the old healed over rub.

They aren’t always hitting the same rubbed tree each year necessarily. But if you see historic rubs in an area and they look like they are from various ages/years then you can assume it’ll continue. Some ribs are very random. So don’t plan on that just because you find one historic rub


Spencer
 
Hmmm...now I need to look at some pictures l took of the areas. Honestly the details didnt even register with me. I kept my eyes mostly on the ground for tracks and droppings. (Also almost stepped near a few snakes that i googled right away). This slow my lack of experience. If it want clear sign of rub l moved on.
 
HuumanCreed said:
Hmmm...now I need to look at some pictures l took of the areas. Honestly the details didnt even register with me. I kept my eyes mostly on the ground for tracks and droppings. (Also almost stepped near a few snakes that i googled right away). This slow my lack of experience. If it want clear sign of rub l moved on.
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It depends entirely on where you hunt and what kind of habitat it is. I’m in central mo and hunt a lot of cattle pasture. This time of year, I focus on field edges for a couple reasons. 1. They’re likely still unpressured enough that they’ll be comin to food in daylight. 2. The cover in woods is too thick and velvet deer likely aren’t in there anyways. 3. It’s a decently low intrusion strategy you can get away with a month before season.

I want to focus on fresh scrapes and tracks. If I can find both of these things and in the same area there is sign of historic rubs, the deer will likely hang around until it’s time to rub. If you find old rubs but no scrapes or droppings or fresh beds or tracks or any fresh sign, keep that spot in mind and come back and check it out around the middle of October. Your neighbors big buck that he had on trail cam all summer may be there.
 
HuumanCreed said:
Hmmm...now I need to look at some pictures l took of the areas. Honestly the details didnt even register with me. I kept my eyes mostly on the ground for tracks and droppings. (Also almost stepped near a few snakes that i googled right away). This slow my lack of experience. If it want clear sign of rub l moved on.
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Buy the bedding DVD's from Dan Infalt, all of them. They'll pay for themselves easily and will boost your knowledge considerably. Like anything else in life, a lot of hunting is confidence. If I don't think I'm going to have an opportunity, I'll keep walking.
 
shwacker said:
866d50359cf022a83df2b3f1fe65fe7c.gif

This is just from google. The obvious fresher rib and to the right the old healed over rub.

They aren’t always hitting the same rubbed tree each year necessarily. But if you see historic rubs in an area and they look like they are from various ages/years then you can assume it’ll continue. Some ribs are very random. So don’t plan on that just because you find one historic rub


Spencer
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This type of rub is referred to as a "sign-post rub" here in the north-east. Is is essentially a rub that gets hit annually by multiple bucks for communication and such. Kind of how a scrape that gets attention year round does. Rubs come in all different styles and sizes of course that can mean many different things. @HuumanCreed
 
HuntNorthEast said:
This type of rub is referred to as a "sign-post rub" here in the north-east. Is is essentially a rub that gets hit annually by multiple bucks for communication and such. Kind of how a scrape that gets attention year round does. Rubs come in all different styles and sizes of course that can mean many different things. @HuumanCreed
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Yessir, and to the OP, in general I wouldn’t be worried about finding or hunting rubs. Once fresh ones are made they stick out like sore thumb. I don’t hunt scraps either though I know some people do have success with them, very tight window to hunt them. I’d work on learning where down deer bed and feed and focus on travel routes between them. I generally hunt near the edges of bedding, thick travel corridors, and try to find a pinch within them.


Spencer
 
shwacker said:
Yessir, and to the OP, in general I wouldn’t be worried about finding or hunting rubs. Once fresh ones are made they stick out like sore thumb. I don’t hunt scraps either though I know some people do have success with them, very tight window to hunt them. I’d work on learning where down deer bed and feed and focus on travel routes between them. I generally hunt near the edges of bedding, thick travel corridors, and try to find a pinch within them.


Spencer
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Likewise, habitat transitions and funnels!
 
That's what I decided to do. Im on the wood side of a long line of brushes that separate a corn field on a hill and a river located down that hill. I see alot of trails down the hill. So my hope is catch a buck leaving the field to get some water down the hill during the morning. And if I get a clean shot, hopefully they travel down the hill so i dont have to drag it UP hill on my way out. Is this plan logical or am I missing some details?

Should I hang with tree between me and the field?
 
Might work. Generally bucks bed up higher, does lower. Not always, depends on cover. Wind is trickier in the bottoms. But in general, deer go from bed to food and food to bed, until rut , then dies are still doing that and bucks are cruising and chasing. So this is why I said earlier to find the bedding areas, stay away enough that you don’t disturb and catch them leaving headed to food in evening and coming from the food I’m ack to bed in the morning. Rut the bucks cruise the ridge laterally mostly, does go up and down and bucks cut trails.

Hope that helps you some. I suggest just getting over the heaviest trails you find, likely doe trails, and just start watching and learning. Pay attention to wind. You’ll get busted plenty. Have fun. Shoot all the does and whatever bucks make you happy for a while. On top of just learning to find deer you really need a lot of kills to figure out when you can draw, how deer react to the shot in different situations, etc.

Not sure your plans but a lot of new hunters get all buck crazy and want to go shoot a mature buck right away, unless you are on great property the chances are just low.

It takes time, enjoy


Spencer
 
They usually start rubbing around here on and around Labor Day.
 
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