buck rubs tree species and timing

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ghoasthunter
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buck rubs tree species and timing

Unread postby ghoasthunter » Wed Jan 10, 2018 6:56 am

bucks rub different trees different times of year. September look for American iron wood for big bucks and hooking on spice bushes and willow for all bucks. early October look for maple trees and birch on military crests and swamp travel corridors size is age. mid October big bucks start hitting 4 to 12 in diameter hemlock cedar and pine in areas where its the oddball trees and pinches. smooth sumac is often hit late October (pre rut) in bedding areas and logging or main road crossings by big bucks. rut bucks thrash bushes following does. post rut bucks tend to stop for most part. late season very unusual but they do rub mountain laurel near their beds some times and when they do its normally a pretty good buck.


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ghoasthunter
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Re: buck rubs tree species and timing

Unread postby ghoasthunter » Wed Jan 10, 2018 9:10 am

has anybody seen this pattern? what do you see in areas you hunt?
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Re: buck rubs tree species and timing

Unread postby ghoasthunter » Tue Jan 16, 2018 4:36 am

nobody notices bucks rubbing different trees at different times of year?
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Re: buck rubs tree species and timing

Unread postby elk yinzer » Tue Jan 16, 2018 8:38 am

ghoasthunter wrote:nobody notices bucks rubbing different trees at different times of year?


Cannot say I do. Preferred species certainly, some of which you mentioned, but not too much variance beyond the normal bell curve of rubbing activity.
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Re: buck rubs tree species and timing

Unread postby brancher147 » Wed Jan 17, 2018 2:02 am

only thing i have ever noticed is they rub striped maple trees early while coming out of velvet.
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Re: buck rubs tree species and timing

Unread postby Josh_S » Wed Jan 17, 2018 5:05 am

Hal Blood mentions brown ash as a preferred species for sign post rubs in one of his books that I am currently reading. This may be region specific to the northeast big woods. I'd love to hear more info if anybody has any. It would be very helpful in terms of scouting and hunting specific areas at the right time.
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Re: buck rubs tree species and timing

Unread postby ghoasthunter » Thu Jan 25, 2018 11:37 am

Josh_S wrote:Hal Blood mentions brown ash as a preferred species for sign post rubs in one of his books that I am currently reading. This may be region specific to the northeast big woods. I'd love to hear more info if anybody has any. It would be very helpful in terms of scouting and hunting specific areas at the right time.

I also read his book their definitely is a lot of truth to his finding and any place those trees are present in correct locations you find those rubs id have to go back and read it a second time over to be more on key with his book
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Re: buck rubs tree species and timing

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Tue Jan 30, 2018 1:19 pm

In my area it's cedars 99% of the time. The only thing that changes with the seasons is the size of the cedar.
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Re: buck rubs tree species and timing

Unread postby ghoasthunter » Wed Jan 31, 2018 8:41 am

Boogieman1 wrote:In my area it's cedars 99% of the time. The only thing that changes with the seasons is the size of the cedar.

its always interesting to me to see the preferred trees it helps a lot speed scouting then instead of just looking for rubs to back track a buck you can look for trees then you can back track that sign to bedding areas. its also funny when you go a couple miles down the road and the pattern on rubs is totally different. then you got to figure that out to get back on the game to find patterns again.
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Re: buck rubs tree species and timing

Unread postby <DK> » Wed Jan 31, 2018 9:19 am

Early season, id call it underbrush or saplings Not sure exact terms really. In my area that cannot resist a good cedar tree.
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Re: buck rubs tree species and timing

Unread postby Hawthorne » Wed Jan 31, 2018 1:52 pm

They love rubbing stag horn sumac early season. Wherever there is a patch there are rubs in my area. It’s where I see most driving on the side of the road also.In the swamps during rut they like rubbing tamarack. Find my biggest rubs on them.
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Re: buck rubs tree species and timing

Unread postby Tim H » Wed Jan 31, 2018 3:00 pm

For the areas I hunt the bucks are pretty particular on the trees they pick. For the smaller rubs they can vary from small white/red pine, small poplars, and alders. For the larger rubs generally I see them on larger pine/fir trees and cedar trees. I think the tree makes a little difference however I also think the location makes an even bigger difference. For example I see smaller rubs on trails and easily accessible locations, whereas I see the bigger rubs in the swamps and locations that are much more remote. Rarely will I see a really nice rub out in the open for everyone to witness. I think this is a possible correlation to the difference of small buck versus big buck locations.
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Re: buck rubs tree species and timing

Unread postby Rob loper » Thu Feb 01, 2018 12:26 am

Imo Majority of rubs in open woods or around food are frustration rubs or signs saying this is me i was here and majority were made at night
Then the rubs going along transiotions out in the nasty or wet nowhere are saying. Yo man this is where i sleep man
Follow them and usually will go to a bed especially if it goes to a point or a single tree out in the marsh or thick
Then most of the time from what ive seen there is a rub at any trail intersection or multiple trails coming into one. I dont know why but they rub thre too
The kind of tree they rub on is a mystery. I think its just whattree is at that spot they wanna rub at They do seem to rub on alot softer barked trees pines, or cedars in my areas once again if available in that certain spot.
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Re: buck rubs tree species and timing

Unread postby ghoasthunter » Sat Feb 03, 2018 5:23 am

Hawthorne wrote:They love rubbing stag horn sumac early season. Wherever there is a patch there are rubs in my area. It’s where I see most driving on the side of the road also.In the swamps during rut they like rubbing tamarack. Find my biggest rubs on them.
those trees are very spongy holding forehead scent and represent a territorial sign post rub where mutable bucks cores intersect and can be hotspots pre rut when related to large bedding areas and daytime movement. typically hard woods maple birch represent travel corridors and are just inside the edge of swamps and on the military crest wind tunnels both use wind and thermals to advantage for travel. for morning hunts I pic spots where the hardwood rub lines and sign posts intersect. I also see hardwood trees rubbed on scrape trees like beach and pin oaks.
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Re: buck rubs tree species and timing

Unread postby Killtree » Sat Feb 03, 2018 10:06 pm

I think deer prefer to rub some species of trees over another and rubs whichever one is at hand (or hoof) when the mood hits.
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