#2033400 - 08/16/10 10:39 PM
Re: Why do bucks prefer cedars?
[Re: Setterman]
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Tree Tramp
8 Point
Registered: 07/22/09
Posts: 1560
Loc: Tennessee
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Ive noticed that these trees arent favorite food sources as well. Cedars, maples, poplars, pines seem to be favorites here. Could be an adaptation maybe. Anyone ever see a rub on a red, white oak, chinquapin, persimmon, or honey locust? If so ill throw that theory out the window. lol
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#2033522 - 08/17/10 06:09 AM
Re: Why do bucks prefer cedars?
[Re: MUP]
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ghosthunter
10 Point
Registered: 11/30/04
Posts: 3446
Loc: chattanooga
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I've often wondered that myself. They also love to rub and make scrapes under young beach trees.
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#2033537 - 08/17/10 06:21 AM
Re: Why do bucks prefer cedars?
[Re: ghosthunter]
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DUCK37101
"Link" Police
16 Point
Registered: 08/29/05
Posts: 18867
Loc: McEwen, TN.
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Another interesting fact is that Bucks rub on much harder trees as well. We just don't notice the rubs due to the bark being harder.
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#2033565 - 08/17/10 07:14 AM
Re: Why do bucks prefer cedars?
[Re: Setterman]
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BigCam50
8 Point
Registered: 06/16/10
Posts: 2337
Loc: Chattanooga, TN
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Anybody else wonder or think that bucks prefer cedar trees over others to rub? Why bucks display tree-species preference for signpost rubbing has been a long-running scientific debate. The primary theories are: 1) They prefer soft-barked trees. 2) They prefer trees with aromatic bark 3) They prefer trees with a bright inner bark. The problem is, bucks in different geographic regions have different preferred species for making signpost rubs. Of all the different species preferences I've seen listed, the only one of the three theories that holds true for all preferences is #3--bright inner bark. Agreed, further south the bucks rub like crazy on the bay trees which grow in the swamps and creek/river bottoms. They have no odor which is noticeable to us, and the only reason I could draw was they glow orangish after being rubbed is the reason bucks choose them, as they are hard as a rock.
Likewise when I hunt in the mid-west they rub cedars as well but all most always there is going to be a rub on a Osage tree, they have no odor and are hard as a rock but the rub glows like a beacon!
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#2033575 - 08/17/10 07:20 AM
Re: Why do bucks prefer cedars?
[Re: DUCK37101]
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Bottom Hunter
16 Point
Registered: 12/29/06
Posts: 15488
Loc: Hatchie Bottoms
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maybe they rub whatever is available.......right place, right time sort of thing....
I doubt that a buck will knowingly seek out softer trees to rub and go out of their way to find them. maybe if two trees are right beside each other, they will hit both......
Maybe they appear to rub these trees MORE because the bark IS soft and the rubs appear more active and easier to see...I see alot of willow trees being rubbed where I am simply because there are alot of them down there. They also rub cypress, oak, and persimmon.......
Sure, they may prefer one thing to another (food, bedding sites, etc.) but will they actively seek these certain things out?
Where I hunt, deer bed down where they are standing at the time, they feed on whatever is within reach when they desire nutrition and they rub most any tree that is along the path that they are traveling.....
heck, deer rub fence posts.....you can't get much harder than that...
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#2033603 - 08/17/10 07:39 AM
Re: Why do bucks prefer cedars?
[Re: Bottom Hunter]
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Buck Assassin
10 Point
Registered: 05/08/08
Posts: 2918
Loc: cocke county, TN
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Always wondered the same thing. I have found around our place they love hemlock trees too!
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#2033609 - 08/17/10 07:46 AM
Re: Why do bucks prefer cedars?
[Re: Setterman]
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Winchester
Non-Typical
Registered: 12/05/03
Posts: 25245
Loc: TN
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I think it comes down to a high visibility thing. Cedars and pines for example, once rubbed, actually shine in the sunlight and are much more visible than many other type trees when rubbed.
They will at times rub most anything, from fence posts, telephone poles, polk stalks, all the way to Cypress knees growing from the water!
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#2033659 - 08/17/10 08:16 AM
Re: Why do bucks prefer cedars?
[Re: Tree Tramp]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
Non-Typical
Registered: 03/11/99
Posts: 59548
Loc: Nashville, TN
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Ive noticed that these trees arent favorite food sources as well. Cedars, maples, poplars, pines seem to be favorites here. Could be an adaptation maybe. Anyone ever see a rub on a red, white oak, chinquapin, persimmon, or honey locust? If so ill throw that theory out the window. lol
Yes, I've seen rubs on all of these.
And cedar is definitely NOT a preferred food source. Deer browsing cedars is a bad sign (not enough preferred foods available).
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"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#2033696 - 08/17/10 08:51 AM
Re: Why do bucks prefer cedars?
[Re: BSK]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
Non-Typical
Registered: 03/11/99
Posts: 59548
Loc: Nashville, TN
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Rubbing behavior is instinctive in bucks. They rub because they are biologically driven to rub. And as the rut approaches, they rub a lot! However, rubs do have an important biological purpose, especially the large rubbed trees that are rubbed repeatedly, year after year (called "singpost" rubs). Rubs, especially signpost rubs, are chemical signposts--basically pheromone wicks. Their purpose is to hold the chemicals (pheromones) produced by the buck's forehead gland (the redish patch of course hair very obvious on older bucks). These pheomones are believed to communicate many things to other deer that encounter them--possibly everything from a buck's dominance status to his personal health. Some pheromones left on signpost rubs are also suspected to help control/drive breeding, in that they may cause does to time their estrus cycle and decrease testosterone output of less dominant bucks (reducing their desire to breed). Signpost rubs appear to be a very important part of a deer herd's social dynamics.
Bucks definitely have regional "favorites" in tree species for making signpost rubs. In the Southeastern Atlantic Coastal Plain, sasafrass is a prefered signpost species. In the Gulf Coastal Plain, cypress can be a preferred spieces. In the MidSouth, eastern red cedar is a preferred species. In the north, basswood and even aspen can be a preferred species. Now why they have these regional differences isn't known, but it probably has something to do with how visible the rubs on the species are from a distance.
_________________________
"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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