Biggest rub I’ve seen.....

[redblood]

Hunting a big overgrown farm I stumbled onto one of the most impressive rub line or rather , lines. I have never seen a woods destroyed like this. Today moving a stand I found the rub below. Tree is as big around as a basketball. Deep and distinctive tine marks with sap oozing out. Bark on the ground. In your opinion, what do huge rubs mean. Seems to be several trains of thought out there on the topic

 

[redblood]

Here a few more more typical rubs in the area

 

[FLTENNHUNTER1]

Big rub big deer. Put a camera out immediately.

 

[BULL MOOSE]

Finding rubs like that is one of my favorite things.

 

[mike243]

Sign post rub every buck that comes by hits it,was hunting within site of 1 years ago when a nice 8pt came within 5' of it,he never slowed down but looked at it as he went by,he didn't make it much past it lol

 

[scubacamper]

Bobcat or boar


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[MR Yote]

Speaking from my experiences only, when I've found a BIG rub like that first one and no others around it is usually a sign post rub. Finding that many, that are in the same area I have learned that there is most likely a big dominant buck in the area marking his territory. I've really only seen this a few times in my 23 yrs of hunting. Good luck with him & have a great season.

 

[scubacamper]

I came across a rub or two like that in a predominantly non-hunted and protected area and the park ranger I was with told me he was certain it was a bobcat, mountain lion (which don't exist here, right??) haha, or a boar.
The rubs in question were a little higher than a typical deer rub and on much thicker trees....
For what it's worth...which is exactly what you paid for it


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[Mike Belt]

I love finding rubs like that although I don't find many. Chances are, if that's a sign post rub you'll see it again yearly. A few years ago a I found a narrow ridge top that stretched for 1/3 of a mile before dropping off into a bottom. It was littered with cedars from 3" in diameter up to 1 foot. Almost everyone of them were freshly shredded by a buck/bucks. I just knew I was going to get a look at a big boy. I hunted it several times and never saw the first deer but if I was to find another area that looked like that I'd hunt it again. You should too. I'd also run a camera in there for the rest of the season just to see.

 

[Roost 1]

Sign post rub... I love them. These are about the only type of buck sign i get excited about hunting.
He's in there somewhere.

 

[Os2 Outdoors]

I like seeing big rubs but they really don't mean much IMO besides there's a high number of deer/bucks in that area. I've seen 5-6 different bucks walk up to one, rub it an smell it in a all day hunt. None of those bucks were shooters 2-3 year olds.

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[Roost 1]

I like seeing big rubs but they really don't mean much IMO besides there's a high number of deer/bucks in that area. I've seen 5-6 different bucks walk up to one, rub it an smell it in a all day hunt. None of those bucks were shooters 2-3 year olds.

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I guess we absolutely disagree.. which is ok

 

[Os2 Outdoors]

True. I just avoid hunting big sign without confirmation of a big deer such as a visual sighting or pictures of big deer. I used to get jacked up about it. But after many years of not seeing that giant while hunting I started saturating the area in cams. That's when I came to find out a lot of those Giant bucks making those rubs were mature deer but might only score 130" or a hand full Young bucks going crazy an rubbing everything in sight.

I like seeing big rubs but they really don't mean much IMO besides there's a high number of deer/bucks in that area. I've seen 5-6 different bucks walk up to one, rub it an smell it in a all day hunt. None of those bucks were shooters 2-3 year olds.

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I guess we absolutely disagree.. which is ok

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[chris1976]

If it was an established sign post rub it would be much more worn. We have one on our farm the same size but it has 4 years worth of bucks rubbing it. Mostly rubs are indicators of where a buck has been. Large clusters of rubs means he has spent a little time there. Make a mock scrape in there and hang a cam. He will make an appearance if still alive. Good luck


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[Mike Belt]

I have a spot where one of my cameras has been hanging for the last month. I've placed it there every year for the last 5 years. It's inside the point of woods that sets at the end of a overgrown pasture. Yearly there's a big sign post rub with several more rubs in the same immediate area. Within a 75' diameter circle there's also 1/2 dozen scrapes that appear in the same spots yearly. I generally start one and then the bucks do the rest. Over the years I've filmed bookoos of different bucks using this area. I've had a bunch of pics of mature bucks but nothing over 135 inches. To look at the size of these scrapes and some of the rubs (especially the biggest of them) you'd think the granddaddy of them all was working in there. He may very well be but the size of his rack isn't what I had conjured it to be.

 

[megalomaniac]

cool rubs, neat to see. I've seen one that size here in MS, and two or three that size while on PI. I used to hunt rub lines when I was a kid, but have since given up on hunting them due to lack of success.

 

[Roost 1]

Some of this may vary depending on the area you are hunting. In
My neck of woods I see very few mature bucks that only score in the 130s. Most of our 3.5yrs will be high 20s and 30s.
It could be a fact that mature bucks rub these big trees and the size of racks on mature bucks will vary from area to area.
Just my opinion.

 

[redblood]

Bobcat or boar


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This is Bedford County, no boar or mountain lion here. Time marks are too wide to be bobcat claws. If bobcat would have made it there would multiple narrow parallel marks. I too looked for other possibilities. But it's in the vicinity of dozens of other large rubs. I know it's a deer, just not sure what it means,- why he is choosing to rub such large trees this late in rut. It was not here last week. I also know big rubs does not always mean big antlers.

 

[GRIT]

Have you seen any saplings or small branches broke on any trees around that area .
The first 2 pics not sure of them.But the rest of the pics it could be a good buck.That's not a Sign post rub.

 

[GRIT]

I found some trees like that about 5 years ago.Just all of a sudden they showed up about the first week of December.Killed him about 4 days later big heavy rack 10pt.

 

[Mike Belt]

Some of the rubs that are sign post rubs will be hour glassed shaped from repeated rubbing yearly.

 

[Roost 1]

Bobcat or boar


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This is Bedford County, no boar or mountain lion here. Time marks are too wide to be bobcat claws. If bobcat would have made it there would multiple narrow parallel marks. I too looked for other possibilities. But it's in the vicinity of dozens of other large rubs. I know it's a deer, just not sure what it means,- why he is choosing to rub such large trees this late in rut. It was not here last week. I also know big rubs does not always mean big antlers.

Bucks searching for late estrous does and getting aggressive.
I'd hunt it every chance I had from now til end of season or until I killed him.

 

[TNTreeman]

I hope it's a monster and you get him. That being said I have watched a small 6 pt tear a huge cedar up. He was barely wide enough for the cedar to go between but he gave that tree heck.

 

[little highriser]

Speaking from my experiences only, when I've found a BIG rub like that first one and no others around it is usually a sign post rub. Finding that many, that are in the same area I have learned that there is most likely a big dominant buck in the area marking his territory. I've really only seen this a few times in my 23 yrs of hunting. Good luck with him & have a great season.

^^This^^

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

Looks like you have a good buck using that area

 

[Deck78]

What I like better than a larger diameter tree that has been rubbed is a tree that has been rubbed very high up, waist high or higher. any buck can tackle a low rub on a tree, only a large, mature buck can get up high on a tree! Good luck, getting after him!!

 

[Bwales95]

I dont know this from experiance, but i was listening to a 2015 Dan Infalt podcast the other day and he was talking more about the height of the rub as opposed to the girth of the tree when trying to determine the size of the deer. Reasoning that old deer dont get as low as a younger deer. Its something i plan to pay more attention to.

 

[Rev3:20]

My area is full of big torn up sourwoods in the 8-14" diameter range, usually a line of them marking a major travel lane. Eastern red cedar sapplings about 1" diameter is the predominant velvet remover tool scattered about more randomly.

 

[Headhunter]

The farm I hunt in KY is covered up with rubs like that. Sure gives you confidence when you see them.