I did a little late season scouting today. I was just thinking I hadn't seen any rubs when I noticed this one. I had been looking at the wrong size trees.
Any speculation on what age/size buck would rub on a tree this large?
impressive rub
- Thread starter tahtah
- Start date
I did a little late season scouting today. I was just thinking I hadn't seen any rubs when I noticed this one. I had been looking at the wrong size trees.
Any speculation on what age/size buck would rub on a tree this large?
mayberryrick
Well-Known Member
Possibly a bear or big cat....
I should've added, this is in middle TN. Not likely either.
Bears are places you don't think they would be.
Shed Hunter
Well-Known Member
Deer. I've seen a few rubs that size in diameter
I'm not sure why a deer decides what size tree it wants to rub, and would speculate even some massive oak trees are "rubbed" but too strong barked to ever tell. With all of that said a key think to realize it could easily even be a smaller deer that was hyping himself up.. or whatever he was trying to prove
I'm not sure why a deer decides what size tree it wants to rub, and would speculate even some massive oak trees are "rubbed" but too strong barked to ever tell. With all of that said a key think to realize it could easily even be a smaller deer that was hyping himself up.. or whatever he was trying to prove
Boone25/06
Well-Known Member
If not a bobcat I would guess a smaller spike or fork horn buck due to the lack of any rubbing on sides of tree.
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
I've seen several that size over the years. The first one I saw, I thought bobcat, like a scratching post. But I could not find evenly spaced "claws" and concluded a deer to me. Couple years later, I saw a big buck at LBL "tickle" a tree that size and made those exact markings. Unfortunately for me, my muzzleloader wouldn't fire at him.
Weird. Some of those scratches are way above the rifle muzzle, so 4ft up? Thats really high for buck rub. I have no idea what else it could be, or what it is or isn't. Just weird. The scratches look deep.
The scratches are wide enough that I could put my fingertip into them and about an 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep. Whatever did it (I'm assuming a large buck) was working off some frustration. As far as the height, I obviously added the rifle for perspective. The highest point of the scratches is not too high for a typical buck rub. It could be the angle that makes it look that way.
Like Boone25/06 noted, I also noticed no scratching along the outside of the tree. Maybe he was rubbing it straight on with his brow tines. Don't know, but I'd sure love lay eyes on whatever it was.
Like Boone25/06 noted, I also noticed no scratching along the outside of the tree. Maybe he was rubbing it straight on with his brow tines. Don't know, but I'd sure love lay eyes on whatever it was.
BSK
Well-Known Member
I've seen quite a few rubs that size, and they are always on pine, cedar or beech trees.
Although once created, every buck that comes along will rework a large rub, only mature bucks initiate them.
Although once created, every buck that comes along will rework a large rub, only mature bucks initiate them.
LY
Well-Known Member
I used to have pics of over a dozen Beech trees that were a lot bigger than that one marked up just like and more. They were all in one area and in a drain leading up between two cutovers.
Rakkin6
Well-Known Member
Honestly I have never seen one like that. I was thinking bear at first but since so many have said they have seen that before I will go with that.
Seen similar. Never was for certain it was a deer, but assumed it was. Put a camera on the line after finding these, but never had a big deer pass by and no deer rubbed these again
.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Back when I did my decade-long rub research program, I found it interesting that as the size of the rubbed tree increased, the list of species bucks used decreased. Rubs on finger sized trees were pretty representative of the species available, but once rubbed trees increased to a couple of inches in diameter, the list of species used dropped to six. For 9+ inch trees, the list was down to just 3 species.
All deer will use it i have seen spikes rubbing on trees bigger than tbey were lol
I would say the original guy was pretty big .but its impossible to know for sure
That would seem to indicate that they're rubbing for show, creating something they want to be seen. I've heard a lot of arguments over reasons bucks rub, with some pretty crazy ones from bucks rubbing tree scent on their head & antlers so they smell good for the ladies, to using the trees as a piece of gym equipment so they can work their neck muscles. The most logical I've heard was that they are polishing antlers, or they're leaving forehead gland scent to mark territory.
One thing I do know for certain is that some of those gouges are quite deep. I have a sawmill and know exactly how resilient that bark is. It takes some determination to work it up like that. Logs don't get that tore up from me rolling them around with a hook to position them n the mill.
BSK
Well-Known Member
For 3+ inch trees: maple, poplar, cedar, pine, beech, red oak. For 9+ inch diameter trees: cedar, pine, beech.
IMO rubs on the place in Giles Co and Lincoln Co. where overrated . While I would find rubs they were almost nonexistent but bucks wasn't , in the east part of the state I could see plenty of rubs but not many bucks so I learned to never be excited to see nor not to get down with rubs as buck sign. Once on the Giles place in one morning hunt in a wooded area I seen seven different bucks using the area I hunted but all out that ridge top to the saddle I was hunting I found only one rub no scrapes .
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2020
- Messages
- 6,672
Just FYI, both of those rubs are beech. 
HTROutdoors
Member
Thats Not a deer! 100% sure of it! Mountain lion bobcat or bear! I have seen a mountain lion in cane ridge while hunting before on my old bosses place! So I know and the homeowners in that area no the are there!
She must have got caught with the neighbor
Interesting. A few years before I found these scratches or rubs I found what I thought could have been mountain lion tracks in mud. They were about 4 inches wide, too big to be a bobcat. At that time the stance from the state was denial, "big cats don't exist here and if they did it would be a good thing, they would kill wild hogs". I had pics of those tracks on another phone, but will see if I can find them. I had little doubt before the state reversed its position on the presence of cats that we had one move through these bottoms. We were between some of the confirmed sightings in western part of the state.
Managed to find the track pics. The pad with three distinct lobes made me think cat. Size rules out bobcat. These were in 2014. While from everything I have read cats don't usually have their claws out on the ground, seems some "experienced" people say they do sometimes use them to get better traction on surfaces like soft mud. Makes sense.
BSK
Well-Known Member
For a decade I ran an extensive study on rub densities and distribution in the ridge-and-hollow hardwoods of western Middle TN. What I found is that rub numbers are highly variable from year to year, and closely linked to acorn production. Big acorn years usually see lots of rubbing. Poor acorn years lead to low rub densities. Others have observed the same thing for studies run in oak-hickory environments. Although no one really knows why, it is assumed to be an "excess energy" thing. In years with abundant acorns, bucks have a lot more high fat foods to eat hence lots of excess energy resources to burn. This may allow them to do a lot more rubbing. In a poor acorn year, no excess energy reserves results in less rubbing.
