Scrapes, but hardly any rubs..

[MUP]

BSK might weigh in on this, but I've seen a couple of posts now about guys seeing scrapes, but little if any rubs. The same is true of my place this year. I would suspect this is a sign of transient or shifting bucks coming into the area.

 

[Boll Weevil]

For what it's worth, not sure what it means really, but I typically see far more scrapes than rubs year after year. At this point (at least where I hunt) it's the norm as opposed to the exception.

 

[MUP]

We normally see rubs accompanied with the scrapes, not hundreds of course, but some scattered along in between and around. This year, I've found one rub, but several scrapes. Just seems a little odd.

 

[ImThere]

Same here. I seen many rubs earlier, less scrapes. Now the oppsite.
Scrapes everywhere not many fresh rubs

 

[BSK]

BSK might weigh in on this, but I've seen a couple of posts now about guys seeing scrapes, but little if any rubs. The same is true of my place this year. I would suspect this is a sign of transient or shifting bucks coming into the area.

I'm not sure it means anything in particular, but this is the pattern I'm seeing as well. Tons of scrapes, unusually low number of rubs. My place usually experiences an extraordinary density of rubs (5,000+/square mile). Yet this year, I've found just a handful.

 

[Andy S.]

.....but this is the pattern I'm seeing as well. Tons of scrapes, unusually low number of rubs.

x2 in my neck of the woods for the majority of areas I have walked. I've talked to two other accomplished hunters who have put a lot of boot leather down scouting in the last few weeks and they are saying the same thing. I did manage to find an area this weekend that had a good concentration of scrapes and rubs in an area no bigger than an acre. Out of the 20 or so rubs, most were the size of my thumb or smaller, some broke over, and there were two or three that were a tad bigger, golf ball size or thereabouts.

 

[7mminatree]

I'm reversed, finding lots of fresh rubs very little scrapes.

 

[Mike Belt]

I've hunted the same land for the last 8 or so years and at first I thought it was just an anomaly that I found so many scrapes and so few rubs. Now it seems that's the norm for that area. Typically in other areas I find many more rubs and then begin seeing scrapes. Here I find a few scrapes followed by a lull and then a flurry of scraping activity with only an occasional rub. In fact I find more rubs later into the gun season than I do in the more traditional time frame and over half of them are some of the biggest rubs I find during the year.

 

[CDUB]

Same here. Only found some early velvet rubs. No big rut rubs. Bet there was some made over the weekend though. The cold front put the bucks in an aggressive mood. Don't know what's different this year. Deer are weird animals.

 

[BSK]

Deer are weird animals.

Yes they are!