Free: Contests & Raffles.
Well the bucks at my place rubbed every single new tree planted this year! If they are in a straight line from where he beds he must sleep at the bottom of my pond. I usually think of blacktail rubs like a dog marking his territory. Every tree next to a trail or opening was rubbed. Still don't know why he busted up the magnolia trees in the front yard though....
yeah I know it isnt a straight line. It makes sense that he would just pick random trees as he wanders to feed. the rubs I found look fresh.
From what I've seen they pick locations based on relation and visibillity(scent or sight) to the areas the does frequent. (not sure how to convery what I mean in words).For instance a place I was at this last week. There is a large clear cut now filled with 5 to 6 foot trees. It has a road up the middle and then a road along the large timber up one side. The roads make a pretty decent circle. Every 100 yards or so along both roads there was a rub. On the middle road it was the small firs. On the road along the big timber it was the alders in the ditch. The rubs continued off the end of the road out into the cut along the main trail in that direction.I see this alot. Rubs just more or less randomly spread around the areas does frequent. Or along the top of a ridge, or down a finger ridge. Places of likely doe travel, good visibillity to areas does frequent, ect........So maybe a buck would get up from bed and make rubs as he moved toward the areas the does feed, but It seems to me the rubs are more along the travel lanes the bucks take moving to and around the areas does frequent while they are cruising for does.Doesnt seem to be a rub on your way to breakfast type deal, but I could see that interpretation given the bucks tend toward the areas the does feed, cause thats where the does are.It also seems to me that if a rub is along a travel route and a buck passes, he may investigate and rub it more. His or not. But it doesnt seem that the bucks head out with the intent to revisit/refresh existing rubs, or that they purposefully maintain a "rub line". Seems to me its more a thing of oportunity.
Rubs are made for different reasons but when it comes to the breeding cycle, or the rut, rubs play a signifcant role in social status for both bucks and does in any given area. I contend that the "rut" kicks off the day bucks shed velvet which can be as early as late August but is typically the first week or so in September. During the month of September bucks are still in their summer social groups and will hang together to feed and bed, and will often start light sparring and generally getting the hang for their new headgear. This is the early stages of setting up the pecking order and it will ramp through October as more testosterone comes into play, causing the urge to breed.There are rubs to shed velvet, there are signpost rubs that communicate social status, there are on-the-spot rubs to vent pent up frustration and angst, and there are rub concentrations in what I call "Rut Zones" that signify a frenzy of annual rutting activity, typically in the same areas annually (unless they get logged or developed!)Here's my 6-part on post-season scouting (primarily for blacktails):http://www.outdoorblog.net/pnwbowhunting/2011/04/05/deer-post-season-scouting-6-part-series/I put this video clip together last year to help shed some light on the topic. Hope you find it helpful.Blacktail Rubbing, Forehead Gland Scent
