Antler Scrapes? Shed hunting trip #2 - Skunked

[Smossy]

Got skunked today on our 6 mile hike/shed hunting adventure, Seen lots of good signs. Heres a few pictures for ya.
New to everything but these looked pretty obvious to me, Just want to see what everyone else says.
Are they antler scrapes or what? They're pretty fresh looking, the sap was just starting to drain from them so I imagine it was within the last few days, and There was fresh shavings on the ground in that last pictures. Like I said, Looked pretty fresh, What says you? They we're about waist/stomach height.

[buglebuster]

Bear peel!

[Tradhunter]

Looks like a blacktail rub to me and most likely made last fall-early winter. The sap will start appearing now rather than middle of winter as the trees are dormant. They only produce sap in spring as the growing season is coming back. A bear will usually start from the very bottom. Keep lookin for the sheds as they most likely are not far from there unless you are in a migration area.

[Smossy]

Looks like a blacktail rub to me and most likely made last fall-early winter. The sap will start appearing now rather than middle of winter as the trees are dormant. They only produce sap in spring as the growing season is coming back. A bear will usually start from the very bottom. Keep lookin for the sheds as they most likely are not far from there unless you are in a migration area.

Thanks man, yeah we looked for about 4 hours give or take. The vegetation is reaaaly thick so it made it rough. Found easily over 70-80 piles of deer/elk scat. Some were quite old and lacking color. Some were pretty fresh and soft with lots of life in them. Just followed as many tracks/piles as we could with no success. Found signs of bear and lots of coyote. Didnt see a single animal though even in the clearings. Mighta been a bit to loud :chuckle;

[birdstew]

Bear peel!

[bigtex]

Bear peel!

[Smossy]

I doubt it was a bear. I googled bear peels and they look nothing like that:.

[h20hunter]

Smossy....Mr. Bear may have just been testing the tree.....a little scratch and taste test to see if there is any yummy sugar yet.

Any deeper more narrow cuts? Those do look pretty wide.....

[Smossy]

Smossy....Mr. Bear may have just been testing the tree.....a little scratch and taste test to see if there is any yummy sugar yet.

Really? I thought everyone was just pullin my leg. I got some other pictures that are on my ladies camera ill post later. Were gonna play name that scat!

[h20hunter]

Oh man.....most folks on here love a good pic o' poo. Post it up man!

[Smossy]

Smossy....Mr. Bear may have just been testing the tree.....a little scratch and taste test to see if there is any yummy sugar yet.

Any deeper more narrow cuts? Those do look pretty wide.....

Not that i seen, after finding those i kinda combed the area but there such an abbundance of tracks/scat and weird stuff that with my lack of experience its hard to identify most of it unless it was a blatent as deer tracks in the mud.

[h20hunter]

Considering how obvious a deer track is I find bear track much harder to spot. Look for the smooth spots where the pad of the foot presses.....

[elk247]

Dosent look like deer to me.

[Tradhunter]

Definately deer or a slight possibility of a small bull rub. If it was a bear there would be more consistant scratches or teeth marks. Plus...it never got down to the cambium layer which is precicely what a bear would be after although it is getting close the prime age/diameter of tree for bear to choose if it had the option. Anyway, looks like a blunt object scratched it to me? Just my thoughts...I could be wrong

[Skyvalhunter]

Remember to find a place where there is lots of feed. Doesn't look like much there although they will eat that bracken fern.

[Axle]

Bear claws from last year. Deer don't normally rub trees that large and when they do - they don't like branches all around like that. It's too inconvenient for a deer rub.

[Turner89]

Bear claws from last year. Deer don't normally rub trees that large and when they do - they don't like branches all around like that. It's too inconvenient for a deer rub.

[Tradhunter]

Very true and good observation Axle. Who knows, I have seen blacktails destroy 16-18'' diameter alders but most damage I tend to see is relatively light rubbing like that pic shows but you could be up to something with the branches? I am a forester and the bear damage I usually run accross tends to be peeled off chuncks, small or the whole tree and some times the top third of 20'' diameter Doug firs, interupted three last year 40' up in the tree, pretty fun! Well if im wrong I guess that explains why I am partially giving up bowhunting big blacktails!

[Smossy]

Im sure there are plenty of places to feed and bed. These was taken about 500 yards from where that tree was found.

[Smossy]

And these were found EVERYWHERE..... Large piles, scatted all through out the place. Some were just random drops here and there.. Some were the size of a nickle, Some were dime size. The largest piles were about dime size and real dark. Im gonna head out there next week and take more photos.