ORIGINAL: psebwhntr16
I've always had better luck hunting active scrapes thanI have on rublines. To be honest, I've never put much research into rublines, but have noticed that alot of the mature deer in my area just go around nocturnally making rubs to strengthen muscles and let out aggression during the pre-rut and then start making and returning to scrapes when the does start going into heat in early November.
Just the opposite for me. In my 13yrs of hunting I have only seen 1 buck on a scrape during the day and he was the biggest deer I've ever seen. It was Halloween evening and the wind was blowing hard and my stand was about 23 yrds south of this scrape. I happened to look over and there he was.I just about fell out of my stand. He would've scored in the 180's easily. There was nothing I could do. If I would've stood up to get my bow he would've nailed me for sure. I just had to sit there and watch him walk away.
There is more to rubs than a deer letting out aggression and building neck muscles. They are also leaving there scent. Just like a dog peeing on a tree. The are also visual tools for every deer that comes across them.
I'm going to spend my season really focusing on rub lines in the pre-rut this year. Especially the last two weeks of October and right before the seek phase.
If anyone else hunts rub lines or has theories on this topic I want to hear them. I will have these pictures up tonight. I'm going to my sisters to use her scanner to upload these pics.