skybuster20ga

sorry friend but thats an incorrect statement.......or i should say only half incorrect. the first half is true but the second half, "small bucks canot make big rubs" is not true. ive tracked my bucks everyyear and i dunno how many times ive caught a "small buck" rubbing a 6 or 7 inch diam. tree! all deer have different personalities. much like ppl do. some young bucks thing they are kings and pick on the bigest gnarliest tree in the woods while others rub smaller inch size saplings. what i look for to determing how "big a buck" is by a rub, which ill say is not a really good method of sizing a buck anywyas, is to guage how high off the ground it is. and how long the rub itself is. older bigger bucks also USUALLY have junk around the bases that really tear a tree up wear younger bucks dont so much and tend more to "shine" a teee rather then tear it up. look for tine marks and such.

but like i said a rub really is a piss poor indication of how big a buck his. the best method for me when tracking is to look at the stride of the track and the width of the hoove. the legnth doesnt really mean much w/ me. ive tracked bucks that have long feet only to find a light weight spindley 6 or 8 pt staring me in the face. like tall lanky teenagers w/ size 15 shoes young buckj can have long toes. i also look at the stagger of the track. a big buck has a big chest, his track will be staggerd and toed out pretty hard.

the next thing ill look for is to see where the buck fed on some ferns or dug for some acorns or beech nuts and see where he stcuk his horns in the snow. thats a real good indicator of how wide and how many points he has. ill look for beds too, big bucks leave big beds. theres tons of sign i look for that i could ever possably list them all.

sorry i went on a rant but i get right into big bucks man! lol