Thanks Moose1915, I have seen that strange phenomenon also. The big boy I think I'm dealing with has been mentioned in other post by myself. I named him Bullwinkle because of his enormous rack I got a glimpse of one day while he was chasing a lady. This guy just tears trees something aweful. I'm hoping to put my boy, Joe in his path this weekend. He's never seen a monster like him but he tells me he has a 100gr. 3 blade Muzzy waitin for him. Wish us well and keep the help line buzzing. You folks are great and willing to share your knowledge freely.

I agree with all posts here. Especially that big bucks wil rub small trees, and typically a small buck will not rub large trees. One thing to note FOR SURE though, is the height of the rub. Two years ago one of my buddies had a big rub appear in his area, amongst smaller ones, and this thing was nearly up to his forehead. He took a 165" 11 pointer in this area and yes, it was a big bodied, tall deer.

I agree with what's already been said. If you've got big rubs, you've got a bigger deer making them. I found a couple of big rubs (cedar trees 8 inches in diameter) just a few weeks ago on our families lease. I had a close encounter while bow hunting a few days later with a bruiser but it just didn't work out right to take the shot. Because of the extended hours that I work I wasn't getting much time to hunt. I told my dad to go sit in the same stand location near the two large rubs and you guessed it, he took a great looking 9 point over 19 inches inside that was visiting a scrape right by one of the rubs. Hunt the rub line and maybe you're son will get a chance at that monster. Good Luck!!

thanks jimpok for posting this ? have always been wondering about this to when I see a rub. Thanks guys for the responses

Rubs? A favorite scouting find indeed.

Here's my take: First of all, someone said that the longer the tines the higher up the tree the rub will go????? No, no, no, a buck rubs a tree primarily with his brow tines and the glands at the base of his tines. A bigger buck stands taller and that is why rubs that go higher up the tree "can" indicate a bigger buck. Secondly, look the rub over and try to understand what's going on around it. For example if a rub goes low to the ground such as within 3 or 4 inches of it, then a small buck made it because his antlers didn't prevent him from lowering his head so far. Another good thing to look for is branches close by the rubbed tree, if they are scraped lightly and sit about 6, 8 or 10 inches away from the primary rub you have another indication of tine length. Finally, I primarily use rubs to indicate to me that a good buck is in the area. I don't use them to pattern the deer at all. They, don't hit the same rubs everyday/night at the same time like they are on a schedule or a pattern. Rather, if you find the rubs, then find the food, you should have lots of does and that will bring you bucks.

Who wants to talk about scrapes? LOL

TBO

Bucks if pressured or if changing their travel routes will go in the opposite direction as the rubs when returning but, many if not most bucks who visit their made rub will travel the same direction as the rubs.

Thank you all for the education. I shall try this weekend to put it to good use. Weather forecast looks good for our plans and am pleased to know that the wind will be in our favor.

This is an older post but I have to add to this one because I was lucky enough to watch a buck make rubs this year. It was a nice 8 point, 15-16 inches wide with short tines, looked like a 2 1/2 year old buck. I rattled him in once to 50 yards and rattled again 10 minutes later and he came in to the base of the tree I was in. He stood for 5 minutes just looking. He walked 10 steps to a 2" tree and destroyed it! He rubbed for close to 20 minutes. Then he walked 10 more steps to my right and destroyed another 3" tree for 20 minutes. He was within 20 yards for close to 45 minutes! When he was done and gone, I got down to take a look at what he had done. The amount of damage he did looked like he was a monster but he wasn't he was only a 2 1/2 year old. I'm glad I didn't shoot him because he made it through the bow and gun season. I attached a picture I took last week of him. I'm now glad I didn't take him because he should be around for next year. I passed this buck a second time two days before gun season with a bow. It looks like he may have had a close call with a bullet from the look of mark on his back. I personally look for power pole size rubs and genearlly you can find a few if look around. This shows me that there are big deer around. I'm going to put the trail camera on one next week to see what I get a picture of.

i find that it depends how aggressive the deer is>

i agree with cougarmag the largest of rubs are made by the big dominant bucks