rubs
 

is there any truth to rub line hunting, has anybody had any success bowhunting on a rub line?

RE: rubs
 

I've never walked up with tunnel vision to a rub line and said "Ooo I gotta hunt this!" Ok maybe in my younger years.[&:] The times I have had success with them was when topography laid out stellar, distance from bedding and feeding was right, time of year called for the location, multiple deer sign was evident, and a few other things I cant put my finger on. I don't ignore them, but I rarely hunt over them.

RE: rubs
 

The rub lines I hunt our on acorn flats that our dropping nuts and the deer have it all tore up under the trees and buck rubs every where you look hot spot in my book.

RE: rubs
 

I have found that rub lines are more active in the middle of the night rather than regulation hunting hours. I tend to focus on where their bedding area / feeding areas are. Just my opinion.

RE: rubs
 

Usually try to start hunting funnels off of main trails during the early season.
Then i try to switch to rub lines just before the rut.I have had my best luck hunting rub lines betwen food plots and bedding just before the rut. Then i try to setup on fresh scrapes during the rut. Then after the rut has wound down and it is getting late i hunt food sources.

RE: rubs
 

One thing I've learned about rubs is that a small buck can make one hell of a rub making you think it's mature. I wouldn't have believed it but I watched this little six point do a number on a 10in round scrub oak. As for rub lines I'm with everyone else. I think they are more active at night. A good place to put a game cam though.

RE: rubs
 

I think way to much emphasis is put on hunting rubs and scrapes.

To be honest, I haven't put a stand over a rub or scrape on purpose in 3 years or so. But rubs and scrapes always appear near my stands once the pre rut / rut kicks. I think if you are hunting a rub or a cluster of rubs that is already there you are just to late. You already missed out on the fresh sign and you are now hunting old deer sign.

People hunt rubs and scrapes during the rut and I just don't feel that concept. Rubs and scrapes are old news during the rut. He has other things on his mind he is running does while Joe bowhunter is hunting a month old rub line that goes to a feeding source or along a field edge while the bucks are chasing does through that funnel back in the timber. Deer patterns change constantly. When that buck made that rub line a month ago it is a very real possibility, ( a gimmie) that he was on a totally different pattern the first week of Oct. when he made the rub line than he will be the first week of Nov.

IMO the only "rub line" worth hunting is one coming directly out of a secure bedding area.

Just my opinions, take it with a grain of salt;)

RE: rubs
 

I have done ok with rub lines. But you have to know the woods well and look at the big picture. Rublines coming in and out of bedding areas hunted real close to the bedding area can be very hot. Sombody mentioned big rubs being made by little bucks, I have seen this also...BUT, big bucks rub heights will be consitintly higher than little bucks. In the midwest where I do most of my hunting, I look for rubs where the middle of the rubbed portion is bellie high. I also look close to see where tines are hitting above the rub, indicating tine lenths.

RE: rubs
 

Last year I found a rub on a very large Red pine on my farm. I set my deer cam on it and got some really good pictures of a 150 class buck. He hit the rub two nights in a row at around midnight. He must of got sick of the flash because that was the only time I got him on film.

RE: rubs
 

I have had luck hunting rub lines when they were used in conjuction with other sign present in the immediate area. They are generally only one piece of the puzzle.