im from southern westchester county in southern new york. Last saturday i witnessed an very nice 8 pointer still with his antlers and he was making a rub. I was shocked. Does anybody have any in put.

i know you said 8 pointer but even a yong deer with proper nutrition can grow a nice rack - from the body structure of the deer did it look to be a mature buck or a yonder one. 2 OR 3. i know that the yonger bucks where i hunt act just plain stupid as far a making scapes and rubs. You'll find an area with a young buck and there will be a scrape every 15 yards throughout the season and some will continue to check their scrapes i have seen into Feb and March when I am checking my fox and coyote sets.

i have had Dirt hole sets for fox and coyotes on the edges of farm fields and had deer set off my trap - I am thinking that they thaught it was a scape from another deer in the area and check it out and while pawing at it set the trap off.

It's usually a little later than this, but I find when the days are as long as they are in the pre rut ... like right now, I start finding a lot of scrapes and the occasional rub. I think its is a hard wired thing in deer.

Yep, I noticed a fresh rub AND scrape the other day when I was out and about. I have noticed this a lot over the years, though. Some deer here in PA don't lose their horns until they start the new set in march. And some of the yearling does are coming into "season" right about this time of the year. Explains the spotted deer seen in early Nov.! Late born fawns from the Feb. and March breeding![]