A stupid question is the one not asked, right?
 

Ok, so, yes, my son and I are noobies, but, I gotta ask this question. This afternoon, we went to retrieve my climbing stand that I left last night on a piece of our property that we hadn't really scouted before. After looking around, we realized we were in some serious deer, buck area. Lots of droppings, lots of rubs in some really thick stuff. We found two trees that looked the same in the middle of several rubs. My question is, do bucks ever get up on their hind legs and scrape a tree? Look at these pics! What you don't see is that just above the scraped area is bark untouched, i checked, this tree is still alive. What caused this??

I don't think bucks do that. It would be very unusual to see a buck do that.

Ditto. I've seen rubs hip-high, but not higher than that. I HAVE seen bucks get on their hind legs to grab tree branches when making or servicing a scrape.

Keep that kid involved!

Do you have any moose there, or bear?

The tree died and the bark is shedding off naturally! That's all. Hunt by the tracks, they'll probably come by before dark....

that was kindof my thought, maybe it was last years rub, then the tree died, and the bark started coming off going up the tree. It really looks weird, with bark attached at the bottom and the top.

one looks like natural de-barking..but the one that looks like a corn stalk looks like a good rub...i have seen deer basically layin the tree over to get in between the crevices, and when they are done the lil tree will pop back up, not braking. and looking like a big buck, but was actually a 4 point. lol we had good fun with that one.

That's not a rub or bear scrape. Looks like the tree died and now the bark is shedding. When looking at scrapes on trees, regardless of what did it, you should see little vertical indentations in the tree from whatever is doing it, ie, antlers or claws. I've seen several bear rubs on trees, but they are not so long, usually in just one area of the tree.

Never ever hesitate to ask a question. I ask questions all the time... even when I know I have a strong grasp on what's being asked about. That way I "just" may get an answer that broadens my understanding. Many men with egos don't like to ask questions. Let the ego go and the mind will expand!

Good luck and it's great to see you are taking your son out there too. He'll be thankful for that for many years, you introducing him to the deer woods!

iSnipe

were are you in East TN the only thing that could do that here is ELK I need to see a better pic. Pic looks like tree is dying and the bark is pealing off cant see no dig marks in the tree from these pics

If you look at the 2nd picture, you can see another tree behind it. I'm not sure how far apart they may be, but seems they are close enough that if something big, like an elk, did that, I would think he would push the smaller front tree back towards the tree in back, thus getting some rub activity on it as well.

Didn't check to see where the OP(Original Poster) was located and if there are elk there.

iSnipe

We have elk in some parts o Tn but as I look it is not a rub it is just tree bark peeling off

We are just down the road from ya in Roane county, Kingston. We saw plenty of real rubs, but these just really caught our eye. The weird thing is that the bark is still attached like normal above and below this. Whatever it is, there is definitely deer here. We've already decided we are going to put up another buddy stand on this end of our property for next year. I think it appears that the trails go up towards a field not far away.

Porcupine maybe?

I've got another question, now that you've seen what our land looks like from the picture, granted, it's not much of a picture, but I think you get the idea. We had our land logged approximately 14 years ago, and we now have thousands of these small saplings about the size of your wrist. I'm thinking about putting up another buddy stand for my son and I close to this thicket(The one in the picture is probably extra thick compared to the others). The only problem is that it would be upwind of them most of the time. I think they are possibly bedding down in this thicket area and going up about a quarter mile to some large fields to feed. Any thoughts on this? Thanks

I would say lighting on that shredded up one.

Through your scouting you should determine a common trail from the bedding area to where they feed or go otherwise from the bedding area.
I would situate a stand on such a trail but not too close to the bedding area.
Bedding areas should be regarded as undisturbed sanctuary area where the deer feel safe. If disturbed in those bedding areas they usually change and it might take them 3 days or more to come back.Good luck... I'm sure you'll pattern these deer in time.