Looks like someone might have been having a hatchet throwing contest somewhere near that tree!

http://huntingmassachusetts.blogspot.com

Could be a rub. I have saw rubs on telephone poles and those are large in diameter also. Made by a mature deer for sure. If you say you have big ones around it surely could be a rub. Beams come around the tree and hit the backside too. Hopefully he you will see if it indeed is a buck!

X2 on trail cam idea. I think big cat or Bear, not a deer.

Googled images bear scratches on trees and these don't match those. Then googled images mountain lion scratches on trees and came up with this.

Live it up! Deerwoods Doug

"They don't look quite right." DoeTrain

+1


Love to see trail cam photos !

The front side where the tree bark is rubbed off pretty good looks like a Deer/Buck but the back side where it's wide and good and deep doesn't match up to be a Deer?Depends on what State You live in...could be a Bear tearing up the same tree?


Where are You Located...what State?

I would set up a trail camera to see whats working that tree to find out for sure...right now the Bucks are making ground scrapes and rubbing the tree's also...not anything that Big but they have hit some pretty decent size tree's depending on the age and size of the Bucks?I have a trail camera set up over 3 different ground scrapes and You would be surprised at all the different Animals that scent check it and cross there.I have pic's of Racoons,many different size Bucks,Doe's,Fawns and several Coyotes checking out the very same scrape.

http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/atta...fing-deer1.jpg


Is that a gnome right of center in pic #1!!

I've looked at these photos long and, perhaps, a little too hard. I've got to go w/ "not quite right".
Now, I have seen rubs on trees that large before so it's not the size that throws me, but the edges seems very definite-less "rubbed" and more cut-particularly the second two photos.
It may be a broken tine?
Get a trailcam up if you can.

Hunted in the Adirondaks, and all across the Southern Tier of New York state for over 30 years, and something doesn't look right.
What kind of tree/bark is that??

it could be signs from poachers looking for left behind tree stands.

Perhaps both a buck rub and bear/cat claws? For sure, a deer did not make those claw marks. I have seen similar marks on apple trees that bears clawed up.