Biggest Rub!
 

Hi everyone,

I really hate to post a picture of a rub, but I couldn't help myself. I was out looking for sheds this weekend. I knew there was a nice whitetail in the area. I followed some pretty nice rubs into what I think is his bedding area based off I had to get on my hands and knees and crawl into it. Once in there I got up and bam in my face was the biggest rub I have ever seen. There must have been 60 rubs in a 1-2 acre spot. Most were on trees about 4 inches in diameter. The funny thing; is it within 200 yds from where all the fly fisherman and hikers park and have pinics. Smart buck. Most people just walk by and would never think he was in there. Probably just sits there watching everyone. Not sure just how big he is since it's illegal to set up cams on state land here in MT. But based off the rubs and his track he's a big one. Enjoy thought I would share.

Weird,...I've never really seen a rub like that. Usually the deer around here rub off a whole area of the trunk, not just a few gouges....

Possibly the deer got spooked as it was working his magic?

I say its a giant mountain cougar that made the scratches... that's just my opinion though. ;)

Definitely a big rub!

Finding rubs is cool...not seeing the big buck is not! lol trust me I know...I had lots of rubs around where I was hunting never saw the buck/s lol maybe next season :D thanks for sharing!

I've seen enouogh to know it's a whitetail. Sometimes they come up and hit the tree with just their brows.

My gut would have said cat too, based on the "peel down" at the bottom of the rub. I guess the pictures just don't do it justice.

I'm with you on a deer.. looks like one or two rakes...maybe got scared off by a bigger buck...or human.
not enough marks to be a big cat.

this is one I found AFTER hunting season...its completely down to wood and I never saw the buck or got him on game camera...just tracks

It's not a cat just to lay that to rest. I've been in the woods my whole life and know what cat and bear marks on a tree are. Plus this was 1 1/2 ft off the ground. Most of the cat marks I see on trees are like 4ft and above. Plus the distance between the marks are two wide. And the other 50 rubs next to it tell me it was a deer.

are there any trees good for a climbing stand? I know where I would be scouting next hunting season!:)

Oh yeah there all over the place

I would say this is a big buck. Or . . . a mischievous neighbor!

I to really don't believe it's a deer rub, all the rubs I have ever encountered have raked the whole tree. The only way I really see this as being a whitetail rub is if his browtines are longer that any of the other tines..
What leads me to believe it's a cat or bear is the tree or four small marks in the tree towards the top.

Gotta go with deernutz on this one, & sometimes they are disturbed during the rub, thus leaving it incomplete.

Ok I'll have to settle this. I'm headed back out there again this weekend to looks for horns I'll take better pics. I've seen dozens of rubs like this in area in WI that doean't have bears or cats.

It's a big rub no doubt and appears to be the brow tines that did it with some darker area on the bark in between that is probably off his periorbital glands on the forehead.

Ok a couple more photos. One of the same tree farther away, and other rubs within 30 yds of this big one. Didn't find any sheds but found the remains of 4 does. Yotes must have had a field day this winter when we had snow. One was weird though. I thought it was bedded and it was dead. No marks on it. No blood just dead. Hope EHD hasn't made its way down here.

ok it is a rub. i have seen them many times just like this one. they are always on large trees. the reason is because the buck does not understand that his browl tines are not wide enough apart to allow a tree of that size in between them so he can rub it. therefore all the marks he can leave are made from the tips of the browls and/or cheater/sticker points around the browl area.

EHD is not around right now. you had the cold that was needed to kill it. deer die from EHD with in a few days of being infected.