Rub line leaving buck beds

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Net Guy
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Rub line leaving buck beds

Unread postby Net Guy » Sat Aug 05, 2017 12:04 am

Dan - In your most recent podcast, you mentioned to keep searching for good rub lines leaving buck beds. I believe you mentioned something about a lot of your mature bucks do that, which help you with figuring out the direction(s) they like to leave the beds. You were describing this while talking about hill country. I hunt think tamarack and tag alder swamps in the northwoods, but I can't seem to find well defined rub lines leaving buck beds. They are sporadic.

Could this be because I just haven't found the right spots yet (probably), or does deer/buck density (Low) play into this as well? The deer density in the northwoods is obviously lower than central and southern WI, so I'm wondering if due to lack of competition, these mature bucks don't rub as much?

Thank you,


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Re: Rub line leaving buck beds

Unread postby Jeff G » Sat Aug 05, 2017 12:36 am

the best rub lines will appear from primary bedding areas. You may not have located a primary area that gets used year long. You may be in seasonal bedding.

Less deer equals less competition. When they had the cwd in Southern WI we noticed a lot more primary buck beds without rubs in them. You definitely knew it was a buck bed, but it did not have the rub as in past years.

look for the small sign, the big boys don't always tear up the place.
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Re: Rub line leaving buck beds

Unread postby Divergent » Sat Aug 05, 2017 5:04 pm

Net Guy wrote:Dan - In your most recent podcast, you mentioned to keep searching for good rub lines leaving buck beds. I believe you mentioned something about a lot of your mature bucks do that, which help you with figuring out the direction(s) they like to leave the beds. You were describing this while talking about hill country. I hunt think tamarack and tag alder swamps in the northwoods, but I can't seem to find well defined rub lines leaving buck beds. They are sporadic.

Could this be because I just haven't found the right spots yet (probably), or does deer/buck density (Low) play into this as well? The deer density in the northwoods is obviously lower than central and southern WI, so I'm wondering if due to lack of competition, these mature bucks don't rub as much?

Thank you,


I find most of the hill country rub lines at higher elevations. If you find clusters, they're usually in two places. 1) staging area 2) Falling thermal hub. Sporadic rubs at lower elevations don't usually give a lot of intel because they're likely made at night while feeding. Start with secondary points that lead to early season food. These are the ones that seem to be easiest to pattern and kill.
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Re: Rub line leaving buck beds

Unread postby dan » Sat Aug 05, 2017 8:50 pm

Actually, I look for the bedding 1st... I confirm direction of travel with rubs and trails. Often in low density bucks don't rub much, especially mature ones around there beds. Usually heavy rublines around bedding mean a 2 or 3 year old. Competition is definatly part of it.

If you seek out the rublines you will get frustrated for sure. They don't always come or go to bedding. There are lots of reasons and spots buck rub at. In a lot of cases they also tend to end a 100 yards or more from the beds. So finding the beds 1st, rublines to confirm travel direction is a much better method.


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