Sighn post rubs

[Singing Bridge]

Are these sign post rubs less common in areas where young bucks are doing most of the breeding?

I'm going to try not to give a confusing answer here. I've found lots of trees that multiple young bucks have rubbed, but it isn't what I call a sign post. Others may.

When I say a sign post rub, I'm talking a big and tall rub that is very obvious wasn't made by a young buck... the kind of rub you hope to find and know it when you see it.

So to summarize, you are exactly right... sign post rubs are much less common in areas where young bucks are doing most of the breeding.

So if I'm analyzing this correctly. All age classes of bucks will use/rework/walk nearby other bucks rubs. I know in the bigwoods, magic talks about sign post type rubs showing up where mature bucks territories over lap. And if I'm remembering correctly, so did the Benoits and Hal Blood mention something similar. It's usually some combination of terrain features. That forces deer travel to intersect in certain places. Thus the sign post rub.

So does this same thing cause the younger bucks to rub there also, or are their's more random? As far as when the older bucks are almost non existent. Course like you said higher rubs are the key for the mature bucks.

Magic and the others are right on the money. Going more in-depth, however, there are other situations that cause these sign post rubs. The territories overlapping will have sign post rubs and just as you described, terrain features will often have deer intersecting in certain places which leads to a sign post rub.

So what is another scenario, where terrain features have bucks intersecting on paths but it isn't due to territories overlapping? I'm going to give you a rut / doe example. Quite often I will locate several doe bedding areas inside a huge swamp that aren't really all that far apart... perhaps on open and mature timbered islands and points inside the swamps. When the bucks begin cruising to check on the doe families, they will often intersect the primary runs going in and out of doe bedding areas to check ground and airborne scent. Sometimes i find a rub at the buck / doe trail intersection, sometimes I only find a scrape... other times I find nothing there at all. Nothing major so far... but when terrain features line in more than one big buck and their trails intersect... I find sign post rubs here. Instead of territories simply overlapping, The bucks are "lining in" on trails that intersect other buck trails in order to be near the doe families.

Hopefully that makes sense-

[cspot]

I’ve found signpost rubs in Michigan swamps since I was a kid. I’ve also monitored what I call a signpost “area” in Michigan swamps. I will get a video up for you when I have time of your requested signpost rub.

The signpost “area” with a single rub tipped me off to the buck I killed on heavy pressure Public last fall. I will get into more when I can, dang these high school kids!

Football, Pom... on and on. And they keep asking for money!!

Are you using these signpost rubs more for just knowing there is a good buck in the area and not so much for hunting over? Here is one that has been hit the last 3 years by our camp (left side of pic). Even though this is a daylight pic, I seldom get daylight pics on it. Lot of bucks will "check" it out even though a lot don't rub on it. I just put a camera on it last year once I realized that it had been hit the 2 years previous. Already have a camera on it for this year also. Should hopefully get action soon.

Untitled by cspot12, on Flickr

Lot's of guys report taking bucks over them and I don't doubt it. For me personally, I use them to give me an idea of age class and size of the buck. If the rub is fresh it does indeed tell me that a good buck is in the area (and hopefully he hasn't departed yet.)

Like any other buck rub I find, I relate it to buck bedding that I scouted in the offseason (Some swamps I've hunted for decades), or if I am not familiar with the area I analyze topos and aerials along with perimeter recons (In season scouting). I hunt immediately, especially during the rut. Some of these buck bedding areas are set up to monitor doe families in the area, like the buck I killed outside of his bedding area last year.

Bridge

Thanks,

[Singing Bridge]

Are these sign post rubs less common in areas where young bucks are doing most of the breeding?

I'm going to try not to give a confusing answer here. I've found lots of trees that multiple young bucks have rubbed, but it isn't what I call a sign post. Others may.

When I say a sign post rub, I'm talking a big and tall rub that is very obvious wasn't made by a young buck... the kind of rub you hope to find and know it when you see it.

So to summarize, you are exactly right... sign post rubs are much less common in areas where young bucks are doing most of the breeding.

Would a rub used by the same buck year after with evidence of height growth from year to year be counted as a sign post rub or are you referring to rubs like stashed mentioned on the boundary of over lapping territory of two or more big bucks or multiple bucks of difference sizes being the sign post rub

The rub used by the same buck year after year with evidence of increasing height and growth is what I refer to as a Totem Pole rub. Sometimes it is a progression of buck size over a number of years but sometimes it is different age classes of bucks hitting the same tree. A Totem Pole rub may be a sign post rub but it depends on where I find it- a lot of them are made during the night with bucks travelling far and wide- a preferred type of tree to rub in a given area may cause this.

Sign post rubs, to me, are loud and clear where older and bigger bucks are serving notice to each other. In other words, I'm not standing there asking myself if it is a sign post rub- it is very clear to me due to the size and height of the tree along with it being heavily damaged by a buck.

Here is a picture of a Totem Pole rub (hopefully that doesn't offend anyone):

[stash59]

Are these sign post rubs less common in areas where young bucks are doing most of the breeding?

I'm going to try not to give a confusing answer here. I've found lots of trees that multiple young bucks have rubbed, but it isn't what I call a sign post. Others may.

When I say a sign post rub, I'm talking a big and tall rub that is very obvious wasn't made by a young buck... the kind of rub you hope to find and know it when you see it.

So to summarize, you are exactly right... sign post rubs are much less common in areas where young bucks are doing most of the breeding.

So if I'm analyzing this correctly. All age classes of bucks will use/rework/walk nearby other bucks rubs. I know in the bigwoods, magic talks about sign post type rubs showing up where mature bucks territories over lap. And if I'm remembering correctly, so did the Benoits and Hal Blood mention something similar. It's usually some combination of terrain features. That forces deer travel to intersect in certain places. Thus the sign post rub.

So does this same thing cause the younger bucks to rub there also, or are their's more random? As far as when the older bucks are almost non existent. Course like you said higher rubs are the key for the mature bucks.

Magic and the others are right on the money. Going more in-depth, however, there are other situations that cause these sign post rubs. The territories overlapping will have sign post rubs and just as you described, terrain features will often have deer intersecting in certain places which leads to a sign post rub.

So what is another scenario, where terrain features have bucks intersecting on paths but it isn't due to territories overlapping? I'm going to give you a rut / doe example. Quite often I will locate several doe bedding areas inside a huge swamp that aren't really all that far apart... perhaps on open and mature timbered islands and points inside the swamps. When the bucks begin cruising to check on the doe families, they will often intersect the primary runs going in and out of doe bedding areas to check ground and airborne scent. Sometimes i find a rub at the buck / doe trail intersection, sometimes I only find a scrape... other times I find nothing there at all. Nothing major so far... but when terrain features line in more than one big buck and their trails intersect... I find sign post rubs here. Instead of territories simply overlapping, The bucks are "lining in" on trails that intersect other buck trails in order to be near the doe families.

Hopefully that makes sense-

[Spauldo42]

The benoits and Hal blood harped on finding and hunting sighn post rubs during the rut and the benoits told me at there semimar they have seen thedominat buck in the area visit them every 3-4 days during the rut numerous times.

Ive killed 2 over them but during,fun,season.
Ive never tried bowhunting one yet.

Hal also mentioned that he walks from sign post to sign post “typically on brown ash trees (as he calls them I think)” in rut to find them. Pre and post rut he works differently as I understand it. Never went over to their place in Maine but called and met Hal in Freeport Maine at the big hunting shop there.

Interested to hear your stories on tagging a couple over them.

[cspot]

Thought I would bump this one back up with some more info. Here is the same rub post that has been used for multiple years. Also included a pic of one of the bucks that has been using it regularly (rub is just to the left of the logging road. It actually got more use this year than last. Most bucks will at least stop and check it out even if they don't rub. This year had a fair amount of daylight movement. Tough place to put a stand, but I looked today and with a little chainsaw work I think I have a good spot (this is on private). Best part is the stand will be about a 50 yard walk from the cabin. I think next year I am going to put a camera on it in video mode to see what action I get. May put it so that I can get them actually on the tree.

Untitled by cspot12, on Flickr

Untitled by cspot12, on Flickr

Untitled by cspot12, on Flickr

[Tsom]

Here's a picture of some rubs I found in a small NH swamp In an urban area. There was a group of 4 of them. Seems to me they've been used for many years, a couple of them so much that it killed he trees.

IMG_20191120_121746113.jpg

This one was In a really small swamp hole maybe only a half acre in NH also. Not sure if it's a "signpost" but sure has been thrashed over the years.

IMG_20171118_122950811.jpg

[JMAR85]

This topic really interests me. I hunt primarily big woods and love finding big sign post rubs. One of the bucks I killed this year I had on camera Oct 31 working a sign post that has been hit year after year. I ended up killing him about 3/4 of a mile away Nov 4. I tend to think that you find them on travel routes of overlapping core areas. I've never really hunted over one but the idea of hunting travel routes between them doesn't seem like a bad idea.

[Hunter74]

Are these sign post rubs less common in areas where young bucks are doing most of the breeding?

I'm going to try not to give a confusing answer here. I've found lots of trees that multiple young bucks have rubbed, but it isn't what I call a sign post. Others may.

When I say a sign post rub, I'm talking a big and tall rub that is very obvious wasn't made by a young buck... the kind of rub you hope to find and know it when you see it.

So to summarize, you are exactly right... sign post rubs are much less common in areas where young bucks are doing most of the breeding.

So if I'm analyzing this correctly. All age classes of bucks will use/rework/walk nearby other bucks rubs. I know in the bigwoods, magic talks about sign post type rubs showing up where mature bucks territories over lap. And if I'm remembering correctly, so did the Benoits and Hal Blood mention something similar. It's usually some combination of terrain features. That forces deer travel to intersect in certain places. Thus the sign post rub.

So does this same thing cause the younger bucks to rub there also, or are their's more random? As far as when the older bucks are almost non existent. Course like you said higher rubs are the key for the mature bucks.

Magic and the others are right on the money. Going more in-depth, however, there are other situations that cause these sign post rubs. The territories overlapping will have sign post rubs and just as you described, terrain features will often have deer intersecting in certain places which leads to a sign post rub.

So what is another scenario, where terrain features have bucks intersecting on paths but it isn't due to territories overlapping? I'm going to give you a rut / doe example. Quite often I will locate several doe bedding areas inside a huge swamp that aren't really all that far apart... perhaps on open and mature timbered islands and points inside the swamps. When the bucks begin cruising to check on the doe families, they will often intersect the primary runs going in and out of doe bedding areas to check ground and airborne scent. Sometimes i find a rub at the buck / doe trail intersection, sometimes I only find a scrape... other times I find nothing there at all. Nothing major so far... but when terrain features line in more than one big buck and their trails intersect... I find sign post rubs here. Instead of territories simply overlapping, The bucks are "lining in" on trails that intersect other buck trails in order to be near the doe families.

Hopefully that makes sense-

Bridge; this whole thread has me a little interested but for some reason I don't think I'm really grasping what your saying hear. What do you mean by terrain features that "line" in bucks? What would be a feature in the swamp that would do this?

Would this be something to the effect of having a parallel trail to bedding or whatever for that matter used by multiple mature bucks?

[Singing Bridge]

Are these sign post rubs less common in areas where young bucks are doing most of the breeding?

I'm going to try not to give a confusing answer here. I've found lots of trees that multiple young bucks have rubbed, but it isn't what I call a sign post. Others may.

When I say a sign post rub, I'm talking a big and tall rub that is very obvious wasn't made by a young buck... the kind of rub you hope to find and know it when you see it.

So to summarize, you are exactly right... sign post rubs are much less common in areas where young bucks are doing most of the breeding.

So if I'm analyzing this correctly. All age classes of bucks will use/rework/walk nearby other bucks rubs. I know in the bigwoods, magic talks about sign post type rubs showing up where mature bucks territories over lap. And if I'm remembering correctly, so did the Benoits and Hal Blood mention something similar. It's usually some combination of terrain features. That forces deer travel to intersect in certain places. Thus the sign post rub.

So does this same thing cause the younger bucks to rub there also, or are their's more random? As far as when the older bucks are almost non existent. Course like you said higher rubs are the key for the mature bucks.

Magic and the others are right on the money. Going more in-depth, however, there are other situations that cause these sign post rubs. The territories overlapping will have sign post rubs and just as you described, terrain features will often have deer intersecting in certain places which leads to a sign post rub.

So what is another scenario, where terrain features have bucks intersecting on paths but it isn't due to territories overlapping? I'm going to give you a rut / doe example. Quite often I will locate several doe bedding areas inside a huge swamp that aren't really all that far apart... perhaps on open and mature timbered islands and points inside the swamps. When the bucks begin cruising to check on the doe families, they will often intersect the primary runs going in and out of doe bedding areas to check ground and airborne scent. Sometimes i find a rub at the buck / doe trail intersection, sometimes I only find a scrape... other times I find nothing there at all. Nothing major so far... but when terrain features line in more than one big buck and their trails intersect... I find sign post rubs here. Instead of territories simply overlapping, The bucks are "lining in" on trails that intersect other buck trails in order to be near the doe families.

Hopefully that makes sense-

Bridge; this whole thread has me a little interested but for some reason I don't think I'm really grasping what your saying hear. What do you mean by terrain features that "line" in bucks? What would be a feature in the swamp that would do this?

Would this be something to the effect of having a parallel trail to bedding or whatever for that matter used by multiple mature bucks?

We can use a parallel trail as part of the example. Interior swamp bucks will often follow small creeks or other waterways to travel and cut off doe bedding area entry and exit trails. Now put in place an old and overgrown deep swamp logging road that has been abandoned for decades but the bucks are following it to cross one side of the swamp to get to the other. They do this to get near the doe families on the opposite side of the swamp. Now picture the buck on one of the trails suddenly T-boning the other buck trail. The trail they intersected has fresh buck sign and scent and the older bucks will often sign post rub at that intersection to let the others know what is going on. Sometimes I watch these rubs for over a decade appearing in the same spot and sometimes on the exact same tree... year after year.

[Hunter74]

Ok I think I got ya. Essentially you could come across a sign post rub anywhere that terrain and or transition create a cruising trail intersection if there's two or more mature bucks there using them? And this is obviously more a rut specific scenario.

As far as when it's two mature buck ranges overlapping does there seem to be any common terrain feature amongst these?

Also can a sign post rub get thrown up by a buck then not touched again during that season even though a couple mature bucks are going by it fairly regularly? Or will it most likely look like it's been hit a few times in few week period? In both situations the rub has been put in the same spot as years past.

[E72]

This one was found while scouting after several good bucks were seen in the general area . You can tell it’s been hit multiple times over the years with the dark scarring This is on a big wooded tract of hill country public , Ohio. I would definitely call the location a rut cruising area.

And one found while crawling out of large pine thicket this year. I would call this area a travel route through doe bedding but nasty /hard to access enough where a mature buck would bed as well.