White cedar rubs Or false rubs- northwoods

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1STRANGEWILDERNESS
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White cedar rubs Or false rubs- northwoods

Unread postby 1STRANGEWILDERNESS » Sat Aug 01, 2020 1:27 pm

I’m rather reluctant to bring this up as I’ve been in the woods a long time.So it’s embarrassing to ask some questions. Most of the yrs I’ve spent in corn country and rubs were not hard to find. I believ the bucks just had much smaller core areas and now that things are so spread out in these vast Northwoods swamps some rubs don’t exactly pop out at me. They are few. Often a couple hundred yards between them. Springtime I can find em ok. Winter they’re buried in snow and now it’s just too green out there.

Specific issue: I’m always spotting cedars that look rubbed often to find it’s just the bark peeling wayyy up the tree. Leaving a smooth red surface.

Other times it will be typical deer rub height but very faint. Leaving me unsure. Often the ground is just a mattress of moss Or water so no tracks. Seems to be older rubs or off-season where I can’t look for shavings.

Then there’s black bears working the cedar trees and I’m not real familiar with their habits but many times I’ll see one and have little doubt that’s what tore it up.

I need to start snapping more photos of said trees and getting some insight from others so I can put my thoughts to rest on what I’m looking at.

I do have a few photos from scouting the past week I’d like to share and see what people think is going on with the trees in them. Bear, buck, trolls, or whatever.
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Re: White cedar rubs Or false rubs- northwoods

Unread postby Burningbootleather » Sat Aug 01, 2020 1:34 pm

The bottom looks like a rub but not 100% confident in that. Middle and top might be rubs also, but no judgement because it is pretty hard to tell sometimes
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Re: White cedar rubs Or false rubs- northwoods

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sat Aug 01, 2020 1:55 pm

Over many decades of white cedar swamp hunting I've viewed countless rubs on these trees. It takes a lot more than just a picture to determine if it is a rub, a bear claw tree or just the bark peeling.

These are all decent sized trees. You need to look at more than just the face value. Are there tine or burr scratches in the heart of the rub, above it or behind the tree? Even old cedar rubs will show these marks and you have to get right up close.

Picture 1 does not look like a buck rub to me.

Pic 2 may be a rub but you need to look for those tine / bur marks. The bark on top can peel long after the rub was made.

Pic 3 could be an old rub, it has the right height but you need more information.

Bear claw trees have scratches and gouges at a higher level than these marks, typically.

Are there old rubs near these trees or recent buck rubs close by?

These are all pieces of the puzzle.

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Re: White cedar rubs Or false rubs- northwoods

Unread postby 1STRANGEWILDERNESS » Sun Aug 02, 2020 1:52 am

[quote="Singing Bridge"
Are there old rubs near these trees or recent buck rubs close by?

These are all pieces of the puzzle.

Bridge[/quote]

Pic 1 and 2 are trees about 10-15 ft apart. Honestly I did not look very close at them though. I disregarded them as rubs but then thought well what the heck causes that? So I snapped a shot. I don’t notice any old rubs around these.

Also as you mentioned gouging I notice a lot of them are smooth. I tend to run into these trees in the middle of nowhere as I’m cutting through the swamp to get to a little island or ridge of higher ground. Which also makes me wonder if I’m ending up on the path of least resistance, quite possibly it’s a similar route a buck would take. I think...

Thanks for your input, I know you have spent a lot of time in this type of terrain. I’ll have to start analyzing these closer. I feel like there might be some type of disease or condition the tree gets that causes some of what I’m seeing.
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Re: White cedar rubs Or false rubs- northwoods

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sun Aug 02, 2020 2:20 am

1STRANGEWILDERNESS wrote:[quote="Singing Bridge"
Are there old rubs near these trees or recent buck rubs close by?

These are all pieces of the puzzle.

Bridge


Pic 1 and 2 are trees about 10-15 ft apart. Honestly I did not look very close at them though. I disregarded them as rubs but then thought well what the heck causes that? So I snapped a shot. I don’t notice any old rubs around these.

Also as you mentioned gouging I notice a lot of them are smooth. I tend to run into these trees in the middle of nowhere as I’m cutting through the swamp to get to a little island or ridge of higher ground. Which also makes me wonder if I’m ending up on the path of least resistance, quite possibly it’s a similar route a buck would take. I think...

Thanks for your input, I know you have spent a lot of time in this type of terrain. I’ll have to start analyzing these closer. I feel like there might be some type of disease or condition the tree gets that causes some of what I’m seeing.[/quote]

Yes, a lot of white cedar look like your pics and they are not rubs. I'll try to dig up some pics of cedar rubs, I'm sure we have other Beasts with Pics too. Great thread, this is how we all learn from each other.


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