First Visible Sign

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funderburk
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First Visible Sign

Unread postby funderburk » Sat Jul 27, 2019 2:57 am

What sign are you looking for during the first week or two of the season other than tracks? Could scrapes and rub lines be opening up that early (mid-Sept)?


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Re: First Visible Sign

Unread postby backstraps » Sat Jul 27, 2019 3:20 am

Heavy feeding on acorns or browse, fresh rub lines near suspected bedding
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Re: First Visible Sign

Unread postby UofLbowhunter » Sat Jul 27, 2019 5:45 am

funderburk wrote:What sign are you looking for during the first week or two of the season other than tracks? Could scrapes and rub lines be opening up that early (mid-Sept)?



Yes scrapes and rubs will be visible then. Just dont get confused on the rubs they may be more than likely velvet shed rubs near field edges, and not “rub line” Some scrapes are year around but not as much as they do in oct
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Re: First Visible Sign

Unread postby funderburk » Sat Jul 27, 2019 6:51 am

UofLbowhunter wrote:
funderburk wrote:What sign are you looking for during the first week or two of the season other than tracks? Could scrapes and rub lines be opening up that early (mid-Sept)?



Yes scrapes and rubs will be visible then. Just dont get confused on the rubs they may be more than likely velvet shed rubs near field edges, and not “rub line” Some scrapes are year around but not as much as they do in oct


So finding a freshly worked scrape in mid-Sept is what I need to be looking for, correct?
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Re: First Visible Sign

Unread postby Tennhunter3 » Sat Jul 27, 2019 10:10 am

You can find primary scrapes all year long. In my opinion summer is the best time to find the important primary scrapes..

The other scrapes mostly is just night travel and trick hunters into hunting in bad spots.

A summer scrape usually has a licking branch , the dirt pawed, is near bedding and often is larger. They can be car hood size on rare occassion. I've only located one this large. Some are cleaned well others will part way fill with leaves.

The first few weeks I look for rub lines leaving bedding. Rubs near food or fields I ignore.
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Re: First Visible Sign

Unread postby funderburk » Sat Jul 27, 2019 11:15 am

Tennhunter3 wrote:You can find primary scrapes all year long. In my opinion summer is the best time to find the important primary scrapes..

The other scrapes mostly is just night travel and trick hunters into hunting in bad spots.

A summer scrape usually has a licking branch , the dirt pawed, is near bedding and often is larger. They can be car hood size on rare occassion. I've only located one this large. Some are cleaned well others will part way fill with leaves.

The first few weeks I look for rub lines leaving bedding. Rubs near food or fields I ignore.


So in the first few weeks the focus should be on rubs leaving bedding and primary scrapes (large scrapes with licking branch close to bedding)...?
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Re: First Visible Sign

Unread postby Quest1001 » Sat Jul 27, 2019 11:20 am

This is a huge help, rub lines leaving bedding because I have a swamp I’ve spring scouted with beds on opposite sides. I hope this helps me narrow down where to have my first sits.

The west side had a scrape about 3’ wide but the east side beds were much larger.

Time will tell.
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Re: First Visible Sign

Unread postby Tennhunter3 » Sat Jul 27, 2019 11:27 am

funderburk wrote:
Tennhunter3 wrote:You can find primary scrapes all year long. In my opinion summer is the best time to find the important primary scrapes..

The other scrapes mostly is just night travel and trick hunters into hunting in bad spots.

A summer scrape usually has a licking branch , the dirt pawed, is near bedding and often is larger. They can be car hood size on rare occassion. I've only located one this large. Some are cleaned well others will part way fill with leaves.

The first few weeks I look for rub lines leaving bedding. Rubs near food or fields I ignore.


So in the first few weeks the focus should be on rubs leaving bedding and primary scrapes (large scrapes with licking branch close to bedding)...?


That's what I will be looking for.
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Re: First Visible Sign

Unread postby UofLbowhunter » Sat Jul 27, 2019 1:48 pm

funderburk wrote:
UofLbowhunter wrote:
funderburk wrote:What sign are you looking for during the first week or two of the season other than tracks? Could scrapes and rub lines be opening up that early (mid-Sept)?



Yes scrapes and rubs will be visible then. Just dont get confused on the rubs they may be more than likely velvet shed rubs near field edges, and not “rub line” Some scrapes are year around but not as much as they do in oct


So finding a freshly worked scrape in mid-Sept is what I need to be looking for, correct?



I wouldnt say thats what you should be looking for exactly, you may be looking for something that may not be there, a fresh scape would be a big bonus.
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Re: First Visible Sign

Unread postby MentatArcher » Thu Oct 07, 2021 12:19 am

Reopening this thread after some time. I got a couple nice presumably 3.5yo+ bucks on cam and I'm trying to narrow in on them. I didn't see any new rubs from this year (first week of Oct in Michigan) which had me wondering if I could rule out spots based on that. (I use 8x binos and give everything a pretty good gander on the way in.) I had expected to see at least a single good rub near a suspected bed by this time, but maybe not? The rubs in the general area from prior years are smaller than I expected for the bucks that are there. (Waist height or lower, small trees, no tine gashes). For that hunt I chose the wrong access path and bumped a single deer that was bedded on a secluded crest in front of a thick swamp that was ~100 yds from 2 active scrapes. No fresh rubs in the ridge area even though it seems like a great bedding spot. I threw up a cam on the scrapes, but figured I'd ask if anyone had more experience with locating and deciphering early season rub activity and/or ruling out areas based on that. Thanks.


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