Lack of Rubs and scrapes

[Tree Jockey]

I have been deer hunting for 32 years and have never seen so little buck sign. It has been like this for several years. I hunt 4 different counties and scout countless miles every year. I am busting briar thickets , cedar thickets and everything in between while scouting. Our deer population around here took a hard hit from EHD a couple years in a row about 5 years ago. I do see SOME mature bucks while spotlighting in the late summer and quite a few young bucks and doe but nothing like 6-10 years ago. While scouting all these miles I hardley see any rubs or old scrapes from previous season. MY QUESTION IS THIS. Why aren't the bucks I'm seeing ( young and old) leaving any sign. I'm seeing bucks and doe while hunting but not huge numbers. Has anyone else noticed this where they hunt? What are some opinions ?. Where I hunt is perfect habitat big jungle thickets with some hardwoods surrounded by lots of agriculture land

[elk yinzer]

I have heard theories where bucks don't need to be as territorial or competitive for various reasons that can happen. 3.5 year olds tend to be the most aggressive with leaving rut sign then mellow out is another I've read here I believe. Also deer are individuals and some just aren't as gregarious. I've also heard and tend to believe that whiter racked bucks and less busted up racks are other signs of these conditons. The mature bucks can still be there they just don't have to leave the sign.

Its one of the big reasons I advocate in my area big woods being a "great spot" hunter especially in rut. Our bucks are dang near unpatternable and don't always leave a ton of sign behind. The concept of observation sits is laughable in most of my area. But we have a good age structure and low deer density so playing the odds game can pay off.

[Hawthorne]

I’ve heard dan say it could be from a lack of competition between bucks. They’re could be more habitat than the bucks can fill up. Maybe hunt the terrain and bedding areas like normal without the sign. Look for tracks and maybe some trees with a few gouge marks.

[mike perry]

Two of the farms I hunt in NE Ohio were hit hard by EHD in 2012. The herd has come back to close to what they were back then. The larger farm 500 acres got a lot of pressure by the Amish but was still able to recover. There were several bucks from 3 1/2 to 7 1/2 caught on camera throughout the entire season on that farm this year not all are residents and many young bucks are there also, we also have a good numbers of doe now. Other than the Amish we refrained from shooting doe till this season. I find little buck sign there in way of rubs and scrapes. The tracks are there the beds are there the pictures are there and the buck sign we do find is concentrated mainly near bedding areas of 1/2 to a acre. Some scrapes and rubs on the edge of crop fields but nothing you would think you’d find on a farm that big with that many deer.

The other farm is around 100 acres, the herd there has come back also but not as many mature bucks have shown up on camera or in field observations. My buddy owns that farm and he has some nice kill plots and another 4-5 acres of beans and clovers and turnips. He has done a lot of TSI and crated some nice bedding, there is not any mature Buck sign in the TSI bedding south of his food plots but when I scouted north of the food plots in a clear cut was tore up with sign. All the mature buck sign is in a couple acre bedding area loaded with big rubs on darn near every tree and Big worn beds all around the place, several scrapes were about 75 yards outside the bedding in a couple different directions. The main bedding is 40-50 yards off the food plot transition just inside the 5-6 year old clear cut.

On both farms most of the mature buck sign is in a few small areas near the thick bedding.

[Tree Jockey]

It seems that the buck sign has transitioned downhill in the last 10 years. It went from finding rub lines and scrapes without alot of effort in areas around bedding and even in the open hardwoods , to only finding rubs inside the thick bedding, to present day where you only see a rub and scrape occasionally. far and few between. It is public ground and the hunting pressure seems to be about the same as always. Really no drastic changes in anything other then the EHD a few years ago. Very strange.

[Mountainman26]

I know on my grandpa's 120 acres in Maryland the woods are tore to pieces but we had over 16 1.5 and 2.5 year old bucks coming through the property. Rarely see a mature buck on that property though. Now where I killed a mature 4.5 year old in WV there was literally no buck rubs to be found. Luckily I would get a pic of him now and then throughout the season so I knew he was there. I am thinking he was the top buck in the area and he didn't feel the need to make a lot of sign.

[Southern Man]

I’ve heard dan say it could be from a lack of competition between bucks. They’re could be more habitat than the bucks can fill up.

I believe this as well. I have seen the same thing at times. Usually in a year or two the sign comes back.

[Swampbuck]

It's lack of competition.

We got extreme flooding a couple years in a row where I hunt. It wiped put 90% of the deer herd. Hooking became almost non existent and when I did find a deer there would only be a rub or two. If u found a few in the same area there would be some rubs