Dewey wrote:I absolutely agree a large amount of taller rubs are made by older bucks but just like anything there are no absolutes. Like mentioned I have seen a spiker make a waist high rub and have also seen mature bucks make knee high rubs many times. I like to pay attention to diameter plus height but won’t ignore huge rubs made fairly low.
Doubt a 1 or 2 year old was making these.
Your right that there are no absolutes... But it has been pretty accurate. I can't see all your pics, but from my experience I would bet money a 2 year old did indeed make that 1st rub. To me diameter is not really all that impressive, i have seen a lot of deer work rubs myself, and little or big diameter has not meant much. I once watched a spike rub a huge dia tree about 1.5 feet from the ground. I have seen exceptions, but not many. And I have never seen a chest high rub made by an immature buck. There is certainly a correlation between deer height and rub height. When I studied it the hardest really trying to get a grasp on it, I noticed that there were not rubs at all different heights as one might expect, but really the heights peaked at 4 distinct heights. Sure there was some in-between (which matches your no absolutes statement) but a graph would show 4 distinct peaks if the rubs are measured from center of bare area of rub and only on trees that can't be bent over while rubbing ( to rule out bent trees being rubbed higher while bent. mainly finger diameter brush) The graph peaks would be associated with the age class of the bucks. It makes sense as they grow the height rises. Yes, probably some exceptions...
What else I have noticed is that when hunting for specific bucks height don't tend to vary on his rubs. Almost all cases where I hunted actual mature bucks for a season or longer, all his rubs would be the same height or there would be a reason like he was standing in 12 inches of water that is now frozen. Remember, I am targeting mature bucks for multiple years every season... Im not seeing a significant variance. When a buck is 6 inches taller, he rubs 6 inches higher.
hears a great example of a sign post rub notice that all 3 rubs in pic came from different directions. i back tracked the rub lines coming into this location and discovered 3 major big buck bedding areas the closest one was about half a mile away farthest well over a mile. but this cluster also left me a major clue its located near a large doe group in high elevation chestnut oaks. making it an excellent location to pic up a mature buck in a morning sit during the rut. any other time of year and its going to be night time unless you get real lucky.
now this rub was made buy a real giant buck coming out of his main bedding his exit trail is actually threw the boulders behind i found some of the biggest tracks and beds ive ever seen around 50 yards away. one thing got my attention to this rub the location its in cliffs where the deer can not be approached any other direction except for where he can see and smell. 
this is where he lays on a north east wind he enters wind to face from one opening then exits wind to face out the back. drops down the mountain in dark then feeds in some ag fields then slips right back up in mornings its fool proof and very over looked. the closest real big rub is about a mile down in valley near the ag fields. 
this is his barrier he has above him below him is a 100 foot cliff. there are zero rubs indicating hes bedded there on exit and entrance just next to bed itself. just tracks going in one way and exiting another using the wind..jpg)
this is the buck last summer about a mile away from his fall bedding in his summer bedding area. the only way to identify where this buck is buy his track size and travel rout he uses. using rubs kept me a mile off of his actual location.
