Question about rubs and rub lines

Discuss deer hunting tactics, Deer behavior. Post your Hunting Stories, Pictures, and Questions/Answers.
  • Advertisement

HB Store


BorealBushMN
Posts: 410
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2018 12:32 pm
Location: NE MN
Status: Offline

Question about rubs and rub lines

Unread postby BorealBushMN » Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:30 pm

Probably a dumb question, and maybe there is no set answer to, or maybe it’s been beat to death here and I didn’t dive deep enough into the search... are bucks more likely to make rubs coming into or leaving their bedding areas?


User avatar
Rob loper
500 Club
Posts: 1747
Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2017 1:49 am
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heBuckPsych/
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Question about rubs and rub lines

Unread postby Rob loper » Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:55 pm

Actually i think thats a great question.
Id like too hear the veterans on her’s view on this
mike perry
Posts: 181
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2014 1:36 pm
Facebook: Mike Perry
Status: Offline

Re: Question about rubs and rub lines

Unread postby mike perry » Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:59 pm

That’s a good question but I think the one option you left out may be the answer, during the day while they get up to stretch or eat in the bedding area may be the answer in certain areas. I first knew I was looking at a buck bed back in 1988 when I found a large bed and at the end of it the sapling had fresh shavings laying on the ground like he rubbed it while laying there, just so happened this buck was bedding in some extremely thick cover about 75 yards from where I parked two seasons trying to kill him! I recognized that set up a stand at the first scrape west of that bed and parked all the way down the other end of the square, walked down the road about a 1/2 mile and killed that buck out of that stand. I noticed in some bedding areas especially bedding areas that have the type of tree that buck preferred to rub you’ll find a bunch of rubs right around the beds and very few on the way in or out of the bedding area.
Aim small miss small
User avatar
magicman54494
500 Club
Posts: 4188
Joined: Fri Feb 26, 2010 6:05 pm
Location: central and northern WI
Status: Offline

Re: Question about rubs and rub lines

Unread postby magicman54494 » Thu Aug 30, 2018 2:03 pm

when Im tracking them in november/ december. they do much more rubbing before they bed then when they get up.
BorealBushMN
Posts: 410
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2018 12:32 pm
Location: NE MN
Status: Offline

Re: Question about rubs and rub lines

Unread postby BorealBushMN » Thu Aug 30, 2018 2:19 pm

So, would it be somewhat safe assumption that the rubs would be facing towards their bedding area?
BorealBushMN
Posts: 410
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2018 12:32 pm
Location: NE MN
Status: Offline

Re: Question about rubs and rub lines

Unread postby BorealBushMN » Thu Aug 30, 2018 2:22 pm

Primarily curious for in-season scouting this year, if/when I stumble upon a nice fresh rub/rub line, I might have a clue where he may be snoozing.
User avatar
street28ss
Posts: 191
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2018 11:23 am
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: Question about rubs and rub lines

Unread postby street28ss » Thu Aug 30, 2018 2:26 pm

BorealBushMN wrote:Primarily curious for in-season scouting this year, if/when I stumble upon a nice fresh rub/rub line, I might have a clue where he may be snoozing.


In my opinion, if it's possible, find the buck tracks associated with the rubs and use that as your arrow. Tracks don't lie.
User avatar
krent12
Posts: 207
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 4:01 pm
Facebook: Kyle Rentmeester
Location: Wisconsin
Status: Offline

Re: Question about rubs and rub lines

Unread postby krent12 » Thu Aug 30, 2018 3:16 pm

BorealBushMN wrote:So, would it be somewhat safe assumption that the rubs would be facing towards their bedding area?


yes
User avatar
magicman54494
500 Club
Posts: 4188
Joined: Fri Feb 26, 2010 6:05 pm
Location: central and northern WI
Status: Offline

Re: Question about rubs and rub lines

Unread postby magicman54494 » Thu Aug 30, 2018 3:32 pm

BorealBushMN wrote:So, would it be somewhat safe assumption that the rubs would be facing towards their bedding area?

yes and no.

they might rub 100 yds before bedding and j hook in between so it might not face right at the bed. they often feed up a bit as well. ( this is rut time)
I know when Im tracking and come upon a rub I get serious. add in some feeding and im wired. I will also add this even though it is off topic, if i find an empty bed Im on full alert. They often get up and move a short distance and bed back down.

I remember a bed I found in Wisconsin during muzzleloader season. I stopped and laid my gun in the bed and took pictures. All the while Im doing this the buck is laying 50 yds away. I started walking again and he blew up out of his bed. I tried to get on him but just couldnt so I never fired a shot. lol

they do rub when they get up as well but not as often as before they bed. remember, this is info collected during and post rut.
User avatar
magicman54494
500 Club
Posts: 4188
Joined: Fri Feb 26, 2010 6:05 pm
Location: central and northern WI
Status: Offline

Re: Question about rubs and rub lines

Unread postby magicman54494 » Thu Aug 30, 2018 3:32 pm

BorealBushMN wrote:So, would it be somewhat safe assumption that the rubs would be facing towards their bedding area?

yes and no.

they might rub 100 yds before bedding and j hook in between so it might not face right at the bed. they often feed up a bit as well. ( this is rut time)
I know when Im tracking and come upon a rub I get serious. add in some feeding and im wired. I will also add this even though it is off topic, if i find an empty bed Im on full alert. They often get up and move a short distance and bed back down.

I remember a bed I found in Wisconsin during muzzleloader season. I stopped and laid my gun in the bed and took pictures. All the while Im doing this the buck is laying 50 yds away. I started walking again and he blew up out of his bed. I tried to get on him but just couldnt so I never fired a shot. lol

they do rub when they get up as well but not as often as before they bed. remember, this is info collected during and post rut.
User avatar
thepennsylvanian
500 Club
Posts: 564
Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2018 2:46 am
Location: SW Pennsylvania
Status: Offline

Re: Question about rubs and rub lines

Unread postby thepennsylvanian » Thu Aug 30, 2018 8:46 pm

One thing for certain is that no one can give you the answer except the bucks making those rubs, if you want to know you'll need to ask them! :dance: :lol: :roll: every situation presented here is unique, the best for you to do is scout it in a way that is best suits you, all you can really assume is that the rubs are telling you it's direction of travel, even then its never sure thing..
Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.
dan
Site Owner
Posts: 41590
Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2010 6:11 am
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HuntingBeast/?ref=bookmarks
Location: S.E. Wisconsin
Contact:
Status: Online

Re: Question about rubs and rub lines

Unread postby dan » Thu Aug 30, 2018 9:31 pm

I think it depends on the buck... I see some leave bedding very slow and cautious as if waiting in anticipation for the protective cover of darkness rubbing trees out of frustration one after another. Then you see a buck get up and walk straight out without a care rubbing nothing. I see rubs going in, and rubs coming out... Some say you can tell by the side of the tree there on, but I have noticed when they stage they move around and walk past trees and then back etc. However, the big picture in understanding if the rubs are made in the morning or evening is easier if you understand bedding. The heavy trails leading from bedding are evening trails. they leave beds down these heavier trails with no regard to wind direction... In the morning they come in different with wind to nose and the rubs are not right along the trails usually.

Either way, it really don't matter, if he is bedding there set up on the exit trail and shoot him in the evening.
Exophysical
Posts: 283
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2013 9:18 am
Status: Offline

Re: Question about rubs and rub lines

Unread postby Exophysical » Sun Sep 02, 2018 4:45 am

It might depend on what type of country you are hunting as well. I don't know about agricultural areas, but in big timber from my observations, an ungulate will usually browse before he beds down. Rubs are not typically made at this point in my observations. While I don't think that the bucks in my area typically use the same beds, at least not by late October when I get serious about chasing them, I do know of several knolls that are used routinely for much of the year by what I suspect are the same bucks... one does not find much for rubs around these spots one way or the other.
They say millwrights can fix anything except a broken heart, but I've even got a tool that can do that!
Cuzzinfish
Posts: 398
Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2017 3:36 pm
Status: Offline

Re: Question about rubs and rub lines

Unread postby Cuzzinfish » Sun Sep 02, 2018 4:59 am

This is just my observation from my years of hunting. I’ve seen many more true “rub lines” exiting bedding and/or going toward food sources than facing the other direction.
User avatar
218er
500 Club
Posts: 1070
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: Question about rubs and rub lines

Unread postby 218er » Fri Oct 05, 2018 3:56 pm

Probably a bucks personal preference but in my experience more rubs seem to be more present while they are coming out of their beds than going to bed. I imagine when their getting up they have all the time in the world to putts around before darkness falls and they go off on their adventures of the night. In the am when their coming back to bed they have less desire to get stuck out in about in the daylight and are more on a straight line mission.
Persistence is undefeated.


  • Advertisement

Return to “Deer Hunting”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: dan, funderburk, Google Adsense [Bot], KLEMZ and 84 guests