buck rubs, scrapes?

rookieray · Feb 23, 2008

Today my hunting partner and I went to check out some of the wintering herd that migrated from Yosemite. We hunt the area during the regular season because there are a few local bucks that dont migrate back to the park in the spring. Well today we were checking out a new area we have not hunted before. This was still in the general location of our other hunting spot. We saw a lot of deer and a few really nice bucks. I realize that most if not all these deer are migratory, but we did find some encouraging sign. We found several small pines with scrapes, which to my knowledge would indicate that there are bucks present during the summer when they are rubbing off their velvet.

Anyways I guess I should get to my actual question. Are scrapes just from bucks rubbing off their velvet or do they scrape at other times in the year when the are already hard horned?

Thanks for any education you can give.

BuckSnort · Feb 23, 2008

LAST EDITED ON Feb-24-08 AT 00:26AM (MST)[p]Most likely the rubs you saw were from bucks during the rut in Nov/Dec. They do a lot of rubbing that time of year.

rookieray · Feb 24, 2008

LAST EDITED ON Feb-24-08 AT 09:22AM (MST)[p]Thanks BuckSnort,

I was hoping for a different answer. Oh well, now I know not to get to excited. I will just have to get back up there after the deer migrate back to the park to see if I can find any sign.

Was I completely wrong about this? Are scrapes just created during the rut, or are they also from rubbing off their velvet?

BuckSnort · Feb 24, 2008

It has been my experience that when deer rub thier antlers to get rid of velvet they usually do so in brush or some type of scrub (seen them rub willows a lot in the high country) Usually when you find a small pine or buck brush that is really torn up from rubbing it was done during the rut and usually found on the winter range.

I know the area your talking about it is full of these types of rubs,but most of them are from the big boys in the higher elevations when they come down to rut.

The good news is that the big bucks in Yosemite come down and breed with some of the local deer that inhabit that area year round.That means that even though there are not that many bucks there during the early seasons there is still the genetics there for trophy potential, if you can find one.

rookieray · Feb 24, 2008

Thanks again bucksnort. What you stated above regarding the park bucks breeding with the local deer is what I and others have observed. My father in-law used to work right next to my hunting spot and he would consistently see a few big bucks during the summer months just not many.
Thanks again