How to Identify Deer Rubs and Scrapes (and What They Mean)

So, what is deer "sign?" Today, we talk about deer rubs and scrapes, what they are, what they mean, and how to find and read them. When you find these deer signs during scouting or off-season prep, you're learning more about the deer in your area (and how to hunt them in the fall).

An Introduction to Deer Sign: Deer Rubs and Scrapes

Deer communicate with one another by sound, sight, and smell. They can also combine the last two of these into the form of rubs and scrapes.

Deer rubs and scrapes are two of the most visible-to-human signs that we hunters can use to help locate and pattern bucks. These signs can reveal deer behavior, territories, and movement patterns, offering us hunters valuable clues for a more successful hunt.

What Is a Buck Rub?

A buck rub occurs when a deer uses its antlers to strip bark from trees or young saplings.

Bucks make rubs to mark their territory by leaving a visual signpost and scent marking by secreting a fatty oil from their forehead gland onto the tree to identify who created it. Bucks also create rubs during the early season to remove itchy velvet after their antlers have hardened underneath and are finished growing for the season.

A buck deer may also create rubs as a form of strength training to build up their neck muscles in preparation for the combat that can take place during the rut with other males.

How to Identify a Rub

Rubs can be identified by looking for trees with stripped bark and a smooth, flat surface.

• Fresher rubs will have a brighter appearance from the exposed cambium or sapwood below the bark and can have sap present at the wound with fresh shavings on the ground below.
• Older or historical rubs will have dull bark discoloration where the tree has been used year after year and has healed repeatedly over time. 

Generally speaking, the bigger the tree that is rubbed, the bigger the buck that made it. Rub height can also be an indicator of the size of the buck, with more mature bucks creating rubs higher off the ground than those of immature males.

Bucks may often favor a particular species of tree in an area to rub for its aromatic terpenes held in the tree's resin, such as cedars or pines.

What Is a Buck Scrape?

A buck scrape is a bare patch of ground cleared of leaves and debris by a buck using its hooves.

Bucks will typically urinate onto the tarsal glands of their hind legs over the scrape, leaving a scent calling card for other deer. Scrapes will often appear beneath overhanging branches, which bucks use to deposit scent from their forehead and preorbital glands onto a low-hanging limb.

How to Identify a Scrape

A buck scrape can be identified by a bare patch of soil, often 1-3 feet in diameter, usually under overhanging branches, used as a “licking branch.” These licking branches are often broken off or chewed at the tips.

Fresh scrapes will have moist soil with a musky smell if it has been used recently.

How to Read the Signs

Rubs and scrapes can serve as territorial markers to communicate dominance and claim breeding territory. They may also serve as a form of "social media" for deer, signaling who has been where and their presence to does and other bucks.

The increase in the production of rubs and scrapes can indicate the oncoming of pre-rut and peak rut phases, providing clues about the best hunting dates when bucks are most active. 

Where to Find Rubs and Scrapes

Rubs are often found along travel corridors or near bedding areas and food sources. You can also find scrapes along field edges, near trails, or in clearings with prominent overhanging tree branches.

How to Use Whitetail Deer Rubs and Scrapes for Better Hunts

Rub and scrape lines can highlight travel routes and help hunters pattern deer movement as they travel through their environment. Larger, higher rubs and large scrapes may indicate that a more mature buck is using it.

Set up your stand strategically by placing your stand downwind near active scrapes or rub lines for optimal positioning.

Scrapes are visited year-round, but they are used more frequently in the fall, with most visits occurring at night under the cover of darkness. These can be great spots to place trail cameras to take inventory of deer in the area, as several deer may utilize these sites.

Bucks will often revisit scrapes after a rain to “freshen it up” and replenish the scent that washed away with the precipitation.

Use HuntWise to Track Insights on Rubs and Scrapes

As you see whitetail deer rubs and scrapes, use the HuntWise hunting app to track what you see and your insights.

Placing rub and scrape pins under the map function of HuntWise is a great way to visualize travel corridors and to understand how deer are traveling through the landscape. Then, RutCast will let you know what phase of the rut you are experiencing and when to expect to see the most rubs and scrapes in your area.

HuntWise Helps You Scout and Plan Better Hunts

Planning helps you hunt better when the fall season rolls around. The best tool to help you get ready for hunts, scout, understand the weather, learn about animal movements in your area, and mark bedding areas and deer sign, like the deer rubs and scrapes we talked about today. 

It's a year-round tool to help you tag out each season!

Now is an excellent time to get the app and explore it — free — for your first week. 
Use that time to take it out, scout, and document what you see to help you learn about the deer in your area ahead of your next hunt.