I was taking some corn out into the woods today and I stumbled upon these marks on a tree, they seem fairly fresh to me. But I have no idea what they are, is it a beginning of a rub or something else?
those gouges do look a little rounded to be a cat claw. But I thought they rubbed to get the velvet off...maybe he was sparring with the tree.
I get lots of rubs way after they shed velvet. I'll even find brand new rubs in December on my place. I think they do a lot of rubbing to practice and to blow off some of their testosterone.
I was skeptical about it being a buck rub because the tree was the size of my thigh, I even asked my dad about it.
Rubs are more about strengthening neck muscles in preparation of fights to come than they are about removing velvet. I would have to agree that they look like gouge marks from tines.
IMO there are several types of rubs. One is for a way of shedding velvet, one is for marking an individuals rub and scrape line...flagging his territory for does to find him and for him to track the does and to serve as a marker to other bucks and the third is as a community hub where several bucks will hit the same rub...kind of a like a deer facebook. That looks like a maple tree, the bark is pretty soft on those. I imagine it was from a deer starting a community type of rub.
I found one similiar to that about 2 weeks ago....it was a little more gouged up then yesterday when i was in woods it was a more difinitve rub with lot more bark missing....its probally on a travel corridor i would def keep my eye on it and maybe move 20 yards closer if possible
I'm in NE ohio but I've never seen a big cat or bear in my neck of the woods but there always could be.
I hunt in NE Ohio and have found the exact same marks on a tree, put a trial camera on it, and found a big buck would just barely hit his horns on it then leave. I have no idea why or what he is doing.
