During the rut and on into the season, rubs can be made by aggressive bucks strengthening their neck muscles or just marking out their home territory. A buck’s forehead gland will leave a scent that lets other deer know who made it.

Around here right now, bucks are active and trying to find doe that weren’t bred during the first estrus cycle, so the fresh rubs that I found last Saturday, the 11th, are probably from an aggressive buck, marking out his home territory. My October 15, 2010 post, “[Sign]” showed a lot of preseason activity that has carried on late into this season.

Deep gouges like this usually means a real wall hanger and the big buck that I saw on the 12th certainly fit the bill for aggression!

These rubs were in a roughly, straight line for over 400 yards and not wanting to leave too much human scent around, I didn’t pursue them any farther.

Having already “punched” my buck tag, now, I’m into video. After videoing my hunt Tuesday afternoon, I still don’t know how to post them to my blog, but I’ll find out how to, soon.