Whitetail Rub – Hunting The Rub Line

The importance of the rub line when whitetail buck hunting can’t be stressed enough. You may have read a lot of articles in buck hunting magazines and even watched buck hunting videos that talked of the importance of locating the rub line and gave no further details. If you head out into the woods, find a whitetail rub, place your deer stand, start buck  hunting, you have a chance of seeing that whitetail buck because at one particular time that buck was there. The questions you need to ask while waiting for that whitetail buck is; ‘Will he back?’ When the whitetail comes back what direction will he come from? Where is the buck bedding? How big is this whitetail buck?

Will the whitetail buck be back?

When you are out in the woods scouting, don’t spend much time looking for whitetail tracks or feeding areas. You should try to cover as much ground as possible and locate that whitetail rub line. The whitetail rub line should consist of at least a half dozen trees that are rubbed within at least a 75 yard zone. If so, this indicates that this whitetail buck has been through this area more than once. Take note of these rubs and be alert for new activity.

What direction will he come from?

Once you locate the rub line, take good close look at all the deer rubs. The majority of the deer rubs should be on one side of the tree. This whitetail buck should be coming from that direction.

Where is he bedding?

Once you have pinpointed the direction this whitetail buck is coming from, that will be the direction this deer is also bedding. In the majority of buck hunting experiences it is seen that soon after the whitetail buck gets up he will want to rub. You may even see a cluster of deer rubs within close distance to a deer bedding area. Cluster rubs are multiple deer rubs close together or sometimes in the same cluster of saplings. After you have located cluster rubs try to get a stand setup at that location. You could even walk these deer rubs backwards to intentionally try and jump the whitetail buck and check his size. This buck hunting tactic has been known to be effective and you could set up your deer stand and leave the area alone. After a week or so return to the area for you buck hunting.

How big is this buck?

Many theories on the subject of buck hunting and hunting rubs. This is jut one buck hunting method. You may find that earlier in the buck hunting season a bigger buck will tend to rub a smaller tree. Closer to rut a mature buck will look for the larger trees. When you find the deer rubs on the larger trees, check the height. Closer to the rut the buck gets more aggressive and will use more force on the tree. When buck hunting the rub, this may indicate how tall the deer is.

Hope you find these buck hunting tips useful.