Sunday afternoon, Braumeister and I had our first sit for the season. It was a beautiful fall day, and until sunset pleasant enough to hunt in a double layer of long sleeve underwear and a t-shirt. Not a mosquito to be seen.
I took a roundabout walk to my chosen stand in order to scout for evidence of the whitetail rut. And evidence there was. I counted seven scrapes in the process of establishment and a couple of rubs.
What are these you ask?
If you encounter a whiff of deer pee redolent
in the autumn air look carefully beneath any shoulder height tree branches
that are close by. You may locate a bare patch of
dirt in the turf that is trampled with deer hoof prints. This is called a scrape.
Bucks create scrapes by using their hoofs to
dig at the ground. Once the soil is
stirred up they urinate on the scrape.
Bucks don’t pee the way those of us males of the human species do. We try to keep it off of our legs and boots. Whitetail bucks actually try to pee on their own legs. The object is to hit their tarsal glands in an
effort to leave their scent on the scrape. Every deer has its own unique scent. The
tarsal glands hold concentrated amounts of that scent.
Another thing scrapes have is a licking
branch - a tree branch will hang above the cleared out soil. Bucks will rub their forehead glands on the
stick and will also lick it with their tongue.
Scrapes serve much the same function in the whitetail world as a mailbox
post or a fire hydrant does for dogs.
Scrapes are meant to show dominance over a territory but are normally
used by more than one buck.
These
early scrapes are a bit different. Few and far between they are mainly used to communicate as bucks begin to leave their
bachelor groups and stake out their territory. It is akin to posting a
no trespassing sign on a property line.
Later in the season an active scrape will be used to communicate breeding readiness.
Finally, there are these beginning to appear on the landscape – buck rubs.
Around these parts it is typically a tamarack sapling sacrificed to the
cause.
It is a common misconception that
deer rubs on trees are caused by male whitetails attempting to rub the velvet
from their antlers. While it would not
be unusual for a velvet-antlered deer to rub against a tree the rubbing seen at
this time of year is a consequence of deer that have long-ago shed the velvet
from their antlers. The rub in the
photo was made by a dominant buck.
Consider it both a visual and a sensory calling card brought on by an
increase in testosterone levels.
It isn't unusual for other bucks to add their
contribution to the rub but it's more to do with establishing the pecking
order.
The term dominant buck is apropos
given that one of the reasons for this behavior is to mark their territory and
curb the lesser bucks both psychologically and hormonally. This suppresses testosterone levels in the
smaller bucks allowing the Big Guy to exert his influence and create the circumstances for successfully spreading his seed
during the breeding season.
The glands
located in the forehead of the dominant male send a signal that this is my
turf. It also signals to the ladies of
the male's readiness to mate. Consider
it the whitetail equivalent of passing-along your name and phone number to
someone you might wish to meet again.
Stay-tuned for additional updates from whitetail romance land.
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