EK Elk rubs?

[Buckmeister]

I saw the rub thread in the Island category and it reminded me of what I saw last fall in the EK and wanted to querry you elk hunters as to what you think.

We were in zone X hunting the cow elk open season. I was walking through an old water/creek basin that was rather thick with 4 - 6" thick trees amongst the bigger trees. As I carried along I started seeing an incredible amount of rubs. I could stand still and count about 20 or more rubs, walk about 20 feet, and count about another 20 separate other rubs. This went on for a few hundred metres. There were literally 100's of rubs. All the rubs were about the same size and length, so I figured that maybe one bull had made them, I don't know. But heres the thing, they were all older rubs, not a single freshie. Not super old, just not fresh. I know what a one year old rub looks like. I couldn't figure if they had been made from last winter/spring or the previous fall season. I thought maybe wintering bulls made them. Found one old small shed while in there. Some fresh droppings however by some resident elk who hide out in there and cross through at a certain point.

So what do you think? Is this typical behaviour, or highly unusual? Was it a wintering spot and there were tons of bulls in there, or just one very ambitious horny bull? Did I happen on a "hot spot" during a slow year? I do know that a few resident bulls live there too. I don't live around the EK so I can't go check the area on a regular basis.

[TPB]

Tell me the area and ill go check ;)

[Buckmeister]

Tell me the area and ill go check ;)

Certainly not far from you.

[TPB]

Haha well that is always good to hear, but sorry im not to good with elk ( I just started hunting this year)

[Fisher-Dude]

I've seen some ridges with lots of rubs where a bull has rutted for a few days before moving on. They move around after they stink out an area to throw predators off their trail. A herd bull with lots of cows will demolish an area within a few days if he's being pestered by satellite bulls.

[150fighter]

Most likely wintering grounds if you were in a zone X spot. Ran into something similar this past November, found tons of rubs all over the place and later ran into about 30 cows with 8 bulls in the group.

[elkdom]

and some elk rub areas will used year after year, an area with perennial elk wallows and rubs is a hot spot, one particular north east facing slope I hunt has produced 5 bull elk 6x6 or better bull elk for me over the last 10 years, all 5 of those bulls killed in an area less than 1 sq km, dozens of hunters quad through every elk season on the intersecting cut lines, never knowing or stopping to observe indicators of habitual elk use,,,

[kootenayelkslayer]

What kind of trees were they on? They weren't teeth marks from eating bark in the winter, were they? Those can sometimes be mistaken for rubs, and you can get in to some stands of trees where nearly every tree is marked.

[The Dawg]

What kind of trees were they on? They weren't teeth marks from eating bark in the winter, were they? Those can sometimes be mistaken for rubs, and you can get in to some stands of trees where nearly every tree is marked.

Yep, I was looking at what I thought were rubs last spring bear season when a CO came up and corrected me on that. He explained the difference between rubs and teeth scrapes, I had no idea.

[J_T]

In the EK, and particularly in zone x there is a lot of rubbing goes on after the season closes. In fact, farmers will tell you the most bugling they hear is in November. I've personally gone into a number of areas elk hunting that have a few rubs but nothing outrageous, but when I'm out there in November doing reconnaissance for a late season whitetail hunt, there are rubs all over the place.

[elkdom]

What kind of trees were they on? They weren't teeth marks from eating bark in the winter, were they? Those can sometimes be mistaken for rubs, and you can get in to some stands of trees where nearly every tree is marked.

when the bark is shredded and is sometimes several inches deep laying at the bottom of trees, it is rubs, it is easy to determine the difference between rubs and bark stripped off during winter food shortages,,,

there are different types of rubs,
rubs to rid antlers of velvet,
rubs to mark territory,
during the rut, the bulls continuously rub, making their "scent" prevalent to alert other bulls, a sign to other elk of their dominance,,,

[bforce750]

Alot of trees that time of year still have leaves, you probably ran into a group of young bulls that work that area. The only time I get excited is when I see a rub on a tree that is 7-8 ft high and heavy tracks, you know eventually your going to run into something good.

[sawmill]

Tell me the area and ill go check ;)

Hey T,take a walk up in behind the Trap Range just out of town.Hundreds of 4 inch Jackpines all scored to hell.Shed hunting spot.Rubs,not chews.

[bugler]

Bulls rub quite a bit in the winter and they tend to be in groups. What the OP saw was likely and area where bulls were spending some winter time.

[bigneily]

My money is on chew's, I've got a buddy with a ranch in zone x alot of river bottom shat . There is places in the willow and poplar tree thickets chewed all to shat, from the elk in previous years....Neil

[Trapper D]

My money is on chew's, I've got a buddy with a ranch in zone x alot of river bottom shat . There is places in the willow and poplar tree thickets chewed all to shat, from the elk in previous years....Neil
ya i agree was watching them last weekend stripping the bark off and eating it, theyve clear large swaths of the thin bark off the small stuff

[Buckmeister]

I never knew about elk chews before, but that sounds like a plausible explanation for what I saw. I don't recal what kind of trees I saw the marks on, but the basis had a wide variety of species in there.

[CanuckShooter]

I saw the rub thread in the Island category and it reminded me of what I saw last fall in the EK and wanted to querry you elk hunters as to what you think.

We were in zone X hunting the cow elk open season. I was walking through an old water/creek basin that was rather thick with 4 - 6" thick trees amongst the bigger trees. As I carried along I started seeing an incredible amount of rubs. I could stand still and count about 20 or more rubs, walk about 20 feet, and count about another 20 separate other rubs. This went on for a few hundred metres. There were literally 100's of rubs. All the rubs were about the same size and length, so I figured that maybe one bull had made them, I don't know. But heres the thing, they were all older rubs, not a single freshie. Not super old, just not fresh. I know what a one year old rub looks like. I couldn't figure if they had been made from last winter/spring or the previous fall season. I thought maybe wintering bulls made them. Found one old small shed while in there. Some fresh droppings however by some resident elk who hide out in there and cross through at a certain point.

So what do you think? Is this typical behaviour, or highly unusual? Was it a wintering spot and there were tons of bulls in there, or just one very ambitious horny bull? Did I happen on a "hot spot" during a slow year? I do know that a few resident bulls live there too. I don't live around the EK so I can't go check the area on a regular basis.

I found the same thing on the other side of the river on our property last fall, there is one spot that is full of rubs..some pretty fresh too. Some of them were from moose & deer though, the tracks gave them away. :mrgreen: Private property rocks!!

[hunter1947]

My thoughts are that 3 or 4 bull elk did these rubs in the early month of Aug they where getting the velvet off there antlers at this time of the year you can have up to 5 or even more bulls that are together and this is why there are so many rubs on the trees.

The bulls that made these rubs might have been all average bulls 6x6 or 5x6 or even 5x5 I was in the EK last July scouting for elk deer and saw some week old fresh rubs done in the latter month of July when the month of Aug and mid way through Sept had past the same rubs looked old ..