YtailFreak
Active Member
I love this thread!!
I just tried this recently with zero results. Did the EXACT same thing as 6x6 but with common willows. 3 of them in 3 different areas. All well known buck areas. I wonder if my deer arent as aggressive or what the reason would be for them not to touch them?
I just tried this recently with zero results. Did the EXACT same thing as 6x6 but with common willows. 3 of them in 3 different areas. All well known buck areas. I wonder if my deer arent as aggressive or what the reason would be for them not to touch them?
IAwhitetailfreak
Member
Best thread ever!!!!!
Gladiator
PMA Member
Same here...no dice for me...
But I think I need to try Sumac as well...it's been fun to see what they do when they walk past it though.
Agreed, this has to be one of the best threads ever for me to follow. Love it. Practical stuff to help a deer hunter out...not expensive, nor does it require I invest in planting something/etc...
Thanks 6x6! :way:
bigbuckhunter88
PMA Member
At least something likes my mock rub trees. Just got them out.
Fox Valley Hunter
PMA Member
I agree this is an awesome idea. We lost access on a farm that we put a willow on last fall and the new owner called us this summer wondering why there was a lone dead willow tree in the food plot. He said it was almost rubbed in half from last year.
Have the cedar trees worked for any of you guys that have tried them? We put out some willows that are getting hammered. We tried a few cedars as well but they don't seem to get as much use as the willows.
Have the cedar trees worked for any of you guys that have tried them? We put out some willows that are getting hammered. We tried a few cedars as well but they don't seem to get as much use as the willows.
loneranger
Well-Known Member
I delimb cedars around my place evey year. They always get rubbed. But they are growing, not transplanted.
Daver
PMA Member
I too have delimbed the lower reaches of lving cedars and they become almost instant rub trees. Of course, I was purposeful in where I did this and location is a big key too. I might have just done this under a new stand this year, I can't remember for sure...
I was definitely planning on trying a sumac or two this fall in the "fake tree" locations, but haven't made the switch yet. Maybe this weekend...
But, even if the bucks don't tear up the fake tree as a rub tree, it is still in our experience last year a major focal point for ALL deer that get anywhere near it. Our two trees did not get rubbed a lot last year, but there was always a scrape underneath the branches and a lot of nuzzling going on in the lower branches. We had trail cams, sometimes in video mode, over these trees at various times last fall that gave us the evidence of their use.
So even if you aren't seeing much for rubbing, I bet you are still getting some decent activity around them.
Fox Valley Hunter
PMA Member
I think they are hitting the cedars some but they are destroying the willows. We had one smaller willow probably only 2" thick at the most that we had to replace after 3 weeks because they had the licking branches snapped off already. I wish we would have put a camera on that one.
6x6
PMA Member
For you guys that aren't having any luck, or put smaller bushy trees in a month ago, I would suggest replacing them with bigger fresh signpost sized trees. The older bucks have been scarce the last week or so but that is about to change as we get into the peak rubbing/scraping time.
Corbens youth buck, september 22nd, was feeding towards the tree, but did not quite make it.
This buck, that Colton is hunting, is hitting the diamond willow, but has no use for the common willow.
These bucks like both.
Turkeys like it though.
I tried a small silver maple, in this picked, hilltop cornfield, thinking with the soft wood and smooth bark they would like it, but they are not touching it. Gonna replace it with a BIG diamond willow monday, and I bet they attack it.
The tumor faced buck is still checking trees and the growth is growing rapidly. Check the pics a couple pages back from a month ago.
A few sequences from the last couple days.
After hunting tomorrow with Colton, monday I am putting in several new big trees. Gonna try basswood, cedar, apple and pine, to see if they have a preference. If they get no attention, I will swap them with a diamond willow and see what happens. Now is the time when my bucks like to shred big trees with lots of overhead branches.
Corbens youth buck, september 22nd, was feeding towards the tree, but did not quite make it.
This buck, that Colton is hunting, is hitting the diamond willow, but has no use for the common willow.
These bucks like both.
Turkeys like it though.
I tried a small silver maple, in this picked, hilltop cornfield, thinking with the soft wood and smooth bark they would like it, but they are not touching it. Gonna replace it with a BIG diamond willow monday, and I bet they attack it.
The tumor faced buck is still checking trees and the growth is growing rapidly. Check the pics a couple pages back from a month ago.
A few sequences from the last couple days.
After hunting tomorrow with Colton, monday I am putting in several new big trees. Gonna try basswood, cedar, apple and pine, to see if they have a preference. If they get no attention, I will swap them with a diamond willow and see what happens. Now is the time when my bucks like to shred big trees with lots of overhead branches.
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I registered and now I can see pic. Unbeilevable pictures. I tell others to check out this website and look at 6x6 willow posts. They think I am kidding them. Can't wait to see updates and check my camera. I did a google search on diamond willow and got some good info. Not sure what kind of willow I put out but didn't have the diamond shapes on the bark. Deer seem to always rub willows next to our creek but never did I think you could "transplant" to the middle of a food plot. What a great idea!
Fox Valley Hunter
PMA Member
Any luck with the other types of trees 6x6? We still have 2 cedar trees out but they just don't seem to be getting the same response as the willows. We are going to try and replace them with willows this weekend.
Thanks again for sharing this idea with us!:way:If you are ever in Van Buren county I owe you a few beers for the enjoyment I have got from using this idea.:drink2::drink2:
6x6
PMA Member
Well, here are my best mock rub pictures yet. Now that he has been shot, I can share these pics we got on another property, of this awesome buck over the summer. He did not strip untill sept 14th and grew right up untill then.
When he showed up and saw that tree, it was like, where the hell did that come from, and then it was on. I can't belive the velvet did not come off then, but instead a couple nights later.
He green scrores, I was told 281 5/8ths gross and 273 and something net, with around 198 typical 6x6 main frame. Awesome deer.
When he showed up and saw that tree, it was like, where the hell did that come from, and then it was on. I can't belive the velvet did not come off then, but instead a couple nights later.
He green scrores, I was told 281 5/8ths gross and 273 and something net, with around 198 typical 6x6 main frame. Awesome deer.
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bigbuckhunter88
PMA Member
Oh my! That deer is ridiculous. Those pictures are exactly why it is like opening presents every time I check the trail cam in front of my mock rubs. Thank you for sharing both the ideas and the pictures of this beast.
AIRASSAULT
PMA Member
So you were the lucky dog that had the pics that Dunkin was posting this summer?! Too bad you or your son didnt get him.. Awesome buck! Cant wait to hear the story
