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Horizontal rubs

Iowa_Buckeye

Smartest person here
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Linn County Iowa
So last fall my buddy that I hunt with was telling me about seeing a guy (Ted Miller) using horizontal rubs.
He proceeded to get some pine branches and make 4 of them around the farm. Basically wired them up between 2 trees. I was a bit skeptical and gave him a bunch of BS for it, but 2 of them ended up getting lots of attention. The other 2 not so much.
Here are a few still shots from the videos we got on the game cams. Seems they did a bunch of sniffing, rubbing, and chewing on the branch.
I also used an ice auger to drill a hole and dropped in a fake rub/licking branch in one of our food plots. It did get some attention, but not as much as I had hoped.

Anyone else try this? Results?

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Bigslam51

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Stark County
I'm planning on trying a couple horizontal rubs, hopefully this weekend I can get them done. I also have a 15 foot cedar tree that xbowguy gave me that I will be planting in hopes that the bucks rub it.
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
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I think it's got some merit from what I've seen watching Ted Miller use them! Ron and I need to put a few of these on our farm IMO.

I also like the reasoning why Ted does this! He says, being a self filming hunter he uses them to stop a deer for added filming time and to size up the deer better before making his decision as to shoot the deer or not. Also, he positions them in accordance to his stand location so he have better odds of getting the best shot angle with the deers attention being less alert of danger because they're concentrating on working the rub.
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
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SW Ohio
Great pics BTW!!! You got some dandies working them! I also think that location is very important if you want more daytime activity or use as a hunting method. I believe if established in thickets where they have some cover you'll have more success versus in open woods or not so far off the beaten path. Just my opinion...

What factors do you think might have contributed as to why 2 satations worked and the other 2 didn't?
 

Boarhead

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I have some out now along with a cedar post.
Guess we will see how they do this Fall.
I secure them with rope and leave a little loose so they give a little while being rubbed.
 

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I may have to try this. My outhouse stand has zero rubbing right near my shooting zone. Within 50 yards there are a few rubs every year. A horizontal rub could be the ticket in my situation. The good part is it is fairly thick around my stand.

I hope the original poster nailed one of the bucks in the photos, some dandy bucks for sure.
 

Bigslam51

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Stark County
I think I may try pine for the horizontal rubs like the OP did. They must like the scent of it as they rub it. Looks like I'll be hacking off a couple limbs from my parents tree lol
 

Iowa_Buckeye

Smartest person here
1,776
85
Linn County Iowa
The two that got hit hard were in heavily traveled areas. One was in a clover plot and the other was in a natural funnel/pinch point in the timber. The other two were basically placed in the open timber and probably just did not see as much traffic. They were used, but not near as much. I think location was the key.
 

MoonLab

Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.
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Tooville
I'm planning on trying a couple horizontal rubs, hopefully this weekend I can get them done. I also have a 15 foot cedar tree that xbowguy gave me that I will be planting in hopes that the bucks rub it.

Hell yeah, dude. Would like to see that on trail cam too
 

Bigslam51

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Stark County
Hell yeah... can't wait to see it. Did you buy that new trail cam?
Ya my buddy texted me the other day while he was at Dick's sporting goods. They had the Primos easy cam on sale for $30, couldn't pass that up so he picked one up for me. Ain't nothing special, but it's another scouting tool in the arsenal.
 

MoonLab

Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.
Supporting Member
10,371
145
Tooville
Ya my buddy texted me the other day while he was at Dick's sporting goods. They had the Primos easy cam on sale for $30, couldn't pass that up so he picked one up for me. Ain't nothing special, but it's another scouting tool in the arsenal.

:smiley_clap: as long as it take pictures, brother
 

OhioHunter88

Junior Member
270
68
Perry County
Im planning on trying atleast a cedar tree in one of my plots if I can find one! They are hard to find in my area apartenly!!! Jesse did one last season in a plot with good success.