I was recently sent an email that described some of the deer behavior the writer was seeing now that his northern deer season is over. In it he was wondering why he was now seeing a number of fresh rubs in his hunting area.

For starters whitetail rutting behavior does not end when peak breeding ends, especially when it comes to rubbing behavior.  From velvet peel to antler casting bucks have an urge to rub, even when cold blasts and heavy snow from the north invade their home range. The only thing different with winter rubbing behavior is that it’s not as frequent as it is from October to December.

I took the accompanying photo about two weeks ago to show some of the rubbing behavior that occurs long after breeding has ended. As a side note the air temperature when I took this photo was 10 degrees above zero.

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