Lack of Buck sign

[NYbuck50]

So i hung my two stands last weekend. I'm bowhunting for the first time since i was about 15 this year, with the hopes of getting a crack at a solid 10pt i tracked late muzzleloader season last year. (I've been rifle hunting the early season in the Adirondacks the last 10 yrs) The area im hunting is loaded with deer sign. Its a small ridge below 3 corn fields, and above a thick swamp.. Normally when i check my southern stands right before gun season, the woods are full of scrapes and rubs,. but ive never really been in the southern tier woods this early. . My question is this.. Should i be concerned that their are no rubs or scrapes near my stands this early, or am i just worrying about everything because the season is almost here?

Happy Hunting fellas

[StripedBuck]

NYbuck50

I wouldn't worry too much as it is still early in the season.Their have been many times that the woods were signless in the southern zone and then the next time you visited them you would see sign all over the place. The bucks are still running with other bucks right now and soon will be on their own making scraps and rubs getting ready for the upcoming rut. By the way the area you described that you hunt sounds like a great place with a small ridge, corn fields and a swamp. That's were your 10 pointer is probably living in that swamp.

Good luck this year!

StripedBuck

[RangerClay]

NYbuck50

I wouldn't worry too much as it is still early in the season.Their have been many times that the woods were signless in the southern zone and then the next time you visited them you would see sign all over the place. The bucks are still running with other bucks right now and soon will be on their own making scraps and rubs getting ready for the upcoming rut. By the way the area you described that you hunt sounds like a great place with a small ridge, corn fields and a swamp. That's were your 10 pointer is probably living in that swamp.

Good luck this year!

StripedBuck

Yup!!

[G-Man]

If you know he was there last year he's probably still around. Just look at it this way...no sign may discourage other hunters from hunting near there!

[virgil]

I agree with StripedBuck. I wouldn't worry too much about it yet. I was just at my land in the southern zone, Finger Lakes region this past weekend to scout and hang stands. I didn't have any rubs or scrapes yet. I usually don't start seeing them until after the first good cold spell. I did see a fair number of tracks.

[NYbuck50]

I appreciate the thoughts fellas.. I'm staying out of there this weekend, as i dont want to stir up the woods too much, may juts scout some other areas i dont have stands in (yet) hoping for the best on the 15th.

Good luck this season

[Doc]

Rubs at this time of the year are pretty hard to come across with all the leaves still on. You almost have to stumble over them to see them. I have only found 1 so far this year. Scrapes this early are pretty rare also, but not unheard of. last year I had a scrape spotted (complete with licking branch and the whole bit), and I believe that was in the 1st couple days of October.

[Steve7]

So i hung my two stands last weekend. I'm bowhunting for the first time since i was about 15 this year, with the hopes of getting a crack at a solid 10pt i tracked late muzzleloader season last year. (I've been rifle hunting the early season in the Adirondacks the last 10 yrs) The area im hunting is loaded with deer sign. Its a small ridge below 3 corn fields, and above a thick swamp.. Normally when i check my southern stands right before gun season, the woods are full of scrapes and rubs,. but ive never really been in the southern tier woods this early. . My question is this.. Should i be concerned that their are no rubs or scrapes near my stands this early, or am i just worrying about everything because the season is almost here?

Happy Hunting fellas

I also did notice a small rub on Sunday 10/2. It was small but it was defintely a rub with the telltale lines of the tines. It was near one of my cams but didn't capture the act as it was just off the field of view. There is an 8 pt that I have video from that camera. We defintely need a good cold snap to get things going... it's coming.

[Buckstopshere]

This year is a lot different than last year. Last year we had lots of scrape action but then we had an strong early spike in rutting action during the end of October.

[Tio1]

Got 8 pt on trail cam making scrape and have found a few others this wk in NY. Got wet in PA for the archery opener and did a little scouting. Found more rubs in PA but no scrapes.

[phade]

Found three rubs two weeks ago to the day. Only ones I have found so far...none on the other properties. It's still early.

[MountainHunter]

I have seen very little rubbing. Five or Six rubs total so far and I have quite a few stands hung. No scraping yet.

[covert]

I've seen a bunch of rubs this fall. A buck has a rubline that goes from an elderberry to another elderberry, a redbud, an apple, a mulberry, a cherry and another cherry right across my damn lawn. My wife is pizzed! This is after he rubbed one of her pears to death last year and hit the other one pretty hard.

Come Saturday if I catch him out there while there's shooting light he's gonna' get it. Farthest one he's rubbed is within 35 yds of my porch.

[Localqdm]

If it is a good transition area/funnel, travel corridor and there are deer in the area, I would hunt it even WITHOUT any sign after the last week of Oct. For the rut, a lot of guys hunt the land, not the sign.

[gjs4]

Hang you stands in the spring and you will see a ton more activity in the fall. Also why did you hang them where you did? If it was based off last years in season scouting....if not maybe you just picked a lousy area.

[RaggedEdges]

I posted my observations concerning this last week. not much has changed over the past week. Checked cameras yesterday and had very few pictures. 3 of the 4 I have been running had zero pictures. I did get some doe and doe and fawn pictures in one area. this will help later on when the rut starts. I know what my stand selection is going to be for next week end to start and will make changes as I get stand time to see what is going on. My brother in law did see a very nice buck on the property this morning when he was coming in to do firewood. it was with a doe. I noticed what appeared to be some chasing activity across from my house in a brushy field friday night just before dark. I was mowing and there were about 7-8 deer in the field. I saw one chasing a couple others back and forth in the field. Im almost positive the one chasing was a buck but it was pretty far away to confirm. regardless, they were mature deer. That gave me a little more encouragement but I think it is going to be slow here at least for archery season.

[arrow nocker]

seen a scrape on state land.But the branch above it wasnt touched.so i didn't get too excited.I have only found one on my property right in the thick thick crap right in my back yard.Pretty good sized tree.My 11 yr old actually found it.LOL.

Funny thing is.All week no pics at all of anything.On two seperate cameras in some verry high traffic areas.I dont know.hope for the best this saturday and sunday i guess.Usually this time of year behind my house is full of rubs.Not so much scrapes but all rubbed up.

There is some logging going on out back and i think it has chased out the deer some.Got tons of human scent back there now.

[WNYBuckHunter]

I found 3 fresh rubs yesterday and a small scrape.

[NYbuck50]

Placed one last minute stand this weekend.. What a difference a week makes.. After not having seen a rub or scrape the last three weeks, my wife and I counted at least 20, on 3 different runs.. Looking nforward to saturday.. Goodluck everyone

[First-light]

Found some small rubs and a few scrapes this weekend.

[crs740]

I found 4 scrapes this week and was not looking for them. One happened to be right in front of one of my trail cams. I had a five 1.5-2.5 yr old bucks work it. I put down some buck urine to see what happens.

[Outstanding in my field]

We are hanging stands Friday mid day to hunt the weekend, no trimming required it has been done in July. We hang our stands late to keep the tresspassing neighbors guessing. We be up the first two weekends and am pumped to get in the NY woods!!! You never know what might happen.

[NFA-ADK]

I was in the ADK last weekend for 5 days. No scrapes or rubs found, as a matter of fact I did not see a deer the entire time I was in Moose River. Very warm and I was supprised how many people go bear/coyote hunting. More people than I care to hunt around. One hunter was so close I had to get out of the area, did not think too many deer would come in with all the yelping and shooting going on, he seamed to be going after coyotes... Monday the area died down and I was able to scout about a 5 mile area with very little sigh of mature bucks and deer sign was old. Did find one BIG set of tracks I will go after during rifle season... No scraps or rubs, I think the combination of excessive rain and warm weather is keeping them in smaller area's and holding onto summer patterns, due to easy access of food, just my oppinion.