This process has been observed to take from only a few hours up to several days. Most of the rubs made during this time of the year are small and not very apparent as visual communication cues. As the breeding season approaches bucks begin to more vigorously debark the trees and shrubs on which the rubs are made. We notice bucks regularly marking these high visibility rubs with secretions from the glandular area on the forehead. As noticed by most hunters, there seems to be some correlation between the size tree that the buck rubs and antler size of the buck making the rub.
Bucks also seem to select trees that have an aromatic quality.
Pine, cedar, and apple are good examples of this apparent selection. Bark from these and other trees that deer prefer to rub are even odoriferous to humans. A scrape may be defined as a circular depression from which all debris has been pawed, some 3-6 feet under an overhanging limb or branch. Bucks may or may not rub-urinate in the scrape as the initial scrape is established or as he freshens the scrape at some irregular interval during the breeding season. Scraping activity by dominant bucks markedly increases just prior to and during the breeding season or rut.