I just follow the rubs back toward the bedding area for a short way, looking for a good place to set my stand. Rubs as Fingerprints Miller feels bucks choose the most aromatic tree species for rubbing. One buck I hunted loved rubbing spruce trees, and when I figured that out I unraveled a long rub line just by looking for spruce of the right diameter. More information can be gleaned from rubs, Miller points out. Rubs facing the food source were made in the morning as the buck headed back to bed.
Rubs facing away from the food source are evening sign.
And many bucks rub in a way unique to them. I killed a big nontypical a few years ago that had a very distinct rub. Though I never saw the deer until I shot him, I recognized his rubs easily. Because of his nontypical antlers, his rubs were always huge and had weird scratches and gouges in them. The older these bucks are, the less they rub and the tougher they are to figure out.