During the Whitetail Deer rut in the Fall, male deer "rubbing and scraping" facilitate breeding............. "Both of these behaviours serve as scent signposts for olfactory and visual communication to other deer of both sexes"............. "A lot of rubbing behavior takes place shortly after male antler velvet is dried and/or shed, but continues throughout the rutting period"............... "A rub is initially made by a buck rubbing his antlers and forehead (for scent deposition) on a shrub or small tree"............. "Once created, a rub may be used by several bucks or does".............. "Generally, bucks begin "making scrapes" several weeks after the first rubs appear"................ "This activity increases as the breeding season peaks and then declines throughout the remainder of the rutting period"............... "A scrape is made by a buck pawing a spot of ground, usually to bare soil, and rub-urinating in that soil".............. "A scrape is often associated with a low, overhanging branch which is often broken by the buck biting and/or pulling on the branch"............... "Scent from the forehead, preorbital gland or mouth is often deposited on the broken branch"............. "Much rubbing and scraping behavior is nocturnal".................."It’s probably too simplistic to think of rubbing and scraping as mere personal ads to attract the opposite sex".............. "Every deer that walks through a meadow or woodland where a rub and scrape has occurred smells the scrape and takes something from it"............"Whether it was a doe learning about a potential mate, or a buck learning about a potential rival, what takes place is a complicated language that we can only tenuously understand"..............Click on video below to see a full "rub and scrape" sequence taking place in the Massachusetts woods

http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001mFUxxXOfX7r3MYKAu3YbbfinVOn7KOANj8usie3l4BCKX3HOT7cq1YOD6n6FY-ZwcjbZaV5fNmJJckDWUvIvcB9ff8FoOcvzVqCai2dAmKfeG9ApAJVUUoqt7YhcdwaH9ATErIcaWV2hbnDU0VevCBzsDHf7EzfsRRr8vN782mRYTSZ-OiemRVTCO2THEwmwSSkz1YEqEO-mZiGD4aT5C6MquOM-tpas0QTrBZw9sZc=&c=i9vMPJko_FNmEao0faEMBiTDjW8kQSs9RrF7OcELZkX8HjBFyiLFVA==&ch=xQmACZv8fNTigvJx_RK4VwCW6lgn7rE5tMO5C4K5C4gkwRCAxUA6MA==

CLICK ON THIS LINK BELOW TO VIEW A BUCK MAKING A SCRAPE
https://youtu.be/s_TSWzmJA-8

The Whitetail Rut

Northern Woodlands Magazine; Susan Morse

The most prominent event in the November woods is the whitetail rut, and in the spirit of the season, we’re thrilled to be able to share this fabulous video of a buck making a scrape. The footage was shot in 2013 by David Dargie in Andover, Massachusetts.

Biologists call the events you’re about to see a “full sequence scrape.” First, the buck approaches a licking branch, then proceeds to sniff it, chew it, and rub it along his head, adding scent from his saliva, nasal glands, preorbital glands, and forehead glands. He then paws the earth, depositing more scent from the interdigital glands between his toes. At 1:15 in the video, he squeezes his hind legs together and urinates on his tarsal glands; the urine then drips onto the scrape, adding more stink.


"Rub and Scrape" behaviour in Whitetail Deer

Buck scrapes facilitate breeding, but as our resident tracker Susan Morse points out in this article, it’s probably too simplistic to think of them as mere personal ads. Every deer that walked through that meadow in Andover smelled the scrape and took something from it, whether it was a doe learning about a potential mate, or a buck learning about a potential rival. Animals communicate through their noses, and it’s a complicated language that we can only tenuously understand.