Deer Dictionary

A deer scrape is made by a buck. The buck will work the ground usually down to the bare dirt as a visual sign to other bucks that he considers this area his unless a larger buck comes along and runs him off. Smaller bucks will typically understand from the sight and scents left in a scrape that this buck is either larger and older than them or similar in size at which point the new buck may challenge the resident. You can fool a buck by creating a mock scrape as a challenge to his hierarchy.
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A buck rub is the action of a buck removing the bark from a tree by running it’s antlers up and down the trunk and often it’s tines are used to shred smaller brush. A buck rub can tell you many things once you learn to read a rub. Besides being a visual sign to other deer you will find that there is a lot of scent is left behind which, like the deer scrape, tells the other deer a lot about the animal that made the rub. While big bucks don’t always rub on big trees it’s more often than not that small bucks rub on smaller trees so a big rub could tell you something about the size of the deer.
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Rattling a set of antlers together is a form of communication and challenge in a deer’s world. Initially a buck hearing what seems to be two more bucks fighting would theorize that this must be for good cause since deer seldom actually fight when speaking in terms of percentages. Therefore this odd-buck-out as we will call him figures he should investigate. That would be when you, the rattler, should set the antlers down and take care of business. You have several choices when it comes to rattling. You can use real antlers that obviously sound great or you could use synthetic antlers or a rattling bag.
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Sparring is the action between two bucks where they touch antlers in sort of a playful jousting match. Typically this action will not escalate into a full out brawl especially when it takes place earlier in the season. Sparring between bucks helps them work out who is stronger and more dominant. You will also hear the term sparring referred to as tickling when hunters talk about rattling antlers. You would have to imagine two deer just barely touching antlers in sort of a mock fight scenario.
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