In my early days as a deer hunter, I learned the basic patterns of the whitetail rut (breeding season) by observation.

I had little idea of why deer interact as they do during different times of the year but I learned through years of hunting when to watch for signs such as rubs where bucks remove the velvet from their antlers on trees and later spar with small sapplings during the primary rut.

I learned to spot rub trees by looking for an isolated juniper sapling or check the edge of a sumach grove.