New deer hunters are often confused by the terms "rubs" and "scrapes." That's understandable, since those terms are practically interchangeable.

My guess is that a wildlife educator, biologist or a well-informed hunter coined those terms in the '40s or '50s when whitetail knowledge was just becoming a popular subject for a nation of deer hunters hungry for more information about their sport.

Those arbitrarily named events concerned deer actions during the mating season or just before.