Identify these rubs ?
 

Hi folks;

Went out this weekend with the young'uns along the Elbow River, west of Calgary. We saw some tree rubs that I couldnt identify. There are moose in there, saw one in Nov, and plenty of scat. Although, most of the game trails and hoof prints have been obliterated by the wind and snow melt. As such, its difficult to see what exactly has been in there.

The first pic is of a rub about 6ft up a tree. Kind of high for a deer, although, Im not sure how moose rub trees. Might be from a porcupine.

The others are trees taken from just beyond a fence. One tree is rubbed raw from what might be cattle or deer, the other shot - a couple of populars in the center of the frame - have what I think is deer sign.

I also included a pic of the scat. Im pretty sure its from Moose.

have a look and let me know what you think.

Attachment 130555unknown rub
Attachment 130556unknown rub
Attachment 130557suspected deer
Attachment 130558rubbed raw
Attachment 130559 poop

Moose 100% they are not rubs the Moose ate the bark.

Moose.

Now you mention it, I do notice the teeth marks. Do moose "rub" to mark territory and to shed velvet too ?

Could be Bigfoot scratching his back..

I've never heard of or seen moose rubbing a tree to mark territory. In general, they move way too much to have a territory. Having said that, if there's heavy snow in the winter and they find a place with lots of willows they can get to, they will stay in one area until they need to find more food or wolves push them out.

And rubbing a tree to mark territory doesn't make sense because moose will stick together for protection during the winter.

In the fall moose will definitely thrash a smaller pine (8 - 10") to pieces during rutting season when they're all excited.

Bill

Something eating the bark off the poplars. See it sometimes where feral horses are. Elbow falls area has horses.

Common moose trait. Aspirin in the bark, maybe Moosey has ahead ache ? :lol:

Grizz

X2

Another vote for moose.

Elk. I've seen groups of 50 poplars with the bark eaten like that. That would exclude moose in my mind.

Link: https://www.google.ca/search?q=elk+e...e+bark&ie=&oe=

could it be Talking Moose .. he's still MIA ....

Moose seem to like eating those big patches, elk not so much and usually as a last resort feed.

Grizz

Elk

I figure moose except the 4th pic down might be elk. Not too sure on that tho as elk rubs I've seen are usually 4-6 feet long.

I have a horse that does that. Loves the bark

porcupine in the area? still looks moosey though

No guessing required, you have Moose scat and Moose eating the bark off of the poplars. Elk will also eat polar bark under certain conditions but the tooth pattern is different, (moose and elk have no upper incisor teeth, both have eight incisors per side, but elk have a large gap in the middle, moose go all the way across. Moose incisors are larger by quite a bit. Finally, Elk tend to eat smaller patches of bark.) Moose cut into the bark with their lower incisors and strip the bark upwards. You can see where the bark rips out at the top of the patch that is being eaten.

I've seen that too, and I know lots of elk hang out here.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e664693aaf.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Moose Whisperer
 

That is the best explanation by far. You are the moose whisperer..

^^ this :)

They're all moose. Higher the the chew marks. The bigger the moose. The top ones are all chews. The lower one thats completely bare is a rub. And yes moose rub trees. Have found plenty of moose antlers under then and have photo and video of them doing so. When they shed their velvet and before they shed their antlers. I see thousands of these a year and the giant pile of moose antlers in my room says so too 😊

Looks like a beaver came through with 5 feet of snow down haha.