Build A Digital ‘Trapline’ For Bucks
By Mark Melotik
Still on the fence about investing in a hunting app? Late winter into spring is one of the best times to lean on this technology, which can help lead the way to tagging your next mature buck this fall.
It all starts with a spring scouting mission or two. Whether you choose to walk your favorite public or private tracts — or tap into the app’s Public Lands feature to find areas you’ve never before hunted — the next step is to show up at one of these locales armed with your app-equipped smartphone. You’re about to do some of the smartest scouting possible. That’s because when you find and log last fall’s buck rubs, scrapes, primary trail intersections and more, you create an accurate, real-time map that will help lead you to potential hotspots this fall.
As a longtime public-land hunter, I make it a goal every spring to locate four or five impressive rublines in widely different areas. I’m selective, marking rubs made by bucks I believe to be at least 3.5 years old or older. In my area, this means rubbed trees at least 3 inches in diameter or so, and the bigger and more-shredded, the better.
I give bonus points to rubs that feature one or more sizable branches (or maybe the tree itself) snapped clean. I get even more excited when I find three to six (or more) such rubs, all of the same caliber, that showcase a distinct path of travel — a more or less classic rubline. The beauty of an app is that logging this sign at the exact location means I can later study my digital hunt area map to see, with pinpoint accuracy, how each rubline, and likely a few accompanying scrapes, relate to the surrounding terrain. Following these rublines can lead you to preferred bedding and feeding areas you might not otherwise find.
The accuracy of today’s premium hunting apps can’t be overstated. When it comes to hunting mature bucks, the difference between recalling that you found a good rubline “on that long ridge near the big swamp” versus viewing precisely where that rubline bisected the ridge — right there on your very own custom digital map — can be huge.
Come late July, your app will lead you right back to your scouted areas, where you have the option to hang a trail camera or two. Your mission is to confirm your target buck is still alive. Especially when it comes to public lands, none of us like to waste time chasing fallen ghosts. When I find four or five rublines from the previous fall, I’m hoping one or two of those deer on my “trapline” are still walking.
Another option is to stay out and circle back, say, the second week in September. Nothing signals game-on like a few fresh new rubs in travel corridors where they are expected.
Whatever your approach this fall, building a digital trapline of potential big buck hotspots right now, with help from a many-featured hunting app, is a solid investment in your future success. And a bonus? It’ll bring new meaning (and focus) to summer shooting practice sessions.