What diameter were the trees that were rubbed up?

If it were me, I'd plan to scout it early next year. If you find fresh scrapes nearby and new rubs I'd be setting up to hunt it with something real low impact like a portable tripod or tree stand. Sneak in and sneak out.

I would not set up a blind and feeder there. In our part of the world, the mature bucks go out of their way to avoid the feeders in daylight. If he's in the area, don't push him out.

Some of my deer come back to the same tree year after year. If they are in the area it is a good place to start. I agree with not disturbing it very much.

Moved to a new lease, buddy of mine said a small mesquite patch was skinned alive with rubs. He has hunted this place for the last 2 years and wants me to put a stand there, but kinda curious as to what others think. To me, rubs mean deer has been there, but no guarantee they will stay there. I think I will look elsewhere to put my stand. What do you think?

IME. Rubs occur in or close to bedding areas, feeding areas, water, and on travel routes. Some are made only when they are feeding in an area. Rubs in feeding areas may not stay fresh if the feed is gone. These type of rubs can be very good during the early season or even late seaon on cool season small grains. Some trees are sign post rubs and are used year after year. Rublines can show you a travel direction also. In the Hill Country bucks like to use Bumelia trees to rub on. When the rub the outer layer of bark down it has an orangish/brownish layer under it. You could follow a rubline in the mornings when the sun came up as they rubs went west it seemed on a lot of lines. Same in the evening. Those seemed to be on travel corridors. I have setup TC on rubs and scrapes to see what showed up. Some bucks make multiple trips and some only show up once. Watched a really nice buck in South Texas make a scrape on a sendero about 6-700 yrds away and the ranch owner tried to make a stalk on him mid morning. Spooked him before he could get a shot. So we set up a TC on a Tpost and had 17 pics in 8 days. Over 10 different bucks and that same buck came back, but he was after midnight about 5 days later. Same on a sign post rub were I had over 10 different bucks use it in 2 weeks but none of them were repeats. Size of the rub was not an indicator of size of the buck also.

Some trees get rubbed by multiple deer in a single year, while others may get rubbed by other deer in later years.

I can remember a mid-sized cedar that deer rubbed every year through all the many years that I hunted the property.

Deer and bucks especially are creatures of habit and prefer the same travel routes which become altered as food sources change. The best part of rubs is that they can tell you where a buck might be a certain time of day. In most cases, you'll find that only one side of the bush or small tree is being rubbed, which gives a strong indication of his direction of travel. I mean, how likely is it that a buck is going to turn around to rub a tree when walking. If the rubbed area faces towards a bedding area, look for him there in the evening as he will be leaving it to feed for the evening. And a rub facing a food source area or on the opposite side of a thicket is best to hunt in the morning so you catch him heading back to his bedroom.

What has always amazed me is how a buck can find a safe route to use to avoid box stands and other types that hunters never move. Even though the route is just beyond where hunters can see them, they use the route and leave the hunters swearing the deer have disappeared.