when does rattling work?

[fearthebeard]

i been wanting to try it but have been to scared to spook any deer near by plus I don't know when it is most effective rifle opens up nov 20th is that peak rut or post rut? and should I rattle opening day , if so morning or night , hard or soft , should I use curtain scents or calls with it/ I know its a lot of questions just trying to have every mental weapon in my arsenal that I can 

[Doc]

My neighbor called yesterday and said that he had three 6-point bucks in full-on battle in his front yard. So apparently there is some natural rattling going on out there right now.

[JimMac]

last yr bow hunting and see 2 does and a comming up the row on the far side of the field

(250 yrds ) away so i let out a voice bleet , they stop look around ,, started moving up the

row again so i did the voice bleet again , stop dead in there tracks and look , then they

all proceed to come accross the field 100 yrds up on my left .. so i grab the antlers and

gave a little rattle , pause 10 secs , rattle again all looking up to my left to see if there comming

down to me , for some reasion i look to my right and fell off my stool just about , 6 to 8 pt

buck on my right watching me  25 yrds away ... bout pooed the britches .. 

 

 

[dbHunterNY]

never had the best luck rattling around here.  I've called in little guys but nothing spectacular.  I feel it's more to do with such an out of whack buck to doe population back when I tried it more where I was.

[wooly]

Early season is the best time to rattle IMO.

I've only rattled in a half dozen bucks or so I believe were looking for a REAL fight during peak rut

The rest have all been drawn in out of curiosity to clashing antlers and the social aspects deer enjoy..

If you have a spot you've observed bucks sparring pre-season, that's a great place to start. There's so much more behind it than just the sound of horns being smashed together. Sometimes it just gets them on their feet earlier or gets them looking for those bachelor buddies they've been missing once they split up.

 

I wont rattle mid day..... period.

Hit the horns at prime times when bucks are on their feet expecting to confront one another in certain areas.

 

I know a lot of you guys don't have much faith in rattling in NY, but I'm telling you right now, you likely won't believe me until you overcome your fear of making noise while deer hunting when you're not seeing anything to begin with.

Edited September 24, 2015 by wooly

[Lawdwaz]

I've only rattled "in" two bucks; one didn't make it "out".  The other was WAY to fast for me or I'd have ventilated him too.........................

 

The horns are usually in the truck but don't get carried to the stand too often.  If things are slow or I spot a buck in the distance I'll clank them together in hopes of a lookie Lou.

 

 

[ants]

I have never had luck rattling. I have had a few distant bucks pick up their heads and look, but they just kept on their way. Never had much luck grunting either. I killed the one and only buck, out of about 100, that responded to grunts.

Im sure that in a lot of cases it works well though.

[BigVal]

I rattled in one buck a few years back, nice big 8. Other than that it doesn't draw much attention by me, or at least attention to come in.

[Hock3y24]

I've had better luck with a bleat and grunt. Messed with a spike horn one day, we grunted back and forth for

Like 5 minutes!

[stoneam2006]

I've rattled in a few bucks without a shot...had 2 scrubs come thru so fast I didn't even have time to try and bleat them to stop I had a 6 come in last year that I missed...I prefer to call/rattle after prime time in the am...hoping to catch them on way back to bed...9am is my earliest...I like to call may be one of my biggest mistakes tho calling to much

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[Uncle Nicky]

Only works on the TV shows where they are trying to settle rattle bags & ratting horns

[chiefbkt]

If you know you have a dominant buck in your area, and you can set up close to his bedding area, you may have luck. I personally don't rattle much but have had luck on the edges of a bucks bedding area during the end regular archery season.

Chiefbkt

[wolc123]

I have rattled in a few.  It does seem to work best early in archery season or late in ML season.   I don't think I would do it again during archery because the bucks that respond are too "alert" when they approach, literally looking for a fight.   "String-jump" is a much bigger issue in that situation.    The last big one I rattled in during archery dropped about a foot when he heard my arrow release, taking the arrow right on the shoulder blade.  Fortunately he was not hurt too bad, and a friend was able to take him "all healed up", a month later with a shotgun slug.   A pure, unexpected "ambush" shot gives you much better odds of a clean kill with archery tackle.

 

With a super-sonic bullet, no worries there.   By the time they hear the shot, it is too late, as they will have already taken the hit.    I rattled in a monster a few years ago in mid December.   There was about 15 minutes of daylight left when I smacked an old, 7-point rack together a few times.   Immediately after I saw a group of two does followed by a huge lumbering buck come running from across the street, about 500 yards away.   The does passed right below my stand, but unfortunately the buck never got close enough for me to risk the running shot.    Years prior, when we had to use side-lock ML's, I rattled in another big one, that had already lost one horn.   That one came in at a slow walk, right below my stand.   I centered the sight on his shoulders as he passed under, but only the cap ignited, not the main charge.   He picked up his pace a little at the "crack", but got away unharmed.    

 

I may try the rattling a bit with the crossbow this year.  Even though it is subsonic, as long as I keep the shots close (under 20 yards), string jump should not hurt too much, even on "alert" bucks.    

[HuntOrBeHunted]

Never. Thats when it works lol. Na I just don't use calls myself. Tv shows and youtube make them look better than they are sometimes.

 

I have pulled over near feilds with deer in them just to see how they would act when I used different calls in different ways. May be crazy but I have found that if the buck isn't dominant or looking for a fight they will book for the most part.

 

And people over use the rattle. Using it lightly has got to be the better way. Making the bigger bucks think there's a few little guys going at it.