rattled one in..........

[tom fellegy]

i have permission to hunt the neighbors 15ac parcel accross the road from my house. there is a 10ac field and 5ac of woods/grass areas. it is a bedding area, because of the grassey areas and the areas with trees is very thick, heavy brush. i have hunted this land the last three years, and have shot one other deer there, a spike buck last year. this year i decided to try something different that i never have tried, i took 2 small forkhorn racks and tied them together. i talked to a friend and asked him for some advice on rattleing, he gave me a few tips and i set out sunday morning to give it a try. the morning hunt did not produce any deer. i went back out in the afternoon and i was rattleing and grunting every 15-20 minuets. at around 4:20pm, 2 minuets after a rattel/grunt session, i saw movement about 35 yards away, it stopped and the rest is history, it took about 20 seconds from the time i first saw him until i shot him. he was a small 6 pointer, but that doesn't matter, i rattled him in. that was really cool, to call in a buck and shoot it. it was windy yesterday and he was moving with the wind, i think he was trying to get down wind of me and see what all the ruckes was about. i still have a management tag to fill, so i will be back out in the woods this week.........tom fellegy

[TMT]

Congrats!
Do you have any pics?

I have not had much luck rattling in any bucks.  Maybe I should start trying it again.

[deadeye]

Tom, good for you.  I have been watching this fall the deers reaction to rattling.  Rather than blind rattling, (you hardly ever know if the deer came to the rattling or would have showed up anyway) I wait until I was observing a deer prior to rattling.  From what I observed so far this fall, I plan to leave my rattling horns at home.  If you want to keep all does away from your stand at least 250-300 yards, rattle all you want.  Some say, well I'm buck hunting so who cares.  Here's why you may want to reconsider that, especially during the rut.  Does feeding over 200 yards away in a field  would leave the area when I rattled.  Does traveling through the woods would reverse direction when I rattled.   But here is the big one.  A friend was set up about 200 yards down the ridge from me.  I watched a doe being followed by a nice buck head down the trail towards him.  Because I had already shot some deer, I let them go.  By friend rattled as the deer headed his way.  The doe did an about face, walked around the buck and back towards me.  Of course the buck followed.    

[tom fellegy]

i know very very little about rattling. this was the first time that i gave it a try. did this deer come in to the rattle??? i don't know for sure, it came into view within 2 minuets of my last rattle/grunt session. for my record, this buck is going down as being rattled in. if the area wasn't so thick brush, and i could see better, i may have rattled some more and watched the reaction. when i shot the deer, he was moving straight down wind, from what i have been told, that is what they do, move down wind of the ruckes and try to figure out what is going on. as far as a picture, i don't have any from out in the field. it is just a small 6 pointer. the thrill about this deer was that i rattled him in.....................tom fellegy

[Realtree]

Great work Tom, congrats!

I don't rattle too much either just for the pure fact that I normally only hunt firearms season during the rut and I am afraid of scaring off a Hot Doe with a Buck on her tail. I DO use my Estrus Bleat can or my Bleat call occassionally, but I normally see quite a few deer without doing any calling or rattling in our woods so I don't want to wreck a good thing. 

I have spoken to many hunters who have had great success calling in Does with a Distressed Fawn call. It sounds like a baby screaming and the Does come at full speed right to the call to identify the situation.

[thunderpout]

Ive rattled in deer, both bow hunting and during rifle season.... its never helped me harvest a deer, but its turned a few non-eventful days into memorable hunts!  Had a few deer come in and tear the crap out of brush/trees lookin for me(the phantom buck) but  not show themselves..... kinda like the Tom that wont come in to a decoy/calling... I think they wonder(the smart ones anyway) where's all the commotion I was hearing? After rattling, Ive had bucks sittin in that thick stuff grunting at me, thinkin by doing so I'd show myself.... then they lose intrest and walk away.... I dont like doing it when up in a stand, which is the main reason I dont rattle much, too much movement to do up in the air, better to rattle on the ground... It seems the big guys are more territorial, and get worked up more than the smaller bucks, who seem just curious, and will sneak up to check things out, and not usually show themselves... Makes me wonder somtimes how many deer are watching us that we dont see... we say, no, didnt see anything, when ya probably had many more eyes on ya than youd think, checkin out your scent wicks, grunting, rattling, etc...... especially those old smart bucks......

[Outdoors Junkie]

This has been a great post and a lot of great comments.  I have learned a lot by reading thru all of the replies.  I have only tried rattling with zero success.  I will have to keep in mind that the bucks will becoming in from the down wind side and pick a better place to set up in the future.

My cousin once rattle in a "fork" buck. 

I did not realize the doe would run off when they hear rattling.

Thanks for the great post and everyone's replies.   

Congrats Tom!

[Cody Gruchow]

it really helps to use deer decoys that way they see what was making the noise and most dominant bucks will come out and challenge the stranger, also put a doe decoys with a small white rag on her tail with some sort of scent i use tinks 69 doe in rut, but also have tryed #307 and that works also

[Realtree]

it really helps to use deer decoys that way they see what was making the noise and most dominant bucks will come out and challenge the stranger, also put a doe decoys with a small white rag on her tail with some sort of scent i use tinks 69 doe in rut, but also have tryed #307 and that works also

Great suggestions Cody! I love using #307 formula during firearms season with the Estrus Bleat can or call. It won't scare the Does  off and works well to get the Bucks to come in and look for the Hot Doe they are smelling.