Time to Rattle for Whitetail

Fall is here and the food plots are in the ground, so except for conducting some controlled burns in the near future, the only thing left to do deer management wise is to harvest and record the deer we need (or would like) to remove. Though most deer hunters hunt whitetail by setting up over a food source, whether it be a feeder or a food plot, there are more active ways to bag a buck. There really are only two ways to go: Either you can go to the deer, or you can bring the deer to you.

Though many hunters have read about rattling bucks in, or have seen it on TV, many have yet to give this method a shot. Well, at least on a regular basis. I suspect many hunters have picked up a set of antlers and have at least attempted to rattle up a buck, but their lack of success caused them to quickly dismiss the effectiveness of antler rattling. Those antlers then went back to collecting dust at camp. So as effective as rattling can be, most of time it just will not work. But when it’s hot, it’s hot!

Rattling can work at any time during the hunting season, but it is typically most effective just prior to the rut, during the pre-rut. At this time, antler rattling can be an effective way to bring bucks right up into spitting distance. I’ve seen bucks come running out of the brush with as little as two seconds worth of antler rattling! Of course, many times I’ve rattled antlers together only to attract the attention of  area squirrels, or even worse, nothing at all. During the pre-rut, bucks are establishing dominance for breeding purposes, setting up territories, and working off an excess in testosterone. It is also during this time in which they are most vulnerable to rattling. 

When it comes to rattling, you never really know what you are going to attract. I’ve had all sorts of deer respond to rattling. I guess they all want to run over and see who is fighting—and who will win. Some buck even want to participate, some are just curious. I’ve had does, spikes, middle-age bucks, and mature bucks all come to a set of rattling antlers. All age classes of bucks will respond to rattling at the proportion in which they occur in the population.

If a good percentage of the local buck herd is made up of young bucks, then that is probably what you will bring in. If, on the other hand, there are a good number of older bucks in the area, then you have just as a good of a chance of bringing them to you as younger-aged bucks. In fact, you probably have a much better chance of bringing them to you rather than simply sitting and waiting to see them. Because that may never happen.

I had a friend of mine spot a huge whitetail buck last year on public land right as season started. The buck showed up on a couple of his game camera photos before season, but he got a glimpse of the buck the second day of archery season as the animal walked by at 200 yards. He then made it his personal mission to hunt that deer for the remainder of the season, even if it meant he ended the year with no buck at all. To make a long story short, he hunted and hunted, but one cold morning a few weeks later he rattled that deer to within 25 yards and shot it with his bow. He said after his first rattling sequence he could see the buck, which scored over 170 Boone and Crockett inches, running at him from over 400 yards! Sometimes it helps to bring them to you.

So rattling can work, but don’t expect it to work every time.