Rattling Report

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bowriter

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R.I.P.
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Lebanon,TN USA
6:40- First sequence-nothing
6:50-second sequence- pretty little four comes in, stays for five minutes, walks off.

Cattle arrive, change stands to second choice.

8:35-Rattle- My buddy comes slipping in and hangs as they so often do, at 60-yards. He looks, I look, he walks away. He is a nice deer and this is our second encounter. I'll kill that deer this year.

9:30 three does come by just out of range and I come home.
 
One thing I could tell for sure, they are slippin in and lookin. Be a while before they get all hikey and come runnin in.
 
are you using a rattle bag or something similar or real antlers?

I have one good side, but don;t have a match and have anted to try it but can't find a match.

i do have a rattle bag somewhere, but i have had 0 luck with it and it is hard to "tickle" with a bag.
 
I have a nice set of antlers that a friend gave me to use but I have not tried I am unsure of how long and how many times. I have never used any calls or other things to get dear to me I use to go to them.
 
JAY B said:
What was your setup at your 8:35 sequence?
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Up a tree about 10-feet at the top of a bowl in the edge of a thicket. First place was in a real bad thicket between two fields. If you can see 'em, you can choot 'em.

Usin a big homemade bag but not gettin all carried away. Used the call a couple times.

Come gun season, Ole Buddy do that, I'll drop him in his tracks if I choose to. Still a little ambivilant about whether I want to kill him or not.
 
Aint no rules for rattlin and sparrin and the horns don't have to match. For that matter, you can use one side and some old wood arrows for the other. I killed a 132 and change in Cheatham like that.

This time of year, they come more out of curiosity than anything. Just don't use any scent other than your own piss and call very-very sparingly. I have heard tens of hundreds of deer fights and seldom have I ever heard one grunt. Mostly, I mix in a plaintive doe bleat.

Great morning other than bein a tad to still. I like a little more wind to keep 'em confused.
 
bowriter said:
Aint no rules for rattlin and sparrin and the horns don't have to match. For that matter, you can use one side and some old wood arrows for the other. I killed a 132 and change in Cheatham like that.

This time of year, they come more out of curiosity than anything. Just don't use any scent other than your own piss and call very-very sparingly. I have heard tens of hundreds of deer fights and seldom have I ever heard one grunt. Mostly, I mix in a plaintive doe bleat.

Great morning other than bein a tad to still. I like a little more wind to keep 'em confused.
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You literally never heard one grunt or youve never heard a grunt while fighting?
 
bowriter said:
6:40- First sequence-nothing
6:50-second sequence- pretty little four comes in, stays for five minutes, walks off.

Cattle arrive, change stands to second choice.

8:35-Rattle- My buddy comes slipping in and hangs as they so often do, at 60-yards. He looks, I look, he walks away. He is a nice deer and this is our second encounter. I'll kill that deer this year.

9:30 three does come by just out of range and I come home.
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So the cattle get a pass?
 
I did not say literally.

I have heard them grunt occasionally while fighting. But very seldom. Most of the grunting is prior to the actual engagement and I have not heard a great deal of that.

Much of the "infortmation" or instructions about grunting and rattling comes from people who have products to sell. That by itself should make you suspicious. But the truth is, many, maybe most of these people don't really know what they are talking about. Probably the two worst areas are calling and the scent scamming business.

I have spent lierally thouosands of hours in the deer woods. I exagerated the number of deer fights I have heard. The real number is probably about 100. I have watched about 100 sparring meetings, too. In all of those combined, I have heard maybe a dozen grunt while engaged and it was nothing like you see the pros doing it to lure monster bucks in on TV.

Just prior to engageing antlers, I have heard some grunting and it is usually rather soft. However, while the bucks are still at quite some distance, I have heard more aggressive grunting.

I have nothing to sell. I am just telling what I have witnessed and what I do and that is to mix in no grunting with my rattling and very little before and after. The sounds I make are usually cohesive, plaintive doe bleats because does are attracted to rattling almost as much as bucks and maybe more than bucks to sparring.

I KNOW when it comes to mature bucks, very seldom will they come close to the sounds. They circle downind and will approach slowly and stop at quite some distance. That is why so few really big bucks are killed by bowhunters rattling and why the two-man system is most effective for gun hunters. That is exactly what happened to me this morning. The large buck slipped up behind me and hung at about 60-yards. He stood there for at least five minutes, saw no deer, smelled no deer and left.

We only see about 20% of the deer that actually check us out if we are in good country. The biggest buck I ever killed with a bow in AL, was the seventh buck to come in over 30-minutes. In MB one afternoon, I rattled in 15 smaller bucks at one time. The buck I was trying to kill, stood in an alfalfa field, 100-yards away and watched.
 
I use a TruTone mouth or blown call and a Woods Wise friction call. Seldom at the same time and I can't explain how I determine which one I am going to use. Those are the only two calls I have ever liked and used. With the TruTone, I can make just about any bleat or grunt, doe or buck, I want.

I could not count the number of deer I have called in with those and for sure I can't count the number I have run off.
 
Thanks and thanks for sharing the info on rattling.

I rattled in a nice buck last Saturday. I saw him going away from me at about 200 yards and tickled the rack pack for only about 5 seconds in 3 bursts with a pause between. He came back circling downwind. Got ruined by a neighbor leaving the woods on a 4 wheeler. But it was cool to see him respond.

I am going to try to be a little more vocal this year, especially with more doe bleats.
 
1- Timberjack, then don't do it. :)

2-Jarred, remember, deer don't shout they whisper. More deer have been run off my too much calling than by barking dogs and four wheelers combined.
 
timberjack86 said:
LOL Just pulling your leg old top :D I dont agree with everything you say. But you have been hunting deer more days than I have!
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Note the smiley in my post. Rattling and calling depends upon deer density and sex ratio more than any other factors for success. It sure helps to keep that in mind when it doesn't work.

Looks like I'll be waiting until Saturday to try the new stand. I might try to kill a dozer tomorrow afternoon.
 
bowriter said:
I use a TruTone mouth or blown call and a Woods Wise friction call. Seldom at the same time and I can't explain how I determine which one I am going to use. Those are the only two calls I have ever liked and used. With the TruTone, I can make just about any bleat or grunt, doe or buck, I want.

I could not count the number of deer I have called in with those and for sure I can't count the number I have run off.
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I thought I was the only one who still used the WW Friction call :grin:
 
bowriter said:
timberjack86 said:
LOL Just pulling your leg old top :D I dont agree with everything you say. But you have been hunting deer more days than I have!
Click to expand...

Note the smiley in my post. Rattling and calling depends upon deer density and sex ratio more than any other factors for success. It sure helps to keep that in mind when it doesn't work.

Looks like I'll be waiting until Saturday to try the new stand. I might try to kill a dozer tomorrow afternoon.
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Ive called up alot of deer with one grunt call in particular, it doesn't always work but when it does it makes for an exciting hunt!
 
bowriter said:
They use to come to the sound those old Bakers made climbing a tree. I guess it sounded like another buck rubbing.
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I think it was sometime in the early 80's that i made my first trip up and my fastest trip down a tree in one of those old Baker stands. :D
 

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