So I know the purpose of rattling and I've been doing it for 3 years or so and have never had any success and I think the issue is the local Doe:Buck ratio. Based on the deer I've seen so far wandering around and from other reports there are approx 3 bucks that are "legal" (anything over a 6). And 1 good sized spike I'd say there are no less then 20 doe. Possibly more. We saw 7 at once, 4 at another time and 3 more at yet another time... Not all were "mature" but they were all out of their spots... so with an estimated buck to doe ratio of 1:5 are they going to get aggressive and come in to the rattling or should I just hope I get lucky when one walks buy being stupid? The area I hunt is fairly low pressure (as in the only pressure is from me and another guy) good sized roaming area with 4 large fields, all fallow for the past 2+ years. mostly woods and the deer are pretty patterned
Dredly you gotta remember them bucks aint always gonna come crashing in there like there goin to a fire. If ya ever watch them folks on TV alot of those deer circle down wind and come sneakin in especially the smaller bucks. If you only got 3 bucks worth shootin on the place depending on how much area you are talking about I would say you would have better luck hunting there patterns and trying to intercept em somewhere. I don't know where you are located at but the bucks around here should be starting to get fired up. Start hunting where the does are hanging out the bucks will be there soon enough.eace:
gave up the rattling and the can along time ago......now its a grunt tube once in a while, otherwise, just sit there and be quite
what he said. they will sneak in ta see what is making tha noise and ANY movement or poor stand pacement and yore BUSTED
This is omo but i think if you have a lot of confidence some calling will work at times but the problem is how do you know what time is right.I don't have any confidence in calling so i never mess with it...so i do what others do and thats try to catch them comming or going or set up just inside edges hoping to catch one trolling.I've seen bucks beded down in old fields in a clump of tall weeds with a doe from my tree stand and you couldn't get him to move unless you walked out there to them.A lot of times you'll hear some one say...i saw a couple bucks a wk ago and now their gone...their not gone.. their just bedded up with doe's and not moving much/moving only when she does.
as much as I can... but remember we can't hunt Sundays so it ends up being one day a week (Saturday) and we've had multiple Saturdays where it was over 75 and 1 where it rained... so my hunting season has been pretty crappy so far