I suppose you bow hunters are going to be trying to rattle in a big 1 in the coming weeks. Some use those rattle bags instead.. easier to carry.

I can’t rattle and be ready so I think I’m gonna skip the rattle this year.

I had a buck pile out of its bed 60 yes away once when I started to rattle horns. It ran out of cover into and through a field doing 90. I could have possibly taken him with a rifle but not the bow I was using that day.

I tried it a few times, it's amazing how bucks will pinpoint your exact location, whether it's an immediate response or 5-10 minutes later. My experience has been that it draws in younger basket rack bucks that are more inquisitive, skittish and not willing to get their butt kicked, I've had better success grunting and hunting over mock scrapes.

me also

Works well here in mid to late November. It is best if you hunt with a partner and take turns with the horns. One guy on the ground rattling and one guy slightly down wind of him in about 50 yards away and up in a tree stand is a good tactic. Lots of the mature bucks will circle and stay at that fifty to eighty yards out mark but there attention is focused on the guy on the ground.

Yep, they will try and get down wind. I have pulled them in by rattling if they had no way to get downwind of me.

It has worked for me sometimes and has spooked them sometimes, both younger bucks and older bucks. I won't do it without a decoy unless its a last ditch effort on a buck that's moving past and won't respond to anything else. It's a lot of fun when it works.

Lefty

That is a toad of a deer that young man harvested

sounds like you started rattling too loud/violently
ya MUST start gentle/tickling the tips and pawing the ground/leaves gently for bout 15 seconds, wait a full minute, then rattle again, slightly louder/harder, for bout 30 seconds, louder raking leaves some, wait 3 mins, rattle even harder/louder for 30 seconds to 1 minute, raking the leaves and pounding antler butts into the ground bout every 20 seconds tween antler clashes.
you MUST make it sound like a fight is going on, they NEVER fight without stirring up leaves and pounding hooves in the ground some.
be watching DOWN wind, as they often circle
I am behind some camo cloth to hide my motion.
I hang a skint out deer tail bout chest high and put deer p on it.

Been doing it for over 45 yrs and it works less than 1/2 the time, BUT, mostly works when does are in heat and the rut is rolling.

First time dad had me try it in '73, had 3 bucks come in from 3 different directions, been hooked ever since!

^^and as mentioned, just like predator calling, it is best to have caller/rattler on the ground and shooter up a tree.

I once rattled the same buck twice. He came to my tree and caught me with antlers in my hands. We stared at each other and he ran back where he came from. Waited ten minutes and rattled again. This time I put down the antlers and held my rifle. Spied him trying to circle me. I won.

Years ago my oldest boy shot a small 8 on Saturday morning of youth weekend. He was probably 12 or so. Decided he was gonna take his bow that evening while I took my youngest son. We were watching the same field, but he was around the fence corner maybe 200 yards from us. He had taken his antlers to try rattling. He starts banging away with those things and a huge 160 inch 10 point charges out of the timber, blows past the oldest, who didn't even have time to pick up his bow, runs right in front of us and stops broadside, so the youngest drops him.
The 8 year old even said thank you, but it didn't help any. The oldest was mad for a month that he called that buck out and his little brother shot it lol. They're 19 and 23 now and they still argue about that, but I laughed pretty hard over it

I am giving it a go this year. I have never called deer before, other than stopping them with a grunt from time to time.

I got a set of "horns" awhile back and have been playing with them. Next time out in the woods I will see what happens I guess.

I’ve had it work immediately and have had bucks come in up to 10-15 minutes later looking for the fight. Right now just light ticking of the antlers work. I have the most success with grunting and snort wheezing.
I do know just because a buck might have a huge rack doesn’t mean he’s always looking for a fight. Guess some deer are fighters and some are lovers.
My son shot one a couple of years ago that looked like he had just been in a bar room brawl, but came in looking for a fight. He used the same cape against the taxidermist recommendation, lol. Ears were cut, holes in the neck, and looked like he had ran into a brick wall going 80. He taped out at 145 as an 8pt. He came running out of a thick bottom and once he hit the open pines went in an immediate posture with ears laid back and taking those bulldog steps.
It sure is exciting when it works!!

they can also come SNEAKING in so slow, you may not even hear a leaf move!...I missed one doing that back in '83 that had a rocking chair on his head.

Most of the time a mature buck is going to come in silently and downwind, they want to know what they're getting themselves into. Every once in a while you might have an ornery one come straight in making no effort to keep to quiet. I'm a calling and rattling junkie but I've called a lot more deer using grunt tubes than I've had respond to rattling. I've had very little success with 'The Can' compared to what others guys have.

I only rattled when I felt it would be difficult for a buck to get down wind of me or if he did, he would be in range. I also liked to be on the edge of some thicker cover to make it harder for them to look the area over. I called many back that wouldn't respond to a grunt tube, but it seemed like you had to let them get out of eye sight before cracking the antlers. I also was pretty selective when I would grunt at a buck. Seemed like it was harder for them to pinpoint you when he was walking although it was likely only in my head.

I did have a similar experience to 330Trapper with a 150 class buck one time. He was cruising and wasn't interested in a grunt, so I tickled the horns and nothing. Then I cracked em together and really got after it. He took off running like he had been lit on fire. I couldn't figure out what in the heck had happened. About 5 min later, I'm staring off in the direction the buck had left when I heard a twig snap off to my left 30yrds.... Within 30 secs, my 1st 170" would lay 75yrds away. 18yrs ago and I can still hear that twig. He was magnificent animal.

How many of you guys 'blind' call? All of the calling I've done over the years has been almost exclusively blind calling.