John's Journal...

You Need Two to Rattle White-Tailed Bucks in the East

Techniques to Make Rattling More Effective in the East

Click to enlargeEditor’s Note: Just like humans are attracted to the sounds and the sights of a car accident, a fight or a fire, many times other bucks will come to the sound of antlers clashing, not only to view a fight, but in hopes of possibly picking up the estrous doe over which the two bucks are fighting. But in the eastern United States, hunters use Click to enlargetactics somewhat different than those of western hunters to rattle effectively.

To draw-in bucks using rattling antlers or a similar method, use a deer decoy in states where legal that you place on the edge of some type of opening. (Be sure to check the state where you’re hunting about regulations governing using a deer decoy). If a buck comes to the edge of the field and can see another buck, then he has confirmation with his eyes what his ears have told him is happening. At least he sees one of the bucks he thinks has fought, and many times he’ll come in stiff-legged to that decoy and walk straight across an opening, because he has two confirmations that there’s another buck in his territory. Click to enlarge

If you’ve ever watched a buck fight, you know that bucks do more than slam their antlers together. They grunt, stomp, push and fall into trees and bushes. To simulate a buck fight, you need to add all the sounds that accompany antler clashing. Click to enlargeThe more realistic you can make the buck fight sound, the better your odds for calling-in a mature buck. However, regardless of how effective a deer-hunting tactic, no system always will work. Here’s why rattling doesn’t always work. If a ...
* mature buck recently has fought with another buck, whether he’s won or lost, he doesn’t want to get involved with another fight right away;
* buck’s tending an estrous doe, he’ll do everything he can to steer her away from that buck fight;
* buck has heard rattling antlers before, showed-up and not found bucks fighting, he quickly will learn that if he comes to a fight, he needs to stay well out of sight and downwind of the fight.
Duck callers don’t always call ducks within gun range, and turkey callers don’t always call-in turkeys. Using rattling antlers to call-in bucks won’t always produce the buck of your dreams. But at specific times under certain conditions in the East, you may find rattling deadly effective - especially when two hunters work together.


Check back each day this week for more about "You Need Two to Rattle White-Tailed Bucks in the East"

Day 1: Rattling-In Bucks During the Rut
Day 2: The Southeast Isn’t Texas
Day 3: A Rattling Tactic That Works in the East
Day 4: Rattling Methods for Eastern Solitary Hunters
Day 5: Techniques to Make Rattling More Effective in the East





 

Entry 541, Day 5