Any luck with rattle bags?

[Bushman]

I'll admit that rattling has always been an after thought for me, but I know that it can work under the right conditions. I've got a nice set of sheds that I have cut the brow tines off of so that I don't mash my thumbs and they sound alright. The problem that I have with them is they are so unwieldy to carry. I've got a bunch of stuff in my pack anyway and rattling, being that after thought, has me looking for a more compact alternative than the big set of antlers. I've tried the rattle bag, but I didn't think that it had the volume that I wanted. I picked up one of those new Knight & Hale Pack Rack plastic gizmos this week and that doesn't sound too bad given it's small size. What has been your experience using alternatives to actual antlers for rattling?

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

When rattling is working I think you can probably jingle the wooden nickels in you packet and bring one in. When it is not working you can have two trained fighting deer next to your stand and it will chase bucks away within earshot.

I've heard of old timers using their pocket knives by rolling them on their gunstocks but I've never seen this done. I have also seen the hyperactive hippo method of rattling and brush raking and stomping bring up little bucks but I think this is more of a curiosity thing. My grandfather rattled up lots of bucks and he barely tickled the antlers. I don't think he would have used a rattling bag. I sometimes wonder why more deer don't come to the road when I drive my truck by. It rattles quite a bit.

Alan

[Herne]

I suspect its quite useless if you look at it as a cure all- as in "This year I'm going to rattle"

But if you treat is just one form of calling, choose the moment, and choose the place. If I saw a buck with a doe I'd try a kitzsqueak frst - pull the doe. If that didn't work (since we don't rattle) I'd do a bit of thrashing to get his attention.

(same idea - interloper in territory)

Worked very well, so long as in all calling, you don't treat it as trawl to "scout in hope" but to pull something from A (inaccessible) to B where you can kill him. With us in high summer, for example across an open wheat stubble to get him in range. So a bit of thrashing and a challenge bark (grunt in the US) was a good recipe.

But equally you are not likely to get too far if they are all playing happy family laid up together!!

So you choose your moment - wait till one gets up for a pee, and then start the orchestra.(Rather than let them get used to it with nil response)

[ncboman]

I've called deer by running the nock end of my arrow over the others in the quiver ... creates the rattling sounds with what I have on hand. :)

Rattling is about timing and NOW is the time.

On a property I hunt, 5 nice bucks were killed in the last 3 days, ... all of them came to rattling. :rolleyes:

[Bushman]

Timing seems to be everything. Antlers are not all the same so it stands to reason that they will sound different from one to another. I've heard about the arrows sounding like rattling, but never the pocket knife thing. A little hard on the stock finish I'd think. Actually the two largest bucks that I've ever called in were unintentional. Brushing up a tree once not trying to be quiet I had an 8 pointer dash right in and stand under the tree. The biggest buck that I've ever seen on the hoof surly high B&C, came in with a doe to antlers that I was letting down from my tree stand on a rope! Tough to let that one walk.

[pepaw]

I carry horns, but that rattle bag is much easier to tote. Therefore, I carry it more and rattle more often.

I love rattling when it works, but when nothing comes in, my confidence in ever seeing a mature buck in that hunt is gone.

stumpy

[dave-t.]

Never worked for me. I rarely call with buck sounds anymore, and prefer to call with doe bleats, if I call at all.

[venado]

The rattle bag is always in my pocket. I don't find it as effective as the real antlers since I can whack them pretty loud but they can be a pain to carry when you are just creeping along looking. Several studies in TX concluded that a long loud sequence was the best approach. They used tall towers in one of the studies with the observer in the tower and the rattler on the ground. The study concluded that the rattler only saw 1/3 of the deer that he attracted. When a mature buck comes to the horns with his hair standing on end ready to whoup azz, I will guarantee that it will get your adreniline pumping no matter how big his antlers are.