Late Day Rattling

[qmurphy]

I've done a fair amount of rattling in the past 10 years, and with a reasonably good success rate. When I think back though, I honestly can't remember having one come in during that last hour of the day. Beginning to think that they simply don't respond well late in the day. What are your experiences?

[510-Gem]

I think the last 2 bucks I've rattled in were in the last hour. Bush deer, same spot.

[flyguyd]

Ive rattled in 10 or 12 the last couple years . All of them were within the last hour of the day

[landwalker]

I've been using rattling bad (plastic sticks), how do you guys think of that?

[cobes]

Fresh antlers work pretty darn good, but they are a pain to carry around and use. I just bought a Primos rattle bag, anyone had any luck with one of these?

[jacenbeers]

Last Friday when I got my buck it was within the last hour of light. I rattled in 3 bucks and spooked the two big ones. I left the spot and approached from another direction and saw the buck that I took walking up to where I was rattling. I dont have a ton of experience rattling in bucks but the 3 that came at me last Friday were all at last light.

[walking buffalo]

I do a lot of rattling for hunting and just for fun, starting in Sept right through the spring.

Time of year, location, and hunting pressure all have various effects on how and where I set up and what results I can expect.

For a simple answer to the OP, late in the day is a great time to rattle in a buck. During hunting season the last hour, and in particular the last few minutes of legal light is as productive as it gets for rattling. Smart bucks are typically just overly cautious bucks. The vast majority of mature deer that I have rattled in don't expose themselves until after legal light.

If you are not having success at this time, then you need to review why.

Where are you setting up? On the edge of a field, deep in the bush? Are you trying to draw deer into an area that they are travelling to or away from? What is the wind direction in comparison to where the deer may be coming from?
Are you continuously setting up in the same places?

Deer will learn to associate your rattling sounds and location to a source of danger. Keep them guessing by changing locations and sounds.


Rattle bags vs, real antlers.... I put up with the inconvenience and only use the real thing. You simply cannot truly reproduce the varied sounds of bucks fighting with the rattle bags. Sure the bags work, but not as well as a set of real antlers. Sometimes you need volume to get their attention (and beat the wind). In places where I rattle often I'll use several different sets of antlers over the season as again, bucks learn to recognize the sound from one set and associate it to danger.