Alberta deer hunters & rattling

JD IN ALBERTA · 10-03-2003, 04:06 PM

Since things have been extremely warm these past weeks, I' m wondering if anyone will try rattling anytime soon. I' ve actually seen more deer this year than years before (new place I' m hunting however). I' m debating trying it this weekend, problem is it' s still gonna be very warm[:' (]. Do you think it' s affecting the pre-rut at all? seen any sparring yet? JDinAB

stubblejumper · 10-03-2003, 04:56 PM

I don' t find rattling effective this early.I don' t rattle until november.

Duffy · 10-06-2003, 12:00 AM

I think it might be a little early yet. But I think in theory anyway that rattling and calling should work best a bit before the rut heats up. The bucks are always ready to breed early and waiting for the does. Once the does get into gear the biggest bucks probably have their hand (hooves) full and may not bother going to a fight. When there are no does in heat yet, a fight may bring every buck in earshot in as they are all waiting for the first doe.

I always carry a call or two handy as if you see a deer or spook a deer you can often stop them from running and bring them out for a look. Even if they see you they will often be confused by a deer call. I think deer do not understand " lieing" or the concept that a human would immitate a deer sound. If they hear a deer then there must be a deer there.

Robin

JD IN ALBERTA · 10-06-2003, 10:03 AM

Well I brought the antlers out to test the theory...no takers, but I did have a couple small muley bucks chase a doe and her fawns right under my tree stand and started fighting with each other. Nothing major, but they were rubbing antlers and pushing each other around. It was pretty exciting to watch at 15 yds. Passed up those two and a couple of small whitetail bucks. My cousin got his first muley with the bow though so it was a great weekend.

skeeter 7MM · 10-08-2003, 11:10 AM

JD last night I rattled out a decent mature 4x4 mulie(not quite what I was looking for, but still a good sign), he was all by himself it would seem. He may have been looking for a sparing partner but the rubs are showing up nightly, so even with the heat it would appear prerut maybe close to here for mules. I would definately try rattling mule deer country for the next few weeks, I think sooner than later we' ll see lots of prerut signs to show the mules are ready to grab a group of girls and get busy. If that weather would smarten up it would help as it appears in my area they are making the rubs in the night and moving very little during the heat....common frost ML season ends the 25th and I really want to get my buck before the rifle guys start scampering all over the place.

I have noticed that the does are very visible in their normal haunts but the bucks are very deep in the bush. I am assuming the heat has something to do with it, but maybe if you don' t already try rattling closer to the bucks bedroom. This is what I did and it worked, just a thought

!

Good Luck & keep us posted DOC

JD IN ALBERTA · 10-09-2003, 01:51 PM

I gotta agree with you...I hunt in a river bottom and I' m setup at the edge of the bedding area. Major trails and corridors! I' m right on the edge of mulie & whitetail territory. I have only seen one bruiser at about 100yds and he was pushing a couple of fawns around. Other than that it' s been alot of does with fawns and those 2 little bucks. I want to hold out for a big boy but I want to tag out prior to pheasant season Oct. 15. It' s just so much nicer hunting an area where you are the only one there. I' ll keep you posted on this weekends happening since I' m going Sat. & Monday.

JDinAB

skeeter 7MM · 10-17-2003, 02:42 PM

Prerut ain' t here yet!! This morning I saw several mulie doe herds with no bucks in tow. I did manage to see a number of bucks (1 real nice nontypical but couldn' t get within smoke pole range[:' (]), they were in small bachelor groups no more than 2 bucks together, so it is getting close I would say. The NT was with a 150 class 4x4. I did see 2 whitetails in the 130 class range sparring not 30 yards away. The deer were out feeding late today, when walking out at 11:00 I saw several just coming into the bush...not sure if that is a sign or just no pressure on them.

Hopefully I get a crack at the NT as I have till next saturday before ML season is over, got a good idea where he is living and decided to not spook him trying to get close..here' s to hoping

.

Any luck JD? How about them tasty white birds? Shot my limit of sharpies and huns last monday afternoon...lots of upland it seems this year

Best of luck!

JD IN ALBERTA · 10-17-2003, 04:35 PM

Still without venison so far...every year I say te same thing " hold out for the big boy' s" and I end up taking a little guy due to frustration, not to mention something is always better than nothing. Well I almost shot a little one again, but talked myself out of it. I can honestly say if I don' t get one by Nov. 1, I' m gonna shoot whatever comes by (Muley that is). But I wil hold out that long[

]. I' m heading out tomorrow for an early morning bow hunt followed by some upland/waterfowl shooting in the aft. Pheasant opened yesterday and I' ve seen alot of them so far. Depending on how the morning is, I might go back to the stand for my mulie or just keep going for birds. We shot a load of mallards last monday. Let me know how you did this weekend...here' s a pic of those 2 little whitetails last week (hard to make out this small but they are in the center of the pic between the 2 big branches).
p.s. my cousin saw 2 decent mulies battling last Monday across the river from his stand. Rut is close

skeeter 7MM · 10-19-2003, 11:42 PM

JD Hope your weekend hunt turned out good! I was out saturday morning and saw the NT again but it was well prior to legal, I tried spot and stalking him but never did catch up again during legal. Passed on some decent bucks, saw lots of does and fawns but still searching. I found a whack of fresh rubs yesterday scouting, so I would say prerut is on but they still haven' t spun off. However the NT was by himself saturday, so that is a good sign. I am hoping to get out a few days before or after work this week & then next saturday. Here is to hoping

Best of luck

JD IN ALBERTA · 10-20-2003, 09:32 AM

I' m sure you' ll catch up with him soon enough. I had a brute under my stand sat. morning[

]...the only problem was I wasn' t in it yet[:' (]. Same thing real dark when I saw him on my walk to my stand. It was really windy here this weekend so the deer were pretty stuck in the thick stuff. After not seeing much I got my cousin to do some pushing, he scared up a load of deer but nothing would come close enough to my stand. 2 more weeks to go. We found a nice w.t. shed with major mass...I' ll post the pic when I get them developed. Good luck and keep me posted on your nt!