RE: To early to rattle?
I've seen young bucks sparring this time of year but thats about it. I do know that last year at the end of January my wife called me to the edge of our property because she herd alot of noise in the woods. What we saw was two big bucks engaged in an all out battle. After what I guess was 5 full minutes the bigger one finally ran the other one off.
My dumpster is right there where we dispose of our horse manure. We were standing by it when the big buck came out of the woods after his victory and looked right at us no more than 10 yards away. I got to tell ya'll I was ready to throw my wife and myself in the dumpster if he came closer. He let out with a loud low growl and ran back in the woods.
I was really surprised they would be fighting this late in the year but I suspect there was a doe that haden't been bread yet around. from what I understand if a doe isn't bread she will cycle every 28 days until she is. I've even took a photo of a buck on March 28th that still had it's rack.