One mistake I thing guys make when rattling is not having other sounds go along with it. How often do bucks fight and not make any noise but their antlers hitting? Never. Break some branches, rake the tree you're in....something. I am contemplating a way to make more noise when rattling. Some way to make more noise on the ground.

Here's something that I will never forget. It had nothing to do with rattling, but it relates to it. One year up here, during the rut, 4 of us were walking about 2.5 miles from the quads to pack a deer out that one of our guys shot. We walked to a thick patch and make quite a bit of noise. When we go through the other side, this buck comes running around the corner and lays on the brakes at about 30 yards when he saw us. He wasn't a giant, about a 135" with a drop on his right beam. Why did he come running? He heard all the commotion and thought we were deer.

One more story quick to relate to this. My buddy Johnny was hunting up here last year. His dad took him to an area that we hadn't hunted for quite a few years. My brother had put a ladder stand up there 12 years ago and it hadn't been brushed since. He sat in the stand for about 5 minutes and decided there was no way for him to shoot, so he got down and started breaking brush to make a couple shooting lanes. After about 5-8 minutes of this he climbs back into the stand, thinking his hunt is messed up for at least a few hours. He hears something to his right and there's this buck standing there checking the scene out. This was a big mature buck with some trash on his rack. The buck stood there for about 5 minutes trying to figure out what was going on. Johnny couldn't get turned for a shot and the buck decided something wasn't right and left.

I guess I'm telling these stories to help people realize that it takes more than just banging some antlers together sometimes.