RE: how to rattle?
It depends on stage of the rutwhere you are and your buck to doe ratio. We have about a 1 to 1 on our place with 15 or so bucks that frequent the area. It works GREAT for me. I rattle for 3 to 5 minutes and repeat every 30 or so minutes. At this stage of the rut the bucks are cruising and looking. Chances are the deer that hear you one sequence will not the second time. You must do it often enough to catch that possible passer by. I rattled on Tuesday and had a diffrent buck come in on two diffrent sequences. The second came back 3 times to look for the fight. All in all, on stand 6 hours, rattled 10 times. You will have them act all diffrent ways from sneeking in to charging in like they came to kick anybody's arse, thats in the woods. Thething to remember about any callingisyou then become the hunted. After you rattle scan the areas all around you for movement and BE STILL! I have had them show up in 30 seconds and sometimes it takes 25 minutes.
I have the best success by doinga snort wheeze or two about a minute before I start. I bang the horns together and make it as loud as possible. I work the horns togeher and pull them apart frantically. I work both the fronts and the backs of the horn trying to mimic the twisting and turning that deer do when they fight. If in a tree stand.I blow hard with my mouth which comes out the wheeze (sounds like PHHHHFOOTTTT!) often as I am rattling. If you have ever heard two bucks fight for real. There is not a noise you can do that won't be going on. Breaking branches, hard breathing, snorting, grunting, Just remember to make it sound real and don't puzzyfoot around. You are trying to imitate a knock down drag out fight not a school yard squabble. GOOD LUCK!