Huff04

Do you use rattles bags or real antlers?

my self i like the real antlers

live2Draw

I used to be the same way, untill a coupla years ago i was playin on a rattle bag my buddy brought and got a bunch of deer comin in. it was impressive. I also picked up a pair of antlers made from this realbone stuff by this guy in southern ohio. Most convincing fake antlers i ever used, none of the twang or resonance of plastic ones.
if i am goin in to woods to rattle, its those guys. but i never go without a rattle bag

Centaur 1

I started hunting in 1971 when I was 10 years old in New Jersey. Deer season was a whopping 6 days long, and the state average was about 20 hunters per square mile. It was drilled into my head that you don't wear anything white or carry antlers with you during deer season. I still have a hard time even wearing white socks inside my boots, let alone carrying antlers. So to answer your question, I have a rattle bag.

camokenny

I carry both, when there is no deer in site or real close I use the antlers. they are louder and more real sounding. When I have something close or I want to be semi quiet and less movement I use the bag. IMO that both have a place in my backpack.

allmightyhunter13

reall horns sound soo much better and louder, but they are so bulky, take up some space when your in the stand... but idc whe ya use the real thing you dont have to worry about it!!

Chris.S

I have used a rattle bag with success. But, I seriously doubt if at a distance a buck can tell the difference between a bag, real horns, fake horns or if he even cares.

I once witnessed a fight between two bucks, it taught me that no matter what we do, no human being can actually simulate the noise made when two bucks are fighting. If you've never witnessed two bucks fight probably won't believe it but, you could lay on the ground and roll around knock down every sapling in sight and still not come close to the noise they make when they are trying to kill each other.

If you really want to come close to simulating a real buck fight get on the ground crack the bag against a tree one time, grind the bag or horns then run in circles & kick every bush in sight and break tree limbs until you're out of breath and you might come close to 1/3 of the noise two bucks really make. A real buck fight is more about shuffling in the ground type noises, breaking brush and tree limbs than it is about grinding horns together.

scarp262

Real horns do sound much better but they are a pain to carry with you do to there bulkyness.

nodog

Was out in my office the other day with the boys, the eleven year old saw this thing Knight&Hale put out and for some reason he said it doesn't sound like real ones. He then grabed some horns and proved his point. Didn't sound like a bag either. He's never hunted for deer. "Out of the mouths of babes"

Bernie P.

I use the HS rattle bag.All real horns sound different from one pair to the next so I seriously doubt it makes any difference what you use.I think it's much more important that you have a good buck to doe ratio so there's competition between the bucks in the area for rattling to work.No buck will waste his time and risk injury fighting if he has enough does to himself.

reds10ss

ill take real horns anyday, i used a rattle bag couple times all i got were squirrels!!!!