what would be the earliesttime to rattle in the season?

depends on where your at... You could tickle some antlers together tomorrow and perhaps scare up a young buck (if that's what your looking for). Or maybe you'll spook something else... who knows. A real safe time is much closer to November when the sparring is heavy. If I'm counting on the rut in my area coming in mid Nov. I'll personaly not do anything serious with rattling until Nov.

But that's just me and my feeling about my local herd...

Right on brother I dont know about South Dakota though but for me not till novemeber!

while i'm in ky nov 18th i'll probably rattle. somewhere around mid-nov around there is a good idea. or would i be wrong in thinking this for my area in south ky.

I saw three bucks sparring and playing glassing the toher night. I think earlier in the season is a good time, when bucks are still travelling in bachelor groups they usually have little sparring sessions amongst themselves, nothing serious.

In south Texas the rut dosent kick in until the second week of December and will run threw Christmas. I'll normally start rattling when we get our first cold front in December and will rattle each day until after Christmas.

Anytime is a good time to start ratiling during the season in Sept. This is when the bucks begin social sparing. Dont go in there and slam the horns together like a brawl, but just tickle the horns together, and be ready. Rattle for abotu 20 seconds and wait about 20 minutes, you dont want to spook that big one that may be bedded down no more than 50-100 yards away from you.

I've seen a couple good bucks sparring already here in Ohio

carry em with ya...use em...you never know....its not a perfect science More important is to keep a constant look out and be ready to draw/shoot/kill....GOOD HUNTIN 2 YA

Tx Panhandle and Oklahoma no earlier than 1st of Nov. usually. Personally I like about the 5th-20th for best results IN MY AREA. Need to be in an area with a dominant buck, and give 'er He!!. Doesn't always work but when it does the payback can be huge.