I hunt in west central illinois and have had success on acouple ofoccasions. The buck to doe ratio on my ground seems to be very low, about 2/10 or 2/12. But if used at the right time, early to mid november, my rattling has seemed to be successful. I have rattled in and harvested two bucks in the last 3 years. Needless to say, the two bucks combined maybe scored 250, but rattling still worked.

Does it work? Heck, it was invented 3 ranches to the west of me

I haven't had much success with calls or rattling in my area. To be honest I rarely hear the deer around me make any noise at all except blowing when you get busted. I never really hear rattling or grunts, even during the rut when I see deer running each other.

I had a buddy in a stand where he could see my hunting area when I was rattling one day. He said I would rattle a buck would come in but just out of my sight and would not come into the open (I hunt a field edge). He would come up and look around but not do anything because he didn't see anything. The rattling and the calling did not bother him, but it didn't really entice him much either. We think if we had a decoy it might of worked. I think sometimes they need an audio and visual cue.

I have rattled and called with deer right under me as well and it didn't seem to phase them any. I'm sure I'm not very good at, but at least it doesn't send them running. I just think it's odd that I carry all that crap with me, yet I have actually never heard any of those sounds in the wild when I hunt.

However turkeys respond great to calls in my area as long as the weather is good and they are in the mood. We use decoys too though. Of course not good enough that I have been able to shoot one yet[:@]. I've only had the chance to do it a few times though. I've seen my buddy shoot one.

Paul

I have had a doe fawn under my stand during a really windy day that had gotten a little seperated from her mom and she was bleating repeatedly. It was wild. I've also heard bucks fighting, but it was night and I was filming them in my grandparents backyard the night before the season opened. I just don't think bucks are that jealously aggressive in our area. I may try it at the end of the month but lightly during the slow part of the day. Maybe a curious buck will show.

Rattling in lateOctober is without a doubt my favorite time of year. It doesn't matter if I rattle in the big boy of the neighborhood or a scrawny six point , I get just as much enjoyment from either.

I have only rattled a few times and had no success. My dad said he doesn't bother w/ it and have heard other pplin our area that have no success with it.

I have tried and tried with no success at all, yet I've shot bucks that were all beat up from fighting.

rattling up here in the UP is pretty much time wasted. The woods are vast and the bucks are spread way out. The ratio is so out of whack that the bucks have no reason to fight with each other over does, so there is very little breeding competition. Our bucks are pretty quiet, even with grunting and stuff.

i have rattled a few deer in de in and pa...i rattled deer in pa when i first started hunting and didnt even know that they were there. soooo, it works in these parts. i am going to try some rattling in NJ in a few days i rattled in NJ last year and nothing came to the horns. i bleated in a fox in nj....he came in 15seconds i had a decoy in a horse pasture and he ran to it...stared it down for a minute. i had deer come to the field later and react negatively to the decoy. the ran behind my double blind and i never got a shot. i could have though. i never figured that one out

Rattling is my favorite for drawing buck to my stand. Early in the season I will lightly touch the tines together for about 30 to 45 seconds then stop. I’ll wait about an hour or so that do another set. During the rut, bang the sh** out of them in longer sequences and more often. But during the rut, be ready. I have had results from a curious walk directly at my stand to an outright run across the field with ears back right at my stand to kick some butt. Experiment, it works with a little practice.