cardeer

Most the bucks in Pa are sissys they run away from a fight.

skeeter 7MM

By your description of the area you are hunting I believe your missing a key element "COMPETITION", without it rattling is really even more of a shot in the dark technique. No matter what the competition level is in your area you'll never pull a buck of any size who has a hot doe and in area where they are plentiful there is no need to confront a foe to breed. Also it can lead to a lack of a defined rut unlike areas where their is sense of urgency (if you will) to breed does.

No pro, but I agree with not being to loud and proud. I rattle by tinkling and grinding vs smashing the horns together. I start off soft b/c I prefer to rattle as close as possible to bedding areas and then gradually bring up the intensity and duration. I start off with a 30 sec rattle sequence, wait 10 min, grunt soft and then 10 mins and start raking trees and ground, then keep my tone/intensity the same as my first sequence but bring it up to 45-60 secs duration. Again nothing for 10 mins a few grunts, wait 10 mins and start over gradually bringing up the intesity/tone but never really crazy by smashing the duration is up to 90 seconds. I also find that if breeding is occuring or real close a tending grunt works very well with the rattling. BTW by far my most success has come in late pre rut and peak rut for mature bucks, other times work but it usually is the less experienced who are more curious than interested! I have found the adding of other sounds such as raking or trees, leaves, pounding on the ground to simulate a deer fleeing and grunts have increased my responses. As I mentioned I rattle close to bedding areas, so deep transition making it important for me to know all the elements and factor in how they play into the deer moving towrads me. I try to pick areas that force deer to me or my sides vs around me and have found rattling works best in my areas between 10-3 vs any other time. Still I always pay attention to the backdoor and make sure I have lanes in that direction. I never rattle the exact same location in successive days and keep my rattling to 3-4 hour session in that location. The first hour I don't expect any results but am always ready, as I have had deer come in...so patience is required.

It certainly by no means is a failsafe technique, sometimes it is amazing and others it is flat. I have had deer come crashing in but way more come very quietly with little noise - so being attentive/ready is extremely important.

Best of Luck

Chuck7

Thanks for asking that question. the comments were interesting.
Chuck

Lefty26

I agree that rattling works in some places and not in others. I have 1 piece of land I hunt in MD that rattling works every year, there is usually a 2 week period at the end of Oct begining of Nov that you can go out and consistently rattle in bucks. The buck to doe ratio in this area is close to even so there is more breeding competetion. More often than not the little bucks are the ones that come in to investigate, but I have taken some nice deer rattling. No matter what comes running in its a rush to smack those horns together and have a buck come charging in. However thats just 1 area I hunt, most of my other hunting spots have buck to doe ratios that are out of whack, there isnt much breeding competition so rattling flat out doesnt work well.

Rick James

Like a lot of these guys already said, it depends on the buck/doe ration IMHO. I have tried it many times, with no success in areas within PA that probably have a density pushing 20dpsm, with no results. The thing that I don't understand, is a lot of these bucks shot have broken antlers and tines, you would think it if from fighting with other bucks......oh well. I have a lot of other methods I use that keep meat in the freezer.

SquirrleBurger46

rattling works great!