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For those of you who have been doing this for awhile, I am interested in experienced opinions. If you call, rattle and/or use scent attractants, when do you inititate these activities (based on a particular date, the second autumnal equinox, deer sign, temperature, etc.)? Thx, KB
had a old timer with countless big bucks on his wall to slam them antlers the 25 all the way till gun season ...and i do and it works ....grunting i don't use alot of ..never had super results with it..scents i use are the buck bomb esp when the wind is blowing bad for a stand ...send that scent rite to them ...thats just how we do it .. and if you rattle be ready they will come in ....not every time but the time you least expect it ..last year i shot my buck 7 mins after i rattled but rite after i sat down there he was ...coming in on a rope ..then 2 days after i rattled in a 180-200 inch f**** monster but he just looked in the woods for about 20 mins he wasnt coming in ...this year i got a decoy and a snort wheeze for that ...lol good hunting and good luck
Rattling works and is used more as a blind call. Grunting works better than rattling but grunting is a call u use when u see a buck to far out and it's working now I have grunted in several deer in the last 2 days its working and when I do hit the horns together I throw in a few grunts and I always hit them with a snort weeze and a few grunts befor I hit the horns. Scents..... Tough topic I guess it's all kinda opinion or trial and error I guess. It deffenitly doesn't scare the deer away but I think like 80% of the time they walk past it and show it no mind that's my input on it
For me I've only had 1 Buck respond to rattling so I don't do it much. The grunt call I have had success with. My biggest to date came on line to the grunt. I mostly grunt when I see a buck moving away from me. If I have had a lot of rut activity in the area I will blind call every so often. This time of year I use Buck urin. I will break out the doe urin the last weekend of October.
Great feedback. Much appreciated. Keep it coming! KB
well I am on the fence about all this stuff
when it works it works and far too many times it doesn't
I have personally seen scents scare deer away amny many times
and yes I have sene it bring them in too
I honestly don't use scents anymore, I try to stay scent free as possible, and that includes adding any deer scents or attractants to my sets
as for rattleing
I have seen it work and MANy times I have seen deer pay ZERO attention to it
have had deer come in in sept to it and as late as fem here on the east coast
so it can work when a deer is in the mood
grunting same deal
I personally think age of the deer herd is a huge deal breaker in how well this stuff works
if you have a good age structure of deer, meaning a LOT of 3+ yr old deer, your odds of it working are much better , if you have a younger herd
not so well
I think it really takes a deer a few yrs to really get what it all means enought to respond well to it
so in all honestly
I carry a grunt call, and a bleat/estrus call, but really don't use it unless a buck is walking away
no scents
I have tried decoys too, and again if you have older deer they work better, but have seen 5+ yr old bucks in prime rut ignore a decoy covered with doe in heat scent
so to me too much work carring one about!
my 2 cents
I do it all. I have had success with all of these. I will be breaking out the antlers next week. I will start to use buck scent then late October switch to the doe scent. I have grunted bucks in, I've snort wheezed at them and brought some in. I do have a good supply of bucks over the age of 3 and it is fun watching these guys respond to the different calls.
I have never used calls and have had mixed results with scents. The wicks never really seem to scare deer away but I am not sure how much it brings them in either. I am going to try rattling either this weekend or next.
Grunting has worked for me... not much luck rattling. Seven Pointer showed up last night 2 minutes after my first grunt of the season.
I have been bow hunting since the early 90's and IMO, Scents are a waste of money, but it's not my money, so spend it if you wish, I just don't use them. I only use a grunt call if I see a buck a distance away, and I have killed a few that responded to the call,as far as rattling, I have never had any luck blind rattling, I have rattled a few in over the years, but never got a kill out of it, not saying it isn't effective I just don't think i am very good at it.