now there's different types of tactics
and styles are rattling throughout the
course of the year earlier in the year
early season the deer just kind of
losing their velvet they're going around
they're you know they're rubbing on
trees they're polishing their racks off
they're still kind of hanging out with
each other a little bit you know so you
know that maybe feeling each other out
kind of exploring what's on the top of
their heads you just kind of tickle in
and just kind of you know you'll still
get to draw some deer in with some light
tickling and some light rattling because
they're still gonna be curious and want
to know hey what's going on you know
what's going on over here they hear it
and you know it's just kind of mingling
with one another and you know they're
just curious and checking things out and
just seeing how things are going so
here's what I'm kind of talking about
just imagine the deer kind of low in
their head coming into one another and
there's something just really light
something real you know not extremely
combative I mean it can go on for a long
period of time or a short period of time
they're still hanging out with each
other so they're around one another so I
mean they could be going at for a little
while it's kind of like you hanging out
with your buddies you know maybe you're
shoving each other around or just kind
of you know messing around little bit of
horseplay you know and it's kind of
getting you know a feel for what's on
top of their head and how things are
going and so if you can actually kind of
tickle mimic some of that stuff early
season you're gonna draw that curiosity
because you know they're still hanging
out and they want to check out see
what's going on they want to see who's
in the area check it out
you know what's the competition look
like this year and the same thing for
the dulls that those might be curious
come in like okay where these Bucks got
going on over here we're kind of you
know what kind of Buxar in the area that
they're kind of looking for they're just
kind of feeling each other out and
you'll still be able to bring deer in
just a little light tickling or sparring
early season now a good scenario to
actually like implement and use this
early season rattling technique is find
the core area we see a lot of bachelor
buck groups hanging out and you want to
slide in there and what you can do is
just a little bit of that light tickling
or sparring whatever you want to call it
and that's gonna be in a good spot to
actually kind of bring in and/or entice
a buck earlier season or maybe adult and
you know there's different ways you can
do it too maybe you want to sound like a
little bit more of a mature buck you
know maybe get the tines in a little
deeper on each other so you in the
bigger thicker places making that
contact a little deeper sound
or if you want to sound like a couple of
little young ones you know keep it on
the tips and get that little lighter
song kind of what you're trying to
portray at that time so now I'm just
gonna cut demo what I was explaining
before first time we show a little
scenario warmer and do a little bit more
mature buck on you come in on the fatter
meteor parts of these and you're
grinding and ticklin give me more you
know you're three four year olds versus
if you stay on the tips that's gonna be
more your one two year old type deer so
that's gonna be kind of you're more
mature deer if that's what you're trying
to go for in the scenario depending on
the deer that in the area that you're
observing whatever you're trying to
create as you notice it's not just a
consistent tick or rattle - I mean the
deer will pause from time to time they
might even you know pull back from each
other and just kind of keep their heads
down for a few seconds and then
re-engage so I mean there's not just a
consistent rattling always going on it's
kind of ebb and flow and you know this
is random as everything else there is
out in the woods and now if you just
kind of pulled off the tips you're gonna
get more of your you know one to two
year old range they don't really have a
lot of times so you you don't have to
worry about getting too much rattling
going on it's just something light in
just something tickling
and those are just some different
variations you kind of throw into your
rattling when you're early season you
know just depending on what kind of
bucks you're observing in the area it
depends on what kind of scenario you
want to throw out there this just kind
of allows you to throw in some
variations on everything so that brings
us into the pre rut now this is gonna be
your premiere time to be rattling like
this is the time everybody who's waiting
for word to get out and if they got the
black rack rattling antlers this time
they're itching to get out and get them
and actually use them so right now all
the deer have their hormones kicking in
they're all ready to breed the dough's
might not necessarily be ready right now
but all the Bucks are ready and they're
even cruising outside territories so
they're really curious and when you get
to rattling I mean it's just something
that essentially is gonna just trigger
them I mean they can hear this sound
from long ways away and they'll be
coming in they'll be working their way
into that sound to check out what's
going on now there's really no such
thing as over rattling at this time I
mean we're talking pretty intense
battles to mean even sometimes they're
battling to the death so things are
getting pretty tense your sequences can
be long longer and they're gonna be
about as aggressive as you want to make
them so when we're demo here is what I
just got done explaining you know a lot
more intense and come together hard
could be quick could be you know a lot
longer though because they're really
aggressive this time here
so as you can see it's not just a
constant grinding and going at each
other
there's pauses they're pushing they're
moving each other around they're not
just engaging and just smashing their
heads back and forth constantly you know
they're actually battling and they're
pushing and trying to move each other as
much as they can and they really
fighting one another so every sequence
is gonna be different you know you could
have one that just and then that's it
you know they just smash kind of grind
and then they pull off you know they're
just like well he's overpowering me
otherwise he could get into some battles
where they're just gonna keep going and
going cuz it's just an all-out war you
know when you're doing this you're gonna
be rattling multiple times you know
throughout your sit most likely so just
kind of switch it up different scenarios
different fights just like in the real
world so another thing you can do to
kind of change up your rattling
sequences is maybe throw a few grunts in
before kind of set up the fight that's
about to happen but one thing you really
don't want to do is once that sequence
is over is you need to get your black
rack put it away and you need to get
your bowl ready because what's gonna
happen is you know when it might be five
seconds and it might be five minutes but
you're gonna come in and they're gonna
be checking things out I mean you might
even have two or three deer come into
one rattling sequence so you really need
to be ready at this time because they're
really getting triggered by this
rattling it's pulling off those
instincts and they're gonna come in and
check it out so you better get that bowl
ready in that black rack down so you can
actually do what you need to do now
after pre what you're gonna work more
into your peak rut or even to your
lockdown and once you kind of you know
just pay attention to your surroundings
and what you're seeing half
wild if you start seeing you know less
bucks and less doze maybe you know more
abundance of fawns and yearlings running
around that means they're more breeding
and they're kind of stuck into that and
you can rattle but you don't want to go
overboard because you can just end up
you know alerting the deer like hey I'm
here every single day keep on rattling
and rattling and you're just gonna burn
your spot out and burn you know you're
rattling technique out so you just need
to kind of hold up a little bit maybe be
a little patient and you know once that
post rut kicks back in that's we're
gonna be able to start rattling a little
bit more like you were in the pre rut
you know that's where this can become
more effective for you so now we move
into the post rut this is gonna be your
second best chance to you know use your
rattling techniques throughout the
season the deer gonna start getting up
they're gonna be getting really
aggressive you know they're all
searching for those last couple doze
that are still in heat or just still in
estrus that they can breed
you know the supply of doze is going way
down and the demand is staying really
high so they're gonna be coming out
there they're gonna be exploring outside
their territory that they normally don't
go and they're really gonna be
aggressive trying to find these dough's
so in this scenario what you want to do
is you know we can use some calling and
you can support it with some rattling a
great tactic to use this time of year is
throw out a doe Esther sleep and then
throw in some breeding grunts maybe a
couple present like there's two deer
coming in support that with some strong
aggressive rattling now you've painted
the picture in a scenario that there's
two bucks competing over one of these
last dough's and estrus and it's just
gonna drive them nuts and he's just
gonna have to come in check it out and
see what's going on and the pulse reps
are really good time to bring back those
pre-rut tactics really get aggressive
with them again and get that one last
time a good use out of these black racks
now come late late season you can still
carrier black racks with you on the
field I wouldn't make rattling my main
tactic well we're kind of again you know
reverting back to a little bit more of
the early season style this is gonna be
like tickling one another they're kind
of grouping back up with one another and
throughout the year as long as they have
some headgear on top of their heads
they're always gonna be you know
engaging and you know just tickling and
feeling each other out so you're just
kind of back to maybe some light
tickling and it's gonna be more just to
let other deer know that you know
there's deer in the area and they might
intrigue them to make them interested to
come check things out so now that we've
gone through a season of rattling
some things to remember is to avoid
repetition rattling in the same stand
doing the same sequences that you're
gonna pattern you're doing that so you
want to avoid that everything in nature
is random so let's try and you know
mimic that as best as possible and some
great tips is to just kind of you know
use your observations on the deers
behavior and what they're doing out in
the wild and use that to dictate how
you're gonna try to communicate with
them throughout the season for more tips
and tactics and to see some of these
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