I live in SE Oklahoma and have grunted in several bucks, but grunting is a hit and miss thing here. Sometimes you grunt three or four times and a buck comes right in. Other times you can grunt off and on all day and never get one to come in. On the other hand, I have never rattled in a deer.

I was just curious how many have had success rattling or grunting.

Question:
Have you rattled or grunted in a buck?

Choices:
Grunted
Rattled
Neither

 

Have used a call made by Easton I believe it's a rubber band in a folded plastic sleeve. Works great for stopping them in their tracts. Have got does to come in with but not the bucks. They will stop and look right at you. but not walk to it like the does.
I think it sounds much like a fawn in distress they way the does react to it.
MM

I've grunted in several bucks, I carry a grunt tube with me on every hunt. I've had several come in fighting mad.

Rattling doesn't work that great here locally, but I have rattled in a few young bucks. Now in high ratio areas like Texas, it works like a champ. I rattled a nice 11pt in for a friend in Texas a few years back.

Good Luck

Reloader

Rattling and grunting are an integral part of my hunting repertoire during both the pre-rut and the rut. The deer directly below came in to a combination of the two during a state hunt last season. In the bottom photo, the buck was taken in the western edge of the Texas Hill Country after a quick series of rattling. Both bucks came in looking for a fight with the classic swaying back and forth of their heads as they approached.

For those interested in timing of the rut, etc.: The buck in the top photo was taken Dec 5th; the buck in the bottom photo was taken November 18th.

One more to add to the mix: the buck below (Jan 2, 2008/south central TX) was stopped in his tracks by a grunt call while he was 223 yards away, a testament to the excellent hearing of the whitetail.

He stared intently in my direction for several minutes before a doe passed in front of him. As he turned to follow, a 125 grain Partition from a 6.5 Bullberry Imp (26" MGM Contender barrel) dropped him in his tracks.

One more bit of info: the peak of the rut where this buck was taken is generally the 8-12th of November.

i never have and it is not the normal tradition in this area, having said that, if it works, i think people should be able to do it.

last year, while we were waiting in an old, dry irrigation ditch for deer to come down for their evening meal in an alfalfa field, my oldest son made buck-grunting noises on his own without a call just to see what would happen. as far as i know, he didn't "call" any, but he did get the attention of two does who at least stopped what they were doing and did not run away.

Why no selection for both???

I've called/rattled many deer over the years.

Both work well before the peak of the rut, meaning right now in most northern areas. once the bucks lock down on the does they aren't going to come in with much certainty.

I hope to have some luck calling in a buck on Saturday. I have a feeling I'll get something interested

I have done it a couple times with desert Mulies. It has worked about 50/50. I do both rattle and grunt and sometimes use a doe bleet in combination.

I called in a nice Mulie about 10 years ago but he would not come closer than 60 yards. I was not able to get an arrow in his direction. Our ruts here are in December/January.

quote:

Originally posted by Red C.:
...I was just curious how many have had success rattling or grunting.

Hey Red C., It is hard to get a all the possible Poll answers, but I would have picked:

#4. Bof`um

Good Hunting and clean 1-shot Kills.

I lease a farm for one week (rifle season) the farm has had bowhunters on it for six weeks grunting and rattling and slinging doe in heat lure all over the place. So I feel that hunting funnels and corners ect. and being totaly quiet works best.

I have found on this property deer will stop when grunted or bleated at when passing by but I have never personaly killed a deer that I grunted,rattled or scented up.

Just bad luck or bad technique.....how do you grunt on your hunt? What are some of your techniqes?

I have never ever in my life rattled in a buck. I've rattled for weeks on end every half hour or trying different things, never seen a thing. I have grunted in bucks. I missed a 9 point 3 days ago at 40 yards with my bow, after I missed, I grunted he came back within 40 yards grunting back at me but never presented a shot. And the primos can, never ever success. I've had it scare does away. I caryy antlers but I don't know why, it's never paid off.

I have rattled and grunted deer in...my best luck has been grunting during archery season here in Arkansas..but rattling worked better for me in Montana during the main rut...

This one came to 3 hits on the Primos can...in an Arkansas swamp..




Z

"Rattled" in a buck in 1968, accidentally!

I was only nine years old, on a dog deer drive in south Alabama, one of the first times Dad let me take a stand alone. Since he didn't give me a shell for the .410 single-shot I was carrying, I was more of a blocker, rather than hunter. (I didn't know it at the time, but Dad was only about 50 yards away, hidden, watching me to see how I handled my gun, kept still and watched, etc.)

Being a normal nine-year-old boy, I got bored pretty quickly when I realized that the dogs were after a deer that was going away from me. Figuring that I wasn't going to see anything on this drive anyway, I picked up a limb and initiated a swordfight with a nearby pirate (actually an oak sapling).

Well, it turned out that the crafty old buck in that part of the woods had lain low while the dogs chased a doe. When he heard the commotion of the thrashing I was giving my "pirate", he came to investigate.

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head as the buck came at me at a fast trot!

I picked up my (unloaded) .410, aimed it at him (after all, HE didn't know it was unloaded!), !) and yelled, "Daddy, help! HELP!!"

The buck stopped about 20 yards away, staring at the strange, noisy little creature he had found in his bedroom.

The buck had stopped between Dad and I, so Dad couldn't shoot for safety reasons.

I cocked the hammer of my (still unloaded) shotgun (after all, the buck STILL didn't know that it was unloaded) and yelled again, "Daddy, shoot him, SHOOT HIM!!"

Of course, Dad wouldn't, and he later said that he was about to bust a gut trying to keep from laughing out loud, so he probably couldn't have hit anything anyway.

Finally, the buck must have gotten bored, too, and he meandered away.

I think it looked like he was laughing a little, as he left.

He must have been because he walked directly to the next stander up the line, who killed him. A big 9-point, estimated at 180 lbs. That was BIG in south Alabama 40 years ago! Still is, actually.

Anyway, I took the lesson to heart, and have rattled up many bucks since, although I have improved my equipment and technique over the years.

I've grunted up quite a few, too, but none were nearly as exciting as my first "rattling" buck!

I have grunted and rattled bucks in. I have had bucks come charging in and I have had bucks come in slowly. What I have found is that if one is coming to come it normaly shows up with in the first ten min. does it work all the time no but I seen it work enough to keep on trying both of them.

Have grunted and rattled plenty of them up on many occasions. Not trying to sound like a pro, but I firmly believe that grunting & rattling will work everywhere there is deer. Providing it is done at the right time. I have rattled in as many as 5 bucks in in one day on my lease in GA. Years ago before I ever thought much about rattling, I once "rattled" one up while fumbling around with the blades on my climbing stand. I was in a hurry to get up the tree as it was already daylight and I was not being very quiet. I guess the blades banging against frame sounded like two bucks going at it. An 8pt came crashing in all pissed off and stood there long enough for me to crawl over to the tree my rifle was leaning against, load it, and shoot him. He is on the wall at my parents house and serves to give me food for thought whenever I doubt that rattling & grunting doesn't work.

I should have had a choide for both. But at the time I started the poll, I thought, well, they'll vote for grunting and rattling individually and we'll still get the fact that they've done both, but now it's clear that there's no easy way to discover how many have called in deer both ways. Sorry.

I've rattled and grunted them in, but "both" wasn't an option in your poll which I found to be rather strange.

I've rattled bucks in in Alabama, MO, Iowa. I've grunted deer in in every state I've hunted, including Coues and mulies in AZ.

I've rattled in lots of bucks. I always had decent success rattling and I would rattle in at least a few each year, until we got our last lease (which was in Mason, TX). I had amazing success rattling on that ranch. Unfortunately we only had that place for one year, due to the landowners reniggin' on the contract. I rattled in 33 bucks that year, 9 of which were on opening morning of rifle season.

Personally, I have never done either.
But, my kids do both regularly with spotty success. As said above, sometims it works, and sometimes it doesn't. My kids report that same experience.

Don

Edit to add: Bobby and zeeriverrat, EXCELLENT Bucks. Kudos to both of you!!!

Yea, guys, I blew it by not having the category "both". Sorry.