Thanks,but few more hunting questions.

[loneranger]

Thanks to Bigshooter16,Split63,and Firedog, for your experiences,and advice.Do you men take your grunt calls,rattling antlers,doe scent, out to try every hunt? Do you try them when you are not seeing deer?What do you use to Rattle with,if you don't have a large pair of actual antlers?Thank you all again for sharing your knowledge from real experience. The Loneranger.

 

[muddy]

i have given up on scents, i have spooked more deer with them than anything.

i ALWAYS have my grunt tube and antlers with me. pre season i will lightly rattle and grunt like two bucks just messing around. as the last of october gets here i will hammer on the horns every 45 minutes to a hour. i have a set of real antlers and i use teh biggest ones i can find, i think that they sound better. just my opinion but it's worked for me.

 

[docH]

I will second Muddy's advice on scents. I've easily spooked more deer using them. I won't waste the money again. Just my opinion, though.

 

[firedog]

That's affirmative here also. Scent control to the max for myself and that is it. No buck or doe scent. I've tried some doe estrous scent in the past and I can't say I've had any definitive success with it. If I got it - great......if not - oh well. Antlers and grunt tube from beginning of season to end. For sure!

 

[5465]

i usually don't use my scents until i see that first buck chasing, but sometimes i will use a territorial scent sometimes in early bow season that has worked sometimes. never go without my grunt or bleat call! if i am not seeing anything i usually grunt about every 15 to 20 minutesand bleat about evry half hour, that gives that buck time to move into my hearing range! i myself only use my antlers twice a year, first is when the bucks get into that chasing phase and usually just some light rattling and second when the rut is in full swing. all these things have worked for me although not a hole bunch to show for it but it has gotten me a few bucks and many sightings! good luck!

 

[muddy]

dont underestimate the mid day. i started sitting dawn to dusk this year and it made a big difference. can't shoot 'em at home.

 

[moosehunter]

i didn't have any luck at all with rattling. but i did well with a grunt call. especially during the rut. here's something to try that worked for me twice. i had gotten the attention of a buck with a grunt but he wasn't all that interested in checking it out. not until i reached over and snapped a small branch with my fingers. then he wipped around and walked right in for me to deliver a clean miss. second time the buck never made it close enough. a good friend of mine told me about this. it's worked several times for him. all it does is add just a little bit of realism and peaks the deers curiosity. i only tried it on deer that i was sure wasn't turning my way......

 

[meredith]

the only time i use sents is when im walking to my stand put it on the bottom of my boots and make a trail..but other wise i use little 6 point antler to rattle brings in the big boys to show them whos boss but i have seen alot off deer i just missed cuz og buk fever but what can you doo....go luck and until then go ridng

 

[River1]

I agree with the guys above. Scents went out my door about 4 years ago. As far as using antlers and grunt tubes, that is hit and miss. It's not easy to give just a general answer on these tricks. Ultimately it just depends on a particular deers mood. If there is a good time to use these, it is more so during the pre rut. Say, that last week in October into the first week of Nov. Also, have had success duing the post rut, that last week in Nov.

Check out Greg Millers books on these topics. I think he does a great job with these.

Rattling is something that I just got back into doing last season. I had terrific results with a new approach.

I used a med size set of antlers, around 100" set. I like to be able put them in my back pack. I didn't get aggressively loud with my rattling as in the past. A smaller set suits me fine. IMO loud aggressive rattling spooks more deer than not.

As far as calling blindly, I do that and it has worked well in the past. If I'm doing this I usually call with the grunt tube every 20 minutes or so. Rattling, every 30 minutes. I try to coincide the grunting and rattling together if I have antlers with me. Depending on the day sometimes the intervals shorten a little, particularly when I've seen deer behaving aggressively.

IMO, don't rely heavily on calling tactics. I only consider them a trick in the bag. Scouting, scouting and more scouting for those perfect travel corridors is the high percentage way to kill your deer every year.

 

[DOR]

AS MUDDY SAID, SITTING ALL DAY CAN HAVE BIG PAYOFFS. BUT IT IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. I CAN DO IT IF IM 100% INTO MY SPOT. HOWEVER, I USUALLY HAVE ANYWHERE FROM 2 TO 4 SPOTS FOR ANY GIVEN WIND DIRECTION THAT I FEEL THAT WAY ABOUT SO I TEND BE A LITTLE MORE MOBILE IF A GIVEN SPOT IS SEEMING A LITTLE SLOW. ALSO, DONT OVERLOOK THE TIME PERIOD BETWEEN 11 AND 2 THAT SO MANY PEOPLE DONT HUNT. WHEN I AM WORN DOWN A LITTLE AFTER A COUPLE LONG HARD DAYS OF HUNTING I WILL SOMETIMES TRY GOING INTO STAND A LITTLE LATE SO AS TO GET SOME REST OR SIT IN 3 SESSIONS ON ROTATING LOCATIONS. ONE FROM PRE-DAWN TILL AROUND 9 AM AND THEN 11 TO 1 THEN 3 TILL DARK. I GUESS THE KEY FOR ME IS TO KEEP IT FUN AND NOT A JOB. IF YOUR NOT HAVING FUN ITS NOT REALLY WORTH DOING. I FIND BY MIXING UP MY APPROACH I CAN STAY FRESH AND STILL DO VERY WELL MAXIMIZING MY TIME IN TEH TREE, THUS INCREASING MY ODDS.