Cloud Peak Wildworks

It’s that time of year again when all of the tried and true tactics hit the woods! I am sure a lot of you have your own techniques you’ve perfected over the years. I know a lot of younger hunters entering the woods today have a lot of advancements in technology that just 15 years ago didn’t exist. From scent control clothing and sprays to apps that organize all the deer hunting data you could dream of.

I don’t have an issue with a lot of new high tech deer hunting tools, but there is one item I feel you truly cannot beat. That is a good old fashioned pair of rattling antlers. I am guilty as a lot of us are and I have hung mine up in exchange for these new more convenient rattling alternatives. As convenient as these can be they do not have the detail in the sound quality as a set of real whitetail antler bone!

Recently as I was in the midst of the whitetail rut. I have been using a popular rattle bag for the past week and was getting virtually no response. Here and there I would catch the attention of some younger bucks, but as I twisted and rolled this bag of sticks the sound just wasn’t right. I was trying to figure out what the deal was and why the bucks weren’t responding as they “should” and every time I hit that bag together it just didn’t replicate the sound I was looking for. It is a close sound but the sound of real antlers crashing together with the main beam producing a low hallow sound to the tines creating a higher pitch. Whitetail are very in tune with their surroundings and interact socially with each other on a daily basis. Its one thing to fool a whitetail and get away with it but it is another to replicate the exact sounds which they will consistently respond too. They know what the sound of real antlers sound like and with my experiences I have had them come in more natural and ready to fight than with a rattling alternative where they hear the sound that kind of sounds like rattling but it could be something else “look”.

Like I said earlier I had been using the rattle bag for the past week calling in a few young bucks. I decided to grab my real horns and hit the same stands again. At legal shooting light I hadn’t seen any movement in my location so I started a rattling sequence that lasted about 20 seconds. Within 5 minutes I had a small 8 point coming right in. as soon as he hit the field where I was without seeing any other bucks he bristled up and was posturing for what he thought was sure to be a fight. He stayed postured for a good 10 minutes moving about the field before he moved off. I gave it another 45 minutes and rattled again this time I rattled much harder and really put some elbow grease into it producing a sound that no synthetic rattling contraption could ever produce. As I hit the rack together I could smell the smells of bone off the anthers and as I hit them could simulate when the bucks get locked temporarily and break free. So much more depth in the sound produced in real antlers.

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I rattled for a good 45 seconds this time as my arms literally collapsed from muscle failure. I set the antlers down to shake my arms out and watch 360 degrees for any movement. Roughly 15 minutes later I had a nice mature buck cutting across the field to me as well as another mature buck coming from the other direction. It had seemed they both knew exactly what they heard was true and did not question it at all. The mature buck moved within 15 yards of me as I was on my knees in a standing cornfield and placed an arrow. The rest is history.

I am not denying that rattle bags, rattle blocks, synthetic antlers or whatever else, they work. If you really want to simulate a real buck get yourself some real antlers. They can and will be a pain to carry, they will probably smash your fingers and cling and clang against everything but nothing beats the real thing and I think it directly affected my success this season just by switching to a set of real whitetail bone.