We are one of a very few who not only cater to Men but also to Women who want that “just so” fit and feel of a custom rifle! Ladies’ have rights too! So if you are a huntress and want the custom rifle of your dreams, we’re the shop that can make it happen!

Gatlin Guns and Archery
79 Twin Springs Rd
Petersburg, Tn 37144

Charles Gatlin
931-433-2959
www.gatlinguns.com

Feel free to contact Charles with any questions you have.

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Every hunter has some idea of where to aim on a deer – usually it’s right behind the shoulder about one third to one half of the way up the side. If you have another favorite spot, I won’t argue the point (of aim), at least not here, but even if you do, the principles and ideas that I am about to illustrate will also apply to you.

One thing that is rarely considered in aiming at a deer, even by writers in the popular hunting journals, is just how much the aiming point changes as the shooting angle changes. The true broadside shot is the most desirable and most often represented on deer targets and anatomy diagrams. Unfortunately, that is not the angle at which all, or even most, deer are encountered. Hunters who keep aiming right behind the shoulder, regardless of their shooting angle to the deer, are the ones who may be unnecessarily spending a lot of money to replace rifles because a wounded deer escaped. Anyway, there are much better reasons to buy a new rifle – ones that you don’t have to be embarrassed to tell your hunting buddies or to your non-hunting friends.

The shooting angle is measured between the overhead nose-to-tail body line down the center of a deer as compared to the path of the bullet. In a true broadside shot, that intersection would make a 90 degree angle. An illustration of this angle would look like a T with the horizontal top line representing the deer and the vertical line representing the bullet path.

The aiming point would be the exact place on the side of the deer where the hunter would like the bullet to strike.

Another term that we need to define before we continue is what can be referred to as the kill zone. Even though we aim our rifle/bullet at a very specific spot on the deer, there does exist a larger area around that spot which, if struck by the bullet, will still result in a very-dead-very-fast animal. This kill zone allows for a little margin for error (from a little wind, or a twitch by the deer, etc.) that results in a difference between where the hunter aims and where the bullet actually strikes the deer. Lots of hunters talk of putting all their shots at one hundred yards into a
“pie plate” which usually has a nine inch diameter. If a hunter can consistently hit that plate, he is considered to be a pretty good marksman and ready to take a shot at a deer at a one hundred yard distance. But shooting at a deer is not that simple.

The diagrams below will help illustrate the effect that various shooting angles have on the aiming point. The deer profile at the top of the first two diagrams shows the deer from a broadside view and where the hunter has aimed the shots from the various shooting angles and positions. The lower profile in each of these first two diagram shows the deer from above and what the bullets actually hit as they penetrate the deer‘s body. The blue circles represent the kill zone.

The shooting positions are represented by the letters A, B, C, D and TBS which stands for a True Broadside Shot. Shots are being taken from the ground level.

The red lines in the first diagram represent bad hits that may eventually kill the deer (or not) that, mostly likely, will result in a wounded that may not be recovered. The green lines in the second diagram show correct killing shots that hit the kill zone from every shooting position.

The letters on the side of the deer in the first two diagrams show where the bullets were aimed from the shooting positions with the corresponding letters. It is important to note that where each bullet first impacts on the outside of the deer from the different angles does not correspond to where the bullet strikes as it penetrates the deer’s body, except in the case of a TBS.

In the diagram below, every bullet from every angle strikes the deer right behind the shoulder, but as they penetrate the deer’s body, every one of them misses the kill zone. This hunter is about to swear that he needs a bigger caliber and rifle combination. “I hit him right behind the shoulder, for sure!” And so he did.

The largest mule deer buck I ever killed, officially scored at 176 points net, had been shot through the front shoulder by another hunter using a 30/06, but the bullet did not hit the kill zone. The deer ran at least 600 yards before I finished him. When we skinned the deer, the shattered bones of its upper leg fell out in lots of tiny pieces!

In the next diagram, every shot hits the center of the kill zone as it penetrates the body of the deer, but only one (the TBS) impacts the deer right behind the shoulder. Notice that the aiming point changes as the shooting angle decreases. The more forward the shooting position, the more forward the aiming point, and vice versa.

Shooting positions B and C represent just a 45 degree change from TBS, but the aiming points for B and C have moved almost eight inches forward or rearward.

Also note that the distances that the bullets travel through the body of the deer from the impact points A, B, TBS, C and D to the center of the kill zone vary a great deal. This is an important reason for using a well-constructed bullet and a caliber that is appropriate for the size of game animal that is
being hunted.

IMPORTANT: Please be aware that the top deer profile in both the RED and GREEN diagrams above represents the correct view that the hunter would have of the deer only in the case of a true broadside shot. At the various angles, the deer’s body would appear to be foreshortened to the front or back. In other words, the aiming points A, B, C and D, as they appear in the top profile of the GREEN diagram, would not be recommended if the deer were actually viewed as shown and, with the exception of B, would result in a very bad hit or gut-shot deer. (To illustrate the true view seen from each of the positions, I would have to draw four more pictures, and I’m not that good an artist!)

The problem with only thinking about what happens on the outside of a deer has other problems. If the shooter is looking at a pie plate that has been set up at one hundred yards, that plate has most likely been tacked up flatly on the target and is a TBS view. Now, imagine what happens to the view of this plate as the angle at which it is being seen begins to decrease. The illustration below will help.

From a TBS, the nine inch pie plate appears to have a full nine inch diameter. When the angle decreases to 45 degrees, as seen from the “C” position, the diameter of the plate appears to have shrunk to a little over four inches. From Position “A”, the view of plate shrinks to slightly over two inches. This means that, at one hundred yards, the hunter shooting at the deer from the “C” position, must now be able to put his bullets into a four inch circle to be considered prepared for that distance, and from position “A” must be able to hit a circle that is a mere two plus inches!

Shooting a deer at various angles is not the same as shooting a pie plate in lots of ways. Hunters who keep a cool head at the moment of truth and who factor in the effect of their shooting angle to the deer will have a much better chance of dropping the deer in its tracks than those who stubbornly aim “right behind the shoulder” for all their shots. Remember: it’s not where the bullets hits the deer on the outside that counts, but what the bullet does, and where it goes, on the inside.

Good luck, good shooting and great hunting!

Chuck (Onehorse) Tarinelli

I am the lead Judd is in the wing. I can see blood for several yards and we walk slowly but steadily. I do not want this buck to lie down. My thinking, with which Judd concurs, is to push him steadily. Judd, as am I, is a guide and outfitter. He has trailed more animals than most people have ever seen. Here is why we don’t want him to lie down.

What is the first thing an EMT tells an accident victim? Lie down do not move. Good advice when trying to save a life. It is also the opposite of what you want when you are trying to recover a wounded animal. Just think about it. You want them to bleed out, not clot up. You do not want them resting.

As long as I can see a blood trail, providing I can determine the wound is at least potentially fatal, I want that deer moving and bleeding. That philosophy has enabled me to recover many animals that I am sure I would otherwise have lost. I do not want a deer to bed down, rest, have the wound clot up and stop bleeding and then, the animal gets up and moves, leaving no blood trail. This is especially true of a gut shot deer.

Some years ago in South Dakota, I shot an antelope with a bow. I knew it was a high, single lung hit. The outfitter, forbid me to push the animal. So I didn’t. Instead, I watched him through binos and a spotting scope. I watched him bed down, watched him get up two hours later and the next day, watched him calmly feed within 50-yards of where I shot him.

Had I pushed him, pushed him steadily, I feel sure I could have recovered him. I could have collapsed that single lung and he probably would have died.

What about a non-fatal hit like a nothing brisket or a leg? Those wounds bleed like the devil but they are seldom fatal and if you push an animal with a wound like that, they may just leave the country simply because they just are not hit hard enough to slow them down. Those animals I will let lie down. Perhaps I can slip up and get a second shot. Perhaps they will stiffen up and do something stupid.

I need, almost must have, a good idea on where the hit is. Hair color is some indicator however, the best is blood and hunter information when they are calm and can logically replay the hit with a bow and sight picture with a firearm. I want them to describe animal reaction and body posture. I want to know speed and if they are moving fluidly or jerkily. I want to know if they left the way they came in or took a different route. I have to judge if they (the animal) is thinking or reacting or in a blind panic. Then, I start the trail

Blood trails do not always start immediately. Frequently, an animal may travel some distance before the first blood is found. That is why it is so important for the shooter to take special pains to mark where the animal was standing when shot and where he was last seen. That is also, why it is important for the shooter to give directions from the stand, not on the ground. Things look considerably different from ground level. I always try to mark at least three landmarks that I can find from the ground.

A wounded animal may do anything. I have found them in ponds, creeks, hidden in brush piles and lying in plain sight. I have had them double back, follow clear trails, turn off clear trails and take two steps and fall over. I recall a nice bull elk that ran 20-yards when shot with an arrow and then start browsing. After a few seconds, he just fell over. I have had bear run 200-yards and never bleed a drop and I had a poorly shot whitetail doe pour blood as if from a bucket. She bled out in less than 30-seconds.

As the head trailer slowly works a faint trail, the wingman slowly works the sides. More than a few times, the wing will pick up the trail. A wounded animal does not always know where it is going when it runs. That is why logic may not work in unraveling a trail. The wing looks for the illogical move, the, "Why in the heck did he do that?" Last fall I shot a doe with my rifle. It was a good shot at 60-yards. She ran 50-yards, jumped a fence and ran another 50 yards. Then, she turned around, ran back, jumped the same fence and ran 50-yards. She, then, turned 90-degrees, ran 50-yards and jumped another fence, made a big circle, jumped the same fence and dropped within 30-yards of where she was shot. I sat in the stand and watched it all. From the same stand, during muzzle loading season, I shot another doe in about the same place. She turned and walked straight toward me and fell dead almost under my stand tree.

I use a trailing stick most of the time. I invented the name but not the device. That is simply a short, stiff stick, I use an old arrow that I can use to point out something, lift up a branch or turn a leaf. So much sign is found on the underside of things, I cannot imagine not having my trailing stick. An animal moving through thick brush will leave as much blood on the underside of hanging branches, as it will on the ground. Double that for grown up fields. Always look on the underside of fences at likely crossings. Quite often, a wounded animal will walk some distance to cross a fence where they can crawl under or where the wire is lower. The stick or arrow in my case, allows you to turn things over without disturbing what is close to it.

What is the shooter’s duty in recovering an animal? First, he must be sure of the shot point of impact and the angle of the shot. That gives the trailer an idea of wound severity. Second, he must be 100% sure of where the animal was standing when shot. Third where the animal was seen last. However, I have seen many instances when none of that was available. That is when it gets tough.

You have a general idea of where the animal was. You start by looking in the most logical places for the shot-openings between trees etc. You look for scuffed leaves or thrown debris. In snow, this is relatively easy and the same is true on deep leaves or mud. On hard, open ground, it can be tough especially with a gun. I once shot a bull elk across a narrow canyon. My hunting partner, Mike Gabbell and I, totally disagreed on where I shot the bull. We were almost 100-yards apart in location. It turned out we were both wrong. However, we did find the bull because we could agree on where it ran.

I especially like veteran, women hunters to work the wing and sometimes even take the lead in blood trailing. There are two main reasons. Once you get them calmed and started, they are more meticulous than many men are and they will work much slower. I cannot stress enough how important it is to work slowly when the trail is faint or lost. Inches at a time on hands and knees are the ways to do it.

When on a trail, always be conscious of birds in the distance making a racket or scolding. The same is true of squirrels. Obviously, on a two-day, trail, you keep an eye out for scavengers and buzzards. Though the meat may be lost, there is satisfaction in finding and saving the antlers. By the way, it is a personal call but even if I can’t save the meat, I tag the carcass. I feel it is just the right thing to do. I found a buck in WY two days after I shot it. Oddly enough, it was a good shot, double lungs and it was relatively open country. The shot was 43-yards with a compound bow and the arrow went all the way through. He just made a move or two we could not decipher. So I ate the tag instead of the tenderloins.

Animals shot late in the day, just at dark, I often leave until the next morning. This is especially true if it is cold and I feel the meat will keep. Obviously, if I have a big blood trail that I can easily see by lantern light, I keep going. But if it starts to weaken, in most cases, I back off and wait for morning. Bumbling around in the dark is a good way to ruin what trail you may have.

Of course, impending weather such as rain or snow must be factored in as must scavengers. In one area of Manitoba, the coyotes are so bad, if the animal is not found within an hour or so, they get it all. You can’t even drag one to the roadside and leave while you get the truck.

Blood trailing is a jigsaw puzzle. You keep putting pieces together. Almost any hunter can follow a clear blood trail. It takes experience to "work" the tough trails. The more you do of it, the better you get. I was taught at an early age, the basics. Through the years, for me, it became almost a passion to the extent I would travel quite some distance to work a tough trail. Often, I would get calls to "come help".

About 20-years ago, I met a young man who showed some interest in learning about blood trailing. I worked with him on several trails. Showed him what I was doing and why. I have heard he is coming along well. As it is with hunting in general, blood trailing is an art that needs to be passed on. After all, it is the second most important part of big game hunting.

In part one, I discuss the basics of tracking wounded animals.

It is vitally important to take note of the body posture of a wounded animal as it leaves. Slightly humped up, tail down, and hind legs moving stiffly. Where was this deer likely hit? Do you push it or wait? I let it get out of sight and then hit the trail. My guess would be gut shot. If I let it bed, good chance I will never see it again.

Take note of where a deer enters a field. When shot, did it leave in the same place? Often a wounded animal heads back the way it came. Here is where knowledge of the area comes in handy.

Over the years, I have developed the habit of looking in every pond I come across when working a trail. I have found many animals, alive and dead, in ponds or lakes.

If a trail goes under a fence, always…always give it a good look including the underside of the wire.

Left overnight, even though only slight and small blood sign, we found this WI buck the next morning in short order. Had we flummoxed around the in dark, we may have easily obscured all sign. There were so many deer tracks in the snow, we could not be sure of his.

Deep leaves, not much blood but we pushed this deer hard and made the recovery. By keeping it moving, we kept it bleeding and scuffling the leaves.

I found this WY buck after two days of looking. He just kept doing the "wrong" things and had me literally going in circles. I tagged him anyway.

Trailing is as important as shooting or stand hanging. Pass it on to the youngsters.

If I were to start a sentence describing what wounded game does, the only word I could not use would be Always. You simply cannot say that a wounded animal always does anything. I have heard it all, too. I have heard the experts say that a wounded deer always runs downhill, always has their tail down, always heads for water and ad infinitum. The one thing I can tell you is that wounded game don’t always do anything. I might also add if you believe any of the above, you are going to lose game you should have found.

Through the years, as a hunter and guide, I estimate I have been involved in the trailing of close to 1,000 animals. As somewhat of a student of animals and trailing, I hope I have learned a few things. Two of the things I know I have learned are not to expect anything and not to overlook the obvious. I never take for granted that an animal did something just because it looks as though they did and I also don’t ignore the obvious even thought it is against all odds. Lessons are sometimes hard learned.

Some years ago in the somewhat barren grasslands of Wyoming, I was helping with the trailing of a wounded whitetail buck. We had been following this buck for close to 30-hours in total over two days. For the last four hours, we were working with no blood and few tracks going mostly on intuition. It had reached the point I was watching for birds and hoping we didn’t unravel any more sign. I was ready to quit. We had stopped to rest and rehydrate when my partner, Jay said, "He is dead. That buck is dead and we are within 100-yards of him."

In 30-seconds we walked right to him and he was indeed dead and partially picked clean by scavengers indicating he had been dead for quite a while. The buck had run and walked almost six miles, apparently without stopping. He had gone uphill, downhill and around hills. He had passed by water and waded into water. Three times, he had doubled back on his own tracks and as far as we could tell, not one time had he bedded down. He had simply gone until he could go no further. How Jay knew that deer was dead and close by was simple. He smelled him. He was sitting on a rock several feet higher than I and he could smell him, I could not. A few feet made a difference and had it been up to me, we would have quit the trail and lost that buck.

That buck dispelled every idea that contains the word always. A wounded animal will do whatever it wants and often with no rhyme or reason for doing it. It is with that premise you must begin every recovery effort. Expect nothing. Unless you have a clear blood trail from A-Z and can trail at a fast walk, expect the unexpected.

If you do a lot of hunting, spend, say 57-years at it as I have, you get to track or trail game in just about every type of cover and terrain there is. Yes, snow may make it easier and it may not. Deep leaves can be almost as handy as snow for picking up a faint trail and in the high desert, with scant blood, trailing can be a nightmare. The most valuable of all trailing tools is knowledge. Next, is eyesight and then, sense of smell. For me, even with glasses, my eyesight just is not as good as I would like and I find myself more and more relying on knowledge of game and their habits. I can say, without reservation, every trailing job on wounded game has taught me something.

Where do you begin? For me, there are two types of recovery efforts. There are those in which I am the shooter and there are those in which I am not the shooter. In 99% of the cases where I have been involved, the shooter is the worst at following a trail and many times that includes me. Quite often, they actually ruin a trail by walking on it and moving too fast. They walk past the obvious. Since I now hunt alone all of the time, I must recover all of my own game. I wish it were different. I wish I had a competent lead tracker because I often get too confident on my own game and of my own skill. I move too fast. Fortunately, it has been some time since I have lost a fatally wounded animal. Three years ago, consulting by phone, once in IL and once in TN, I found two whitetail bucks without ever leaving my office chair. I heard the stories, considered the facts and went SWAG. That is, Scientific Wild Ass Guess. Luckily, I was right in both cases. That is true, I did find those bucks but I am not that good.

Hunter Joe shot a buck and it did not fall within sight. I am his friend (guide, whatever). My first step is to get Joe back in the stand. I want him to show me two things. (1) Where the deer was standing when he shot. Before I do anything else, I either confirm or dispel that. (2) Where was the last place he saw the deer. I then, either confirm or dispel that. I do not want Joe on the ground, I want him in the stand until I can nail those two places down.

Now, I am ready to formulate a plan. I have two dots connected: Where the animal was when shot and where he was when last seen. Now Joe can get out of the stand and if he can be convinced to do so, he can go wait at the truck.

It may sound strange but I do not have a direction of travel yet. That can be determined by blood or tracks or scuffed leaves or some positive sign the deer went that way. I cannot just assume he kept going the way he was going when last seen. At this point, he is still moving from panic. He has not yet begun to think…and he may never. Obviously, if it is a heart or double lung shot, he may very well run until he drops or stop, look around and fall over. Just as obviously, if you have a good blood trail, you simply follow the drops.

If it is a long blood trail, oh, by the way, 125-yards is a long blood trail. It will seem like 400-yards. But if it is a long blood trail, you will need to take note of tendencies. What is his tendency in terms of turning? Does he favor turns to the right or left etc.? What about going around obstacles? Again, right or left? Uphill or downhill? Cross fence, (stream, road etc.) or go beside it or under it?

It is important to note these things when you can see the trail because you may need them when you can’t. Always you keep in mind the animal may have changed his mind and his tendency. I mark each change in direction with a large piece of toilet paper, one I can see from some distance. It is biodegradable so I don’t have to go back and retrieve it.

So far we are still trailing using blood on the ground or underbrush, visible sign. In many cases, the blood gets scarce and smaller. That is why we have to move so slowly. Frequently, I have had hunters get upset with me for not moving even when I can see the blood ahead of me. That is fine but I am looking for signs ahead of that before I move. If I can see the blood three "stops" ahead, I can look even further ahead. That is how I have seen quite a few bedded but not dead animals. You can gauge the correct trailing speed with a plastic rabbit. Tie the rabbit to you leg. If you are moving so fast the rabbit falls over, you are walking too fast. I once watched the best trailer/tracker I ever knew stand on one foot, in one spot for 30-minutes. He was "tasting" (his words) the woods. We found our animal, a bear, an hour later within 20-yards of where Dall said he thought it had gone.

Are you getting the idea I regard animal recovery as sometimes mystical? You are damn right it is and I can’t explain it and but I can tell you I have on more than a few occasions told someone exactly where an animal was laying and I had not even been to the scene. I have seen or heard of several other men doing the exact same thing. Mystical yes, magical no. More the result of maybe 10,000 hours of practice and a heaping helping of knowledge of the animal..

Okay. The blood trail is now faint. Our trailing stick, I prefer an old aluminum arrow, is now slowly turning over leaves and lifting low branches. We look for what does not belong. A leaf turned the wrong way does not belong. A scuff mark on a log does not belong. That trail of ants does not belong nor does that fresh mud on the far side of a creek bank. We listen for the unusual. Squirrels and birds are our helpers. In our minds we are now the wounded animal. What would we do? Often on hands and knees, we investigate. Can the most severely wounded animal climb up that steep ridge? You damn betcha! Can an animal shot through both lungs and the top of the heart with a .50 caliber muzzleloader never bleed a drop? Dam straight!

Okay. Enough mysticism, now what works for me then, why and how I apply them.

• Q – How long do you wait before starting to track?
  A – I don’t. I do not wait at all if I can help it. I start as soon as I can. However, after 50-yards, I may stop and wait a couple hours. It depends on how severely I deem the animal to be hit. Even with a gut shot, I start as soon as I can. It is when I decide it is a marginal hit and the animal is still bleeding good and traveling strong that I may wait. The more severe the hit, the harder I push. I Do Not want that animal to lie down. I want them up and moving and bleeding, not resting and letting the blood stop flowing. This is especially true of a gut shot. I don’t want the guts plugging the exit hole. I want that animal moving and bleeding and hurting. I must if at all possible, determine the severity of the wound. That is extremely important in terms of how I push an animal. However, I never push an animal at the risk of working the trail too fast. A slow recovery is always better than a fast lose.
• Q – How many people make an ideal trailing party?
  A – Maximum of three. Lead trailer, wing trailer and last blood or sign man. Lead makes all the decisions and directs the wing. Wing works behind the lead by a few yards and to one side. He is looking for sign of a turn. Quite often, women make superb wing trackers. Last blood guy just stands at last blood and lines up direction of travel. If he has to be along, this is where the shooter goes.
• Q – Do you often leave animals overnight?
  A – Yes, especially when the trail is slight. In most cases, the only thing you accomplish trailing at night is messing up the trail. If I have a lot of clear blood, sure, I’ll keep going. But if it is a weak trail and I haven’t developed it well within 75-yards, mark it and go eat and sleep and be there are sunup.
• Q – Do you take insurance shots at wounded animals when you have no clear shot at a vital spot?
  A – Absolutely, every time I can. The more holes, the more blood, the easier the trail.

In part two, I will look at applying some of things I have talked about and how and why I do what I do.

Before I start trailing, I want the shooter in the stand pointing out where the deer was standing when he shot and where he last saw it.

If you have good blood to follow, basically you just follow it. If the trail gets long, make sure you keep notes on tendencies.

Will a wounded deer jump a fence? Dang right they will although some hunters will tell you absolutely not.

If you hunt many areas, you need to get proficient in blood trailing in varied terrain. The big empty of the grasslands and high desert provide a challenge.

Birds are both tattletales on unusual movement in their area and good at pointing you in the right direction when the trail is lost. Learn how to read them.

Shot through both lungs and top of the heart but not a drop of blood. The buck even fell and still no blood.

75-yards from the point of impact, this buck ran, fell once, got up and ran another 25-yards before dropping dead. Not a drop of blood the entire distance. Without snow, this would have been an incredibly tough trailing job in the softwoods and needles.

REACTION CALLING

Of the three types of calling I refer to, reaction calling may be the hardest to understand and to do. I will deal with it right now and be done with it. Reaction calling is what I am talking about when I call to deer I see and they are not doing what I want them to do…as in walking the wrong direction or even running.

A perfect example would be when I am walking to a stand site and spook a deer. Another is I am on a stand and see a deer at a distance with no obvious indication he is coming closer. Another would be a deer standing and perhaps looking my way, maybe even looking dead at me from a distance.

What I would be trying to do in those instances is convince that deer they should calm down or come my way. To do that, the first call I make must be exactly the right sound. I cannot give an aggressive buck grunt to a doe standing on a field edge and expect her to come toward me. That is not what she wants to hear. What will bring her my way? I am going to give a soft, cohesive, doe grunt. Not a bleat, a grunt. A bleat is plaintive. A grunt is satisfied. No better call for this than the friction call. If I don’t have it, I can do it with the adjustable mouth call. But I have to know how to do it.

If it is a buck, I have to use a call that will interest him. A buck actively tending a doe is true challenge to call. However, I have done it with a wimpy, aggressive buck grunt. I want to sound like a buck that can be whipped but is still interested. At times, the best call is rattling antlers. Quite often, the best call is to shut up.

The point is, think. Use your head don’t just believe the television commercial and start tooting away. I actually get down laughing at some of these TV shows. Blow two times and a herd comes your way. Give me a break.

Among reaction calls is the best of all calls. SILENCE! If you do not know when to shut up and when not to call at all, you are going to have problems. It all comes back to understanding reaction. How are you going to react right now? What is the deer doing? Why is it doing it? What does it most likely want? Now what call matches that? If you were fly fishing for trout, it would be matching the hatch.

REACTION CALLING

The deer is already doing something and it is not what you want it to do. You react to that and try to change their mind. It is your reaction, not the deer’s that gives the name. It requires thought and an understanding of whitetail deer. In the next section, sight calling, I will talk a lot about body language and the importance of understanding what that deer said with his or her body. So, let’s just do that.

SIGHT CALLING

Sight calling can be tremendously rewarding even if you don’t take a shot. It is similar to reaction calling only different in that you act instead of react. You make the decision based on what you see, hear and feel. It is a hoot when a deer says something to you with just the flick of an ear and it is fun to see a deer ticked off. It is more fun when they come from 175-yards to 50 and you pop them square in the boiler room.

Scenario: A Doe and fawn are browsing on a field edge and it is mid-morning. The time of day is not too important other than it is not right at daylight and it is not late in the afternoon. You are in a stand 100-yards away. You call, using a soft, doe, cohesive grunt-a come here grunt, I see you, who are you? The deer turn, take a few steps toward you, ears cocked and stop. I know immediately to shut up. If I make one more deer sound, they are gone. I know my best action is no action. Why?

They have quite plainly said to me, “We hear you; we don’t see you and we are coming no closer until you step out.” If I call again, they are going to leave. Yet the first impulse so many hunters would have is to call again. If it were just at daylight or late in the afternoon, I might call again using a different tone. Odds are, that would be ignored.

Next time you are hunting a food plot, start messing with the deer. See what happens when you call the first time. Watch the body language. Look closely at the ears and tail. If the ears swivel and/or the tail flicks quickly, that deer just said something to you. If nothing happens, call again and watch the body language change. When the ears swivel and/or the tail flicks, the deer said, “I hear you.” That is when you shut up. Call again and watch closely.

Scenario: It is early season and a bachelor group of bucks comes into sight. What call do you use? The correct answer is none. You just sit there, cry, and hope they come your way because you cannot call one buck out of a bunch and you cannot call a bunch. You may be able to interest one with a bit of light antler tickling…maybe. But it is too early for either a doe call or a buck call.

How about the buck actively tending the doe I mentioned earlier? Can you make a wimpy buck grunt? Do you even know what I am talking about? It can be done best with an adjustable call such as the Tru Talker. I own several of them and they make a great doe bleat and wimpy buck grunts. I am going to challenge that buck and I want to sound like the playground nerd. I want him ticked off and he will tell me quite plainly, when he is by displaying and tail action. He may even grunt louder and longer than I did, I am going to try to taunt him into coming to whip my butt. Therefore, I must sound like a deer he feels he can whip.

A deer’s tail, ears and hair say far more than their vocal sounds. For a doe, she is almost speechless if she can’t stomp. Compare that to a woman with her hands tied. Are you worried when an old doe blows at you? I love it. I can use that to my advantage if I am doe hunting. Have you ever tried blowing back at one or just giving one or two soft doe grunts? However, don’t blow and foot-stomp together.

The next time you are watching a doe, she stomps her foot, look closely at her head, and in particular, her eyes and ears. Watch the ears swivel. Now look at the deer with her. What are they doing? Do Not call. That doe is quite plainly saying to all the deer near her, “Look at me and then look where I am looking. Do you hear anything? Something is not right. I am going to head bob and try to get it to move. Then, I am going to ignore it and try to fool it.” You see, if you know what she is saying and you do because you can see her, then, you know what how to act. Do nothing. Leave her alone and odds are she will calm down and move off. Then, quite often, come sneaking back to investigate. If at all possible and legal, shoot her. You will be much better off with that deer out of the herd.

The two immutable facts of deer calling are these:

1. You can do no harm by calling to a deer that is walking away from you and shows no signs of coming back.
2. You can ruin any chance of killing one by calling when one is doing what you want. If the deer is coming toward you, shut up. Now add to that, never call a deer looking at you no matter how far away it is.

There are hundreds of calls on the market. All of them are useless if you do not know how to use them. By far, the most difficult and most effective is the friction call but as it is with anything, it has its’ limitations. It is impossible to make dominant buck grunts with one. It is superb for a tending grunt. However, I cannot think of a time to make a tending grunt. It is usually the only call I carry in the early season. There is no tending going on in the early season.

The adjustable tube, I use a Tru Talker, is valuable to me during most of the season. I can do anything from doe and fawn bleats to soft grunts and even a moderate buck grunt. I have even called ducks on one. They are the most versatile call I have used.

When I hunt the big deer, usually in Canada or the upper Midwest, I use two deep buck grunts that allow me to really shout. I tape them together so they are easy to use. These are the calls I use to reach across big fields and challenge the big boys. I don’t use them much. That is their only purpose. They reach all the way across the huge fields in Manitoba and that is a looong way.

Without question, the most valuable tool I have in my calling arsenal is somewhat of an understanding of deer body language. Next is understanding when to shut up. Unlike elk and turkeys, deer don’t walk through the woods announcing their presence. They slip through quietly whispering, not shouting. Therefore, we should whisper, not shout. I can make about 10 different deer vocal sounds. However, I only use four or possibly five. I do not roar, I do not sniff-snort-wheeze and all the fancy stuff you read about my goal is to call a deer within shooting range for whatever equipment I am using. I understand that deer become call shy very quickly and unless I am hunting on land that is lightly hunted, usually, I don’t call at all. I firmly believe silence is the best call of all.

Some Things To Remember:

• Deer don’t shout, they whisper. Call quietly most of the time.
• Know how to make a bleat and a grunt. A bleat indicates need, especially a doe bleat.
• A grunt indicates satisfaction and announces presence. A bawl indicates pain. The doe in heat bleat is the same thing as hype hot cow elk call.
• Never call to a deer looking at you.
• Never call a deer doing what you want it to.
• Believe nothing you see on television. We hunt real deer without the ability to edit, cut and splice.
• Match your calls in volume and tone to the deer you hunt.
• Understand that the best call is usually no call.
• Fawn sounds are for does only.
• The Can is the easiest call to use. It is also the most limited.
• Know and believe more deer are scared away by calling than are ever called into shooting range.

I have this buck mad at me. He is plainly telling me that. He is grunting and his hair is standing up in places. That is called displaying. He is with a doe and I have challenged him with a wimpy buck grunt. He may go so far as to come look me up.

On the way to a stand, I spook a deer. My reaction is to give one or two soft, calming grunts that say, “I am another deer. Calm down.”

The biggest mistake I can make is to call at these deer. They are clearly saying, “We heard you but we don’t see you.” Call again and they are gone because it would not be natural.

He heard me, no question about that. His head says it all. Call again and he is out of here.

He is leaving. His tail is down, decision made. Won’t hurt a thing to call but probably won’t help, either. Keep an eye on his tail. Most likely, he will give you another message. The most common reaction to calling is to be ignored. The biggest mistake is to call again.

Group of bucks in early season. No call is going to peel one off. However, tine tickling might. For some reason, they are more curious about sparring than vocal sounds.

What was the first deer call? Most likely, it was some hunter of centuries ago, blowing across a blade of grass. The sound mimicked a fawn bleat. The first in my memory was a rubber band stretched between to pieces of plastic. You blew across it and like the blade of grass. It mimicked a fawn bleat. I did call in and kill a doe with it. It was a pure accident.

When Dr. Marchinton started doing his research on deer vocalization a sudden deluge of deer calls hit the market. The market, deer hunters, had little or no idea how to use them but that was okay because most of the manufacturers didn’t have a clue, either. Most still do not. Marchinton identified, I believe 13 different deer vocalizations. I know there are more. What they mean is a different story.

The first “research” I did into deer calling came around 1983. I had a Woods Wise friction call. To this day, it is still the most realistic call I have ever used and it works. Unfortunately, it takes two hands to use it properly. The clicking sound it makes mimics the glottal pulse in most deer sounds. No mouth call does that. But is that first deer call to do so? No. Hunters in the Northern Woods, years ago, used the old rattail, plastic comb to do the same thing. They ran their thumbs down the teeth and made a clicking sound.

Why is all this preamble important? You just want to know about calling, right? Trust me, you will be better at calling deer if you understand why you do something. Even to this day, few manufacturers of deer calls know very much about calling or why a call needs to be adjustable. All they know is how to get some great video footage of a huge buck being “called” in and shot. That sells calls, not a glottal pulse.

The first thing I tell someone when I do a calling seminar is to forget elk, predators and turkeys. You do not call deer anything near the way you call elk, predators or turkeys. And right now, let me make it clear, I am no expert when it comes to deer calling. However, I have done a tremendous amount of research and experimenting since that afternoon I spent a ton of money on phone calls to Dr. Marchinton and Dr. Leonard Lee Rue.

The three categories of calling for me are: Blind Calling, Sight Calling and Response Calling. Every vocal sound I make falls into those three categories and each is expected, hopefully, to elicit a specific response. Each response falls into three categories as well. The animal responds, the animal runs away or the animal ignores. By far, the most common is to be ignored. However, the majority of hunters do not know they are being ignored. They assume, usually incorrectly, the deer did not hear them. So, they call louder and get even further ignored. So, they shout.

DEER DON’T SHOUT, THEY WHISPER.

Arguably the most important tip I may give in the two parts of this series is that fact. Deer don’t shout, they whisper. I would be willing to wager most of you who are reading this may have never heard a deer vocalize. I will also wager many of you have and did not know it. That is why I am spending so much time on this first part instead of saying, “on October 22, make this call.”

If you have a good, common sense foundation about deer vocalization, the actual calling will make much more sense. It is more important to know when not to call, as it is to call. It is even more important to know what call to make. Perhaps the most important thing is to be able to read body language. Deer answer a call as much or more with body language than with vocalization or reaction. If you can see the animal, you can read the body language and that will tell you when to shut up, when to call and what call to make.

So Here we go.

Blind Calling:

The most misused and most harmful of all calling is blind calling. That is simply calling when you see no deer. To me, that is mostly an action resulting from boredom. You are not seeing anything and you are bored so you call. Why is this harmful? Because, as stated, you are not seeing anything. Does it produce a sighting? Yes, occasionally it does. But more often either it produces nothing or it has an adverse effect. Perhaps a deer was about to step into view. You did not know that so you called. If you made wrong call or at times, even the right one, you run the risk of either spooking the animal or alerting them to your position. Neither of those results is positive.

To sit there totting that thing as if you are leading a brass band, will not work. Unfortunately, that is what most often happens. Think about this carefully. If you cannot see the animal, cannot see the body posture, how do you know what call to make.

There is only one sound that I believe will work blind calling and probably not do any harm and that sound is only if you want to kill a doe. The sound to make is a fawn bleat. For that, I suggest the can. Few hunters can do it properly with a mouth call. A fawn bleat or a fawn distress call will seldom if ever attract a buck. Bucks have no interest at all in a fawn. Therefore, they do not respond. Other than that situation, shut up. The fawn bleat is most effective in early bow season. After that, I forget it.

One other mistake I know hunters make while blind calling is what I call practicing failure. They go through their repertoire of calls hoping one will work. Here again the importance of knowing what call to make when is shown.

Therefore, before we go to the other two types of calling, sight calling and response calling, I suppose we had better discus actual sounds. That will lead off part two of Calling all Deer.

This is part 1 of the Calling All Deer series. Read part two.

The only calls I use. From the bottom-A Woods Wise friction call, the best there ever was or will be. Middle-A True Talker variable blown call used when rattling. Top-Two very loud, very deep buck grunts used in Canada and on windy days in areas of open fields. I have the calls taped together for ease of use.

Don’t call deer as you would elk. Deer don’t bugle like this bull. Deer don’t shout, they whisper.

She was 100-yards away on a field edge and two very soft fawn bleats brought her into easy bow range, opening morning of the 2011 season. I was home by 7:30. Know what call to make before you make it.

Over a century ago, the Native Americans of the Great Plains experienced incredibly healthy lifestyles. In his book The Dakota Diet: Health Secrets from the Great Plains, Dr. Kevin Weiland describes the amazing health and vitality of these people groups in the 19th century. One of the measures of health that researchers often use is the average height of people in a civilization. The average Native American stood around five feet eight inches in height. This stature was taller than the average American of European descent as well as Europeans who still lived on the European continent. One major reason for the Indians’ great health was likely their diets. A large component of the Native American diet consisted of wild game.

Wild Game—Better than Commercial Meat

The average modern-day American consumes meat that originated in a commercial feedlot. In these operations, the cattle are warehoused en-masse. Of course, when you have so many animals in one area, sickness is bound to be an issue. To ward off illness, these animals are given antibiotic laced feed. To help them reach slaughter-weight more quickly, they are often given growth hormones to speed up their weight gain. These animals are not fed what a typical ruminant’s diet ought to be. They are given copious amounts of grain to fill them out quickly so that they can be slaughtered. Because the cattle do not have access to pasture, the meat lacks many vitamins that are present in wild game and grass-fed meat.

The meat from an animal is only going to be as good as the food that it consumes. Therefore, meat from wild game that eats a variety of natural foods is healthier than commercially raised meat. An animal that eats a diet that is mostly grass contains a greater variety of vitamins stored in its muscle tissue than animals raised on grain.

Omega 3′s

Omega 3 fatty acids are often called “good fats” by nutritionists, doctors and scientists. These fats are good for the heart and the entire circulatory system. People who have high levels of omega 3′s in their diets are 50 percent less likely to have a heart attack. These fats are found in salmon and tuna, as well as certain nuts and seeds. But did you know that meat from wild game has copious amounts of omega 3 acids in it? Game meat contains a specific type of omega 3 that is most often found in fish oil. Scientists believe that this type of fatty acid wards off artherosclerosis, the most common cause of heart attack and stroke.

Scientists are learning much about the benefits of these omega 3 acids. Eating meat from wild game that is rich in omega 3′s will improve your heart health and can possibly ward off Alzheimer’s disease and depression. Some studies are indicating that these acids can aid in healing from surgeries and slow the growth and spread of particular types of cancers. These compounds play vital roles in every cell of the human body, and wild game meats are loaded with them.

Low Fat, Low Calorie

Because a wild animal spends most of its life running, jumping and eating natural foods, venison, elk, moose, wild turkey and other game meats are lower in fat than commercial poultry, pork and beef. Consider that three ounces of venison contains only three grams of fat, while commercially raised beef contains eighteen grams of fat. The same serving of venison contains only one gram of saturated fat (the bad-for-you type of fat) versus the seven grams of saturated fat that beef contains.

Wild game meats are not only lower in fat than commercially raised meat, but they are also lower in calories per ounce. In a three ounce serving, venison has 134 calories, while pork has 214 calories and beef has 259 calories. Because of this, you can consume more venison without consuming more calories. These numbers mean that making wild game meat a part of your regular diet can help you lose weight, even though you may still include the same amount of meat in your diet.

Extra Nutrients

Wild game meats are loaded with many other beneficial nutrients. These meats are higher in protein, iron, zinc and B vitamins than commercial meats. With so many people in the United States living on mostly processed foods, many folks are experiencing vitamin deficiencies. By including wild game meat as a part of your diet, you can help eliminate vitamin deficiencies and enjoy better health.

What Wild Game Meats Do Not Have

While wild game meats are loaded with many good things, by adding wild game to your diet you will not be consuming some potentially harmful things that are found in commercially raised meats. Although the United States Food and Drug Administration says that the growth hormones used in commercial cattle and pigs are safe for human consumption, many people are beginning to think twice about this. Some are wondering whether hormone residues in meats are causing certain types of cancer and leading to environmental pollution. While there is little hard data on this, many people prefer to eat food that is created in the most natural ways possible. What could be more natural than an animal spending its entire life in the wild before it is harvested for food?

Wild game meats do not have the antibiotic residues in them that commercial meats may have. The over use of antibiotics can lead to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. If meat is contaminated with these bacteria and you fail to kill it in cooking, you could become gravely ill and the antibiotics that your doctor prescribes may be ineffective.

By consuming wild game meats you will be eating neither growth hormones nor antibiotics. Your food will be as close to natural as possible. People pay a premium for grass-fed meat at organic stores. By eating wild game you will be consuming the same quality of meat without the high price tag. If you consider that organic, grass-fed beef can cost up to $26.00 a pound, you can see that getting natural meat through hunting makes good economic sense.

Over a century later, scientists are learning that the wild game-based diets of the Great Plains Indians were more healthful than those of modern Americans. Although society seems to have come a long way in technology, it appears that, for the human body, looking back to the ways of life of past civilizations may provide the keys to good health. Wild game was an essential part of past civilizations’ vitality. Perhaps modern Americans should learn from the past and make wild game meat a more prevalent part of their diets.

In the rush to get out of the house and into the deer stand, sometimes hunters can forget that there might be some little people in the house who are growing up into the next generation of hunters. Of course, it is easy to understand why you might overlook that your little guy might be interested in going hunting with you. After all, he was a baby and toddler for so long, that you may not have realized that he’s grown up enough to really enjoy a trip to the woods.

To the hunter who is serious about taking a deer or turkey out of the woods, dragging a loud and wiggly little boy along might not sound like too much fun. But even if your child has the attention span of a flea and can’t sit still for five minutes, hunting with him is still a good idea.

Why You Should Take Your Son Hunting

1. To protect the sport for future generations

Think back to the first few times you hunted. Most likely your current passion for the sport is because someone cared enough to get you started. Of course there are hunters who simply read books and magazines and got started on their own, but by and large, most hunters had a father, uncle, friend or brother mentor them into the world of hunting.

Studies have shown that for every 100 adults hunting in the United States, only 69 youth hunters are growing up in the sport, ready to hunt in their places as the previous generation ages or passes away. This means that to protect the sport of hunting, adults who hunt must mentor at least one young person over the course of their hunting career.

Imagine a world where hunting wild animals is not permitted. If the numbers of hunters continue to decline, eventually the anti-hunters will get the upper hand in crafting legislation that prohibits hunting. Hunters and conservationists understand that hunting is essential for keeping wildlife in check. Many non-hunters do not realize that the ticks that infest their yards, the raccoons that carry rabies to pets and the deer that regularly collide with vehicles would not be as pervasive if more hunters actively pursued the sport.

2. To Demonstrate a Love for the Outdoors and Respect for Nature

Let’s face it, most people don’t live in areas where they are regularly exposed to nature. For many different reasons, boys just aren’t permitted to roam the outdoors like they did in past generations. Most of them spend a good portion of their lives in the house staring at some sort of screen.

By taking your son hunting, you will broaden his exposure to the natural world. He will learn that the real world is trees, grass, dirt and rivers, rather than sidewalks, streetlights and manicured lawns. Most boys love the wide-open spaces that they seldom get to see and enjoy.

When you take your son hunting, he will learn about the intricate cycle of life and understand the interdependence of each component of the natural world. Hunters are nature lovers, despite what some people believe, and by simply observing the circle of nature, they have a greater appreciation of the importance of protecting the environment.

3. To Teach Him Responsible and Safe Hunting Practices

Nobody cares as much for a child’s welfare as his parents do. Therefore, no one is going to teach him how to safely handle a firearm as well as his mom and dad. By teaching your son the basics of firearm safety, you don’t have to worry that at some point he will run across a gun and hurt himself or someone else. He can satisfy his curiosity about weapons along with you in a safe manner. Instead of childproofing your guns, you can gun-proof your child.

You can also teach your son about responsible hunting practices. He will learn from you the importance of following the hunting laws that are in place and caring for the land where you hunt.

4. To Build His Character

Taking your son hunting will do more than just give you a fun activity to enjoy together. You will also teach him many things that will become a part of his character. You will be teaching him patience, endurance and toughness. He will learn about being a good sport when you spend hours hunting and come home empty handed. He will learn how to play by the rules when you abide by the hunting regulations in your area. While you think you are doing nothing more than sitting in a duck blind with your son, you will unintentionally be adding to the character that he is developing.

5. To Make Memories

By the time most boys are 15 or 16 years old, they have pretty much pulled away from their parents and are more focused on friends and their own budding independence. By the time a child is ten or eleven, the years in which a parent can make the greatest impact on his life are almost over. Kids crave the attention of their parents and they measure that focus in time. You cannot simply tell your child that he is important; you have to demonstrate his importance to you with your time.

Even if you and your son never take a deer out of the woods, just the fact that you cared enough to seek out his company will mean something to your boy. When you take the time to take your son hunting, you and he will make memories that will last a lifetime. The two of you will never forget the first time he shoots a duck or finally takes down a deer. The buck that the two of you tracked for hours will go down in family history as the “one that got away.”

Even though at the end of a long, hard week you may just want to just head out to the woods alone, next time, ask your boy if he is interested in coming along. Those hours may turn out to be the most important few hours of your entire week.

Some years ago, I watched from across a picked bean field, as dominant, big, eight-point, successfully defended a doe he was tending from four different bucks over a 90 minute period. Only one of the intruders got so far as to actually engage the dominant buck. And he got his butt royally kicked in less than 30 seconds.

These fights are serious and they may last from scant seconds to as long as an hour. I have seen and heard both. So how do you rattle?

To begin, in my opinion, once again you must have cold weather for your area. During this time period, I love the edge of fields. Bucks often chase or herd does into open fields during this period. That doe attracts more bucks and fights break out. It is not yet the peak of the rut. During the peak of the rut, rattling has seldom worked for me. This is the period when the does are just about to come into estrus. They are close enough for the bucks to follow and chase but not quite ready to breed. I like a cold, still morning or a cold, windy, nasty afternoon.

Now, I might use an estrus scent because it is almost a certainty that a doe will be in the area. I will mix plaintive doe bleats in during periods of lull in my rattling. I will rub trees, crunch leaves, snort and bang the ground in simulation of a foot stomp. I will get loud and rowdy and I’ll normally do three sequences, 5-10 minutes apart and lasting about two minutes. Between sequences, I’ll call, softly and my bow or gun will be in my hands at all times.

Calling can be the convincer or ruination of your rattling. You have to know what sound to make, how to make it, when to make it and as with all animal calling, when to shut up.

Know how to make a plaintive doe bleat. If you do not know how, don’t do it until you learn how. If you cannot make a plausible sniff-snort-wheeze, don’t even try it. Learn to master an aggressive buck grunt and learn at what pitch it needs to be. If there are no 400-pound bucks in your area, don’t sound like one. And of utmost importance…if the/buck-doe ratio in your area is bad, understand that once you get past the sparring and light rattling stage, aggressive antler engagement is not going to be very effective. You may well be better off just sitting quietly.

Some years ago, in Illinois, I sat in a thick creek bottom covered up with rubs. A high-racked, big bodied, eight-point, came down the creek from my right. I had not used any antler engagement. He just came along. At 75 yards, he stopped and started working a tree. I began a little light clicking and clacking with my antlers. He looked and went back to rubbing. From my left, came a dandy, wide eight-point. He and the first buck met and acted friendly. Forget the antlers. I hit a soft, plaintive, doe bleat. The first buck left the area and the wide- racked buck headed my way. He was the predetermined, dominant buck-no fight. After 30 minutes, I sent an arrow just over his back at 28 yards. This is a perfect example of when to call and when to rattle and how you know which one to use.

Late season rattling can be good if you are in an area of good buck/doe ratios. Competition is the key. With little or no competition, there is no reason to fight.

Now think about this. Match your antlers to the area you are hunting. I would not use the same antlers in TN that I use in Canada or even the Midwest. I want antlers that are not the biggest for the area. If the biggest buck around is likely to be 140-class buck, I want 120-class antlers. In Canada, I’ll use a heavier antler. In TN I use a lighter set.

My favorite antlers are hanging in a tree somewhere in Illinois. My bad. I like antlers with some length to the tines and not too thick. I prefer eight-point racks and I always saw off the brow tine. Currently I have three sets of rattling antlers and none are quite as good as the set I left in the tree. One set came from a buck I shot just because I wanted his antlers for rattling. I have never used synthetic antlers but I see no reason they wouldn’t work.

I store my antlers indoors during the off-season but other than that take no special care of them. They are connected by lengths of cord and carried to the woods wrapped tightly together. Never climb a tree with the antlers on your body. Tie them to a haul line and lay them where you could not fall on them.

Once in the tree, I want my antlers close at hand. I carry a small, screw hook just for that purpose. I try to hang them so I can tickle them with one hand and little movement.

I usually rattle while standing and constantly watching 360 degrees. My bow or gun is always at hand or in my hand. Deer come to rattling in a variety of ways. I have had them rush in, sneak in, suddenly appear from nowhere and completely circle me. I have rattled them back in and spooked them with too much action. You must have some sort of plan as to what you are going to do when you see a buck. If you are bowhunting, you are going to have a plan as to where and when to draw. You have just enticed an animal in range that is looking for something. He is alert and watching for everything. Keep that in mind.

Decoys? I personally have never used them. I am too lazy to pack them around. I am sure they could be a valuable asset in calling and rattling. I just think I have enough stuff to carry as it is.

Antler engagement is not magic. I am certain you will scare as many deer as you bring in. I am certain you will only bring deer in less than 30 percent of the time. I am certain you will only see a small portion of the deer that actually come to check you out. As far as I know, I have never rattled in a truly mature, big, dominant buck. But there are days like the one in Alabama when I sparred in and shot a 140 class eight-point. And days like the one in Iowa when I rattled in 14 bucks to one tree in one morning. I shot the last one.

I am also certain there are few days that I go deer hunting without a bag or my antlers. It is a great cure for boredom. Not magic, but fun when it works.

It was a frosty -17 the morning this Canadian buck fell for the antlers. Every time I banged them together, I thought my hands would drop off. It was thick, the shot was at 22-yards.

On the edge of a huge, overgrown clearcut is a prime place to rattle. Unfortunately, only this doe and three wolves came to investigate. I did not have a wolf tag.

Over the years, this setup in IL was one of my favorites. A steep draw to my left was the path the bucks took and once they stepped out, they were only 21-yards away. I left these antlers hanging in that tree. I guess they flew away.

He came to the edge but was still 60-yards. Too far for a 65-pound bow. I brought him back twice and got several pictures but no shot.

Therefore, we pick up our intensity and aggression. Although I may occasionally, still use the rattler bag for this stage, more often I use real antlers. During this stage, an occasional hard, loud smack is delivered and I can’t get the sound I want with a bag. Also during this period, this early pre-rut, the bucks are beginning to travel and I may not know where they are coming from. So, I want my sounds to reach out more than with a rattler bag.

The antler engagement now is not usually too long or drawn out. It is seldom concerning a doe. It is just a meeting of two bucks of near equal age or size and a brief engagement to prove a point. These encounters quite frequently take place in open hardwoods or open fields.

Many of my setups this time of year are on the edge of travel areas and quite often on the edge of thickets or grown weed fields. I love to rattle around waist high weed fields. I want the setup to have me concealed and make the buck(s) move into the open field to look for me.

In 2004 during the first segment of our muzzleloader season-Nov 6-12-I hunted three times and did some moderate rattling all three times. The first time was a morning, still, sunny and 35 degrees. The second sequence of rattling brought in a small, six-point. A few minutes later, a spike came in. On the next sequence at 7:45, a fat doe came to investigate. I took her home with me. The next morning, secluded in a ladder stand, on the edge of a hayfield and the corner of a small weed field, my first sequence, just after daylight with 33-degree temps and clear skies, brought a medium, eight-point into the hayfield at 400 yards. I was able to coax him to 226 yards, according to my range finder

There he hung up. This is a frequent problem with rattling. Bucks often hang up because they can see where the sound is coming from and cannot see or smell another deer. They also may consider the sound of the fight and decide they do not want to be involved. Whatever the reason, once a buck hangs up seldom will he come closer. Fortunately, with a rest and a super accurate muzzleloader, I was able to drop this buck.

Two afternoons later, following two days of rain and warm weather, the temperature started dropping and the skies began to clear. Perfect for rattling and I was again in my ladder stand. My first sequence at 3:15, a mild, more-friendly sequence, brought a fat, mature doe across the weed field to within 50 yards. I took her home, too.

Let us talk about weather. Once I am through the sparring stage, in my opinion, weather is as important as any other factor when rattling. I want it cold. Cold is relative. In Tennessee, where I live, cold is 30-40 degrees. In Alberta cold is…well cold. I rattled one morning in Alberta, it was –17, and I dang near froze. But the bucks came. For bucks to travel, now that they have most of their winter coat, it has to be comfortable for them. They don’t move any more than they have to in warm weather.

I like it clear and still. Or, I like it nasty and windy. Of the two, I prefer still but rattling can be gangbusters on a cold, drizzly, foggy day. As for time of day, that varies with the biological changes in the deer. Once the bucks really start moving, I may rattle off and on all day but usually from different locations. As the pre-rut heats up and some chasing begins, I may rattle from as many as five or six different stands, spending no more than 45 minutes or an hour in each locations. I also hunt quite a bit from my boat when it is warm. I love to cruise a lakeshore and stop and rattle every 500 yards or so. I have even rattled from the boat with it just drifting on small, moving streams. Usually this is done with two people, one shooter and one rattler and most of the time, in a likely looking spot we both get out of the boat and set up. Boats are superb for getting to secluded places.

Again, my sounds during this period are not violent. I still do some gentle tine tickling. I just mix it with some louder, more aggressive sounds and the sequence doesn’t last as long. Every sequence always begins with soft, tine tickling because I have no way of knowing how close a buck may be. Seldom in this period do I mix in foot sounds or snorts and wheezes or even tree rubbing. It is just antler sounds with an infrequent grunt or two.

A word here about frequency. I try not to do much antler engagement of any kind from any one location, too often. There are exceptions and how I determine that is too complicated for me to explain. It is more of a gut feeling. But under normal circumstances, I would probably not rattle from the same stand, two days in a row and probably no more frequently than once every three or four days. And I have no logical explanation of how I came with that. It just seems to work for me.

It was cold the morning this spike came to investigate the rattling. He kept coming back until I stood and waved at him to scare him off.

In this stage of rattling you can use either bag or real antlers or synthetic antlers if you want to. The rifle can reach out so I often rattle on the edge of open areas. Notice I have different size antlers.

I rattled this one within muzzle loader range for this friend from New Yawk City. It was his biggest buck to date.

This buck was fun. I enticed him out of a Nebraska cornfield three times before he finally got in bow range. The rut was just starting to heat up.