Rattling In The Rut

We still have a couple months to go, but it's happening all over. Outdoorsmen are getting the itch, the itch to wake up 2 hours before daylight, hike to half way up a mountain in 2 ft. of snow in search of the great illusive whitetail buck. Kirk Kiefer shares a few tips on rattling and what he does to be successful when calling whitetail.

"The times that I've had success has been depending a little bit on the moon phases, but when they're heavy in the rut. I like to use scents, try to get a scent pattern down so they can smell something and the rattling definitely gets their attention. What success I've had, you rattle for periods of time, maybe 10 or 15 minutes and just be quiet and sure enough you'll hear something walking in and they're coming in on the wind side. I don't know if it's because they just happen to cross that scent trail, and come in knowing that there's other deer around or if they actually hear something and circle around. Most whitetail I've gotten, they actually circle around and come in with the wind, with their noses up smelling whatever I've laid out for them."

Kirk, I think you hit the nail on the head. I never used to believe in rattling, when I was growing up, we were never patient enough stay in one spot that long. As time went on and I started doing a little more research, like you I found out it can be a very useful tool if done right. A few years ago I had a nice mature 5 pt come running in on me, right in the middle of a clear cut. He ran all the way to within about 30 feet of where I was set up, and never even knew I was there, but like anything it can be just as much luck as skill.