Author’s note: I have been experimenting with calling techniques this bowhunting season as usual. In this blog I’ll describe an experience I had on Saturday, October 25, 2008 while using a device called the “Treestand Rattl’r” made by Brushwolf Gear in St. Cloud Minnesota.

YOU CAN RATTLE BUCKS!
By: Ray Hansen

The big eight-point buck slipped around the edges of the small clearing, trying to catch some scent. Hunting partner Duane Deno and I had this deer convinced that two other bucks had entered his territory. We figured he would show himself in order to drive these intruders away. Weather and atmospheric conditions however, were making it tough. Wind had gone as flat as yesterday’s soufflé and without anything to blow it away, fog built up and around our stands making it tough to see very far. Well… this was the day we had chosen to work this spot so we just had to make the best of it.

So how did we set up this strategy and the buck encounter? Actually, it was a combination of strategies – especially the careful use of sound – that culminated in the buck’s arrival.

Part of the equation was the lay of the land. We set up on a “hogback” ridge of higher ground that bisected a tag alder jungle. The ridge had maple, oak, ash, spruce, and a scattering of old apple trees that still produced fruit. Bucks generally stayed back in the alders, but would sometimes come out during the day if they thought some does were on the ridge. No trees large enough to hold treestands could be found in the jungle, so we had to set up on the ridge. Besides, that was the only place you could see far enough to tell when a deer was approaching.

We set out rut scent as part of the plan. When a light, steady breeze is present, the enticing smell swirls and streams downwind like the waters of a small brook. Under optimum conditions, deer many hundreds of yards away can detect it. We wanted them to think a “ready doe” was up on the ridge.

To make the bucks focus on a specific target in a specific spot – one that would provide a good shooting opportunity for us – we set up decoys twenty yards from our stands. The easiest I have found to use and transport are Renzo’s folding style decoys. These are photo-realistic units that fold flat about the size of a newspaper and set up in seconds. I have had bucks walk in circles around them, so I know they work. We used the “Feeder Doe” models.

The final factor was sound. To simulate two bucks sparring, I used a rattling bag called the “Treestand Rattl’r” made by Brushwolf Gear in St. Cloud, Minnesota. This is a tough, weatherproof bag that can be rolled between your hands or pounded with one hand to simulate the sounds made by bucks clashing their antlers together. The idea is to sound like two younger bucks fighting over a doe so that a larger, dominant buck might barge in to chase them away from the prize he wants to claim. The Treestand Rattl’r takes this strategy one step farther however. It is sold with a long, strong cord so that the hunter can lower it beneath his treestand and make the sound come from ground level. In that way, the arriving buck should be focusing on the lower source of the sound, not the treestand the hunter is in. This is a solid advantage the hunter needs when trying to fool an animal who spends his life out there, outwitting hunters.

So how did this hunt turn out? Well, the eight pointer I mentioned showed himself but the calm, foggy conditions made it hard to gauge his reactions since Duane could not see him too well. At the time the buck was approaching Duane’s stand, I had a doe slip out of the tag alders on my side. She cautiously circled my set-up, and when a shot became available, I took it.

The 2 ½ year-old deer was in prime condition, and I processed the venison myself. When she made a death run back into the jungle, the buck slipped away. Nevertheless, I considered the hunt a success. The buck definitely responded to our tactics and I took a very good antlerless deer. The season runs until the end of December here in Michigan and I’ll be out lots more.

Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008