Rattling Coues....Pros and Cons

[AZ~Rich]

Hi all, Well just finished a another Jan of bowhunting and it came up in discussion with my buddies during our hunts that maybe we were missing out by not actively rattling those bucks we see bed or "cant" see after they bed. I know the technique is very effective at specific times and regions, but was not as confident that working the horns for Coues was as smart. I have tried them several years back but now think I was not doing it right. In theory, it should be a slam dunk if the buck is heavy into the rut, but with so little competition, are our Coues just not used to so much actual fighting? Just thought I would get some other's opinions or experiences. Thanks..

[TAM]

I tried it on several occasions during the December hunt while sitting in my tree stand. It didn't work or at least from what I could see it didn't work. However the rut was weird this year and I still believe it will and does work when the conditions are right. I think it's like predator calling for bears sometimes they come running in full blast and sometimes they can be in plain sight when you start calling and they just ignor you or even move away. There's a lot of variables.

[TREESTANDMAN]

Great response TAM.

 

I also think that like people, bucks do have different personality's. You rattle within range of a curious natured or dominant aggressive buck he'll probably be coming in. I also tried rattling from a treestand several times this january w/ no "immediate" success. On 2 occasions I did have bucks come in within 10 minutes of me doing a grunt sequence. Not sure if it was just luck or if my grunting had anything to do w/ it?

[Rembrant]

Two weeks goes by and this thread gets two responses.

We Arizona boys just plain don't know about this do we?

I have also rattled frequently from tree stands and have not ever had any apparent response.

However, I was stomping around this past Jan. and made several 'stands' to stop, listen and rattle. At one stop, after rattling off and on for about 20 minutes, I heard what I thought was a buck scraping the forest floor. So, I rattled some more and listened. After a while I heard the same thing and then what sounded like the burrs on the antler bases rubbing a tree. This repeated again and then after a while it all stopped. After a while I got up to check it out. Walked back into where the noise was coming from and didn't find a scrape. Got impatient and left. The more I think about it the more upset I am with myself that I didn't look harder to verify what I thought had happened!

There exists TONS of literature on this subject written by hunters East and North of Arizona. There are lots of variables like pre-rut, rut, and post-rut behavior, as well as population dynamics like buck to doe ratios. We could get educated if we half tried and then try to apply the knowledge to hunting our whitetails. I have a gut feeling that good things would happen if some of us dwelled into this a little deeper.

Mike

[Avion]

Her's my experince. Two years ago while pig hunting, my buddy and I were sitting on a ridge glassing for pigs and deer. We had spotted three bucks. They were thousands of yards apart, but one, a forky was 150 yards away. We decided to grunt a little and rattle a little. When we would grunt he would in our direction and move closer. When we rattled he would put his head down and run the other way. I think, I think he probably thought this was 2 big bucks and didn't want anything to do with them. So I believe in this case size matters. Rattle hard and the little bucks run away. Start out soft and see what reacts before you go all out. Just my 2 cents.

[coues addict]

AZ~Rich

 

In 2003 me and my brother in law were hunting in Dec. I spotted a nice 2x3 and we decided to try and and close the distance on him to about 200 yards. We both wanted to try rattling so we set up with the rattler(Me) about 75 yards behind the hunter. I started rattling very soft and gradually increased the intensity. The buck acted like he could care less. we stuck with it for about 45 muinutes and decided it just wasn`t working. The wind was right , but He really seemed to have no real interest. He was with 3 other does and maybe he just did not want to leave them. We really weren`t sure. We did have a doe that we had not seen come over the hill we were on and check me out. Probably about 40 yards or so. I thought that was kinda cool , but oh well. I do quite a bit of predator calling and I really think rattlig is a lot like predator calling. Sometimes it works great and sometimes it doesn`t work at all. The main thing is to stick with it and find out for yourself! It sure beats stayin home.

 

Rich T.

[CouesWhitetail]

On my hunt in Mexico I got to experience calling in two decent-sized bucks. One was so close I almost could have touched it. And one was more like 10-15 yards away. The buck that came in real close came from the direction of very loud fight that we heard. It sounded like two very large bucks battling it out. Because of the slope of the hill and the thick vegetation we couldn't see anything, but the antler crashing was loud. After awhile it stopped and we tried buck grunts and doe bleats and a buck came practically running over to us. He was exhausted and wild-eyed so I am guess he was in the fight, or had gotten excited by watching it. We never rattled, just used the calls to get him in. It was peak of the rut and near an active battleground. And I know several does were down there.

 

The other buck we called in with grunts and bleats also. No rattling. He was alone and moving away from us. We called him right back in. He wasn't all exhausted and wild-eyed, just curious and eager to see what was going on.

 

In AZ my friend and I tried to call an enormous buck to us for an archery shot. He was bedded with some does and another buck. The smaller buck was bothering the does, the big buck was calm and laid back. The grunting we did was probably within 75 yards or less of them and neither buck seemed to care. It was peak of the rut. I don't really understand why we didn't get any reaction out of those bucks.

 

I definitely think calling Coues deer is under utilized and not well understood. Seems like a technique that will catch on though. A friend of mine told me recently he thinks that calling Coues deer is going to become as common as using optics to hunt them.

 

Amanda

[bobbyo]

I really think that calling deer works best on solitary bucks. I usually only try rattling or calling bucks that I can visually see. I have never been sucessful at getting a buck to leave does. They usually just ignore the commotion or run in the opposite direction. Needless to say I don't even try anymore. I have called in single bucks usually dinks that looked like they were smelling for hot does. They are usally walking erratically with their nose to the ground much like a hound dog. These deer will usually come running when you call them. I have had pretty much the same experience with Carp also. This being said I have never been able to arrow any of these deer. They were either too small for January or so nervous and jumpy (probably worried about Mr. big coming out and kicking their butt) that I couldn't get a clean shot off. I think the best set up would be to have a partner, one calling and one shooter. They are good at picking up the exact location of the calling.

 

I was wondering if anyone has had any luck blind calling for Coues in a ground blind.

[TREESTANDMAN]

I think Josh Epperson has rattled bucks in from cold calling. He posted something on this last year from his January archery hunt.