Loud rut rattling drew 1.7 Texas bucks a session, and the rattler saw 43%

STEP 1 · Rut Week

Loud sequences drew 52 bucks across 30 rut sessions

Hellickson and colleagues published in the 2009 proceedings of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. From 1992 to 1995 they ran 171 antler sessions on the Welder Wildlife Refuge in San Patricio County, Texas. Those 171 sessions drew 111 buck responses at 0.65 bucks for each session. About 7,800 acres (3,157 ha) made up the refuge. Estimated density was about 57 to 80 deer per square mile (22 to 31 per square kilometer). Seventeen towers stood about 33 feet tall.

Sessions ran 30 minutes. Short work was one minute of horns and nine quiet minutes, done three times. Long work was three minutes of horns and seven quiet minutes, also done three times. Quiet rattling copied sparring with the elbows tucked. Loud rattling was a hard clash after snapped limbs, rubbed bark and a ground scrape. A response meant the buck went alert and moved toward the tower once the sound started.

Before the rut the rate was 0.30 bucks per session on 60 sessions. The rut rate was 1.07 on 60 sessions and the postrut rate was 0.57 on 51 sessions. That 1.07 mixes quiet sequences with loud ones. Rut sessions sat within a week of 22 November. It is the average conception day for 943 females examined from 1961 to 1992. The prerut window and the postrut window were the 15 to 45 days on either side of that date.

In rut week short loud rattling was 1.94 bucks per session on 16 sessions and long loud rattling was 1.50 on 14 sessions. Those rows total 52 bucks in 30 sessions and our arithmetic makes that about 1.7 bucks per session.

Short loud work produced 45 bucks in 45 sessions and long loud work produced 36 bucks in 40 sessions. Short quiet work produced 12 bucks in 43 sessions and long quiet work produced 18 bucks in 43 sessions. Loud sequences drew 73 percent of responses and bout length failed to split the sequences. After the rut the loud gain faded. Rates were 0.43 for short quiet and 0.62 for short loud. Long quiet was 0.67 and long loud was 0.58.

The 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. morning window averaged 0.92 bucks across 65 sessions. Midday averaged 0.38 on 47 sessions and afternoon averaged 0.56 on 59 sessions. Response rose in light wind and fell as wind speed increased. This study found no tie between temperature and response. Logged segments put 43 of 98 responses in the opening 10 minutes and 13 responses had no segment. Short loud bout shares were 0.38 then 0.40 then 0.22 with counts of 17 then 18 then 10. The second of the 10-minute bouts drew 18 bucks and the first drew 17. Our rule runs that short loud pattern for all three passes on a light-wind morning in the local conception week.

STEP 2 · Age Mix

Same 0.20 rate for bucks 5.5 or older after the rut

Age calls at Welder were made by eye from the towers and from tape. The paper urges caution with these visual classes even after training on known-age bucks. Prerut calls on 18 bucks were 7 at 1.5 to 2.5 years, 5 at 3.5 to 4.5 and 6 at 5.5 or older. Rut calls on 64 bucks were 21 then 31 then 12. Postrut calls on 29 bucks were 9 then 10 then 10. The printed age rates are shares of the responders in each period. Bucks estimated at 5.5 or older were 0.33 of prerut responders, 0.19 of rut responders and 0.34 of postrut responders. Per session the 5.5 or older class is 0.10 before the rut and 0.20 in both the rut and the postrut. The 3.5 to 4.5 year class is 0.08 per session before the rut, 0.52 in the rut and 0.20 after it. The rut still supplied the head count. Twenty of the 29 postrut bucks were estimated at 3.5 or older. Fifty-two of the 64 rut bucks were estimated at 4.5 or younger. Mature males during the rut were likely occupied with chasing or tending females, the authors wrote. The study did not count those tending bucks on the rattling mornings. The postrut window is 15 to 45 days after the 22 November mean. Our second-rut guide explains how a doe may cycle back into estrus then. Our rule keeps rattling through that later month when an older buck is the aim and grades each sit by age class.

STEP 3 · Downwind

Sixty-seven of 111 first sightings were downwind

Sixty-seven of 111 bucks were first seen downwind of the observer, or 60 percent as the paper states. Bucks already visible before rattling started usually circled to the downwind side as they approached. On this refuge, response rates by tower site ranged from 25% to 92%. Our read is that stand choice can move the result as far as sequence choice. The rattler on the ground saw 48 of the 111 bucks, or 43 percent by the paper's rounding. Our rule is to sit with a clear view of the downwind approach before rattling begins. Light wind went with the higher rates and stronger wind with the lower rates. Stronger wind also lays scent on the approach most of these bucks used.

STEP 4 · Close Bucks

Answer rate hit 73 percent inside about 220 yards

The Faith Ranch trial in Dimmit and Webb counties used only the long loud sequence from 1994 to 1996. The ranch covers about 39,500 acres (16,000 ha). Mean conception was 24 December from 50 females checked in 1994. Callers started downwind and closed to about 220 yards (200 m) from 18 radio-collared bucks. They ran 33 sessions. A response meant the buck became active and the radio signal strengthened. Prerut on Faith was 0.40 on five sessions. The rut rate was 0.79 on 14 sessions and the postrut rate was 0.79 on 14 sessions. Overall the rate was 0.73. Mornings reached 0.89 on nine sessions while midday and afternoon each sat at 0.67. Eleven males were tried on at least two occasions and 13 of 14 later tries drew another response. One buck responded on all four sessions near him. The group averaged 6.2 years and only two males were 3.5 or younger. The paper found a lower chance of response among the oldest males in this group. Our read limits 0.73 to bucks already inside about 220 yards with the caller starting downwind. Ground watchers and tower watchers at Welder saw different slices of the approach.

STEP 5 · Grunt Calls

Pen work names calls and skips the approach rate

Neither trial tested a grunt or a bleat. Atkeson and colleagues wrote up captive white-tailed deer calls in the 1988 American Midland Naturalist. Those deer were held by the University of Georgia. They recorded 12 vocalizations and analyzed 10 by spectrograph. The low grunt was brief and low-pitched and both sexes used it through the year to move a subordinate. While courting an estrous doe a male used a longer grunt, moderate in pitch and low in tonality. They heard this courting grunt often and still could not record it cleanly. Disturbed or deprived fawns gave the bleat they described. A contact call came from females split off from other deer. No count in that paper shows a wild buck coming to a played grunt or bleat. We also checked for a session rate in field trials of calls and did not open one. Our hearing guide finds the deer in those lab tests heard high pitches more strongly than low pitches. Because that session rate is missing, our rule allows one short grunt series only after downwind ground is already in view.

STEP 6 · Field Card

Score sits against the Welder tower rates

Use local conception timing. Welder's mean was 22 November and Faith's mean was 24 December. On every sit note volume, downwind visibility, wind strength, whether a buck entered view, his side and your age-class call. Once several sits share one phase, divide seen bucks by sits. Compare with Welder tower rates of 0.30 before the peak, 1.07 during it and 0.57 after it. The ground caller saw 48 of 111 responders. A weaker ground rate can mean a blind downwind side or a much thinner herd. Both sets are South Texas sites from the early and middle 1990s and they count responses. One hunter's shot odds are a separate measure.