RATTLE THE BONES
To have one or more bucks explode from out of nowhere in response to your rattling is heart-racing stuff. In most states, prior to the rut, bucks are primed and ready to spar with one another to determine pecking order. This alone makes the early season an excellent time to rattle up a buck.

My son Scott's experience two seasons back proved that rattling works.

Scott was set up on a point that extended into a CRP field that bordered a cornfield. For the first two hours after sunup, he rattled several times and had three different bucks respond by racing in to look for the intruder. In every instance the biggest buck, an 11-point, was either moving too fast or too far away. About 9 a.m. he decided to rattle one last time. Nothing happened right away, so he climbed down.

Having reached the base of the tree, he spotted the 11-point, but again too far away. Scott hunkered down and made a stalk. He crept within 22 yards of the buck and took a quartering away shot. The arrow struck the buck perfectly behind the last rib, sending him on a short scramble before going down.

Rattling isn't a sure thing; success is highly dependent on the time of year and the ratio of bucks to does in the area. For example, rattling where the buck to doe ratio is 1:2 is more productive than an area where the ratio is 1:8. Regardless, give rattling a try; you never know when it might work!

HANG IT AND HUNT
The element of surprise is truly one of our best defenses against the whitetail's keen senses. Sure, hanging a stand months before the season is a sound strategy, but it's not always that simple. Take for example the times when you've stumbled across a fresh rub line and want to make a move right away. You move a stand and start trimming shooting lanes. Before you know it the area is totally polluted. A few young bucks might hang around, but an old boy that's seen a few seasons won't tolerate human intrusion before he vacates the area or heads underground.

I've come to understand that the less scent I leave around for a buck to analyze the better. To avoid this, I like hanging a stand and hunting it right away! Better than half the big deer I've taken over the years were killed within 24 hours after the stand was hung.

If you've patterned a buck and found that perfect stand site, keep a low profile and wait for the right conditions, then slip in with a stand, hang it and hunt. Chances are when that buck comes waltzing down the primrose path, he won't have a clue you're there!