When will rattling work on the Texas/Oklahoma border?

[DroptineDreamer]

For the border counties along the Texas/Oklahoma border...when would rattling be most effective? According to the TPWD, looks like the PEAK of the rut is about November 19-20.

So does rattling work best in the peak of the rut or before then. If before, how soon? Now?

Seems like I've heard that it works better before the peak because the bucks will be competing since not every doe in the woods is in heat.

What are your thoughts and what dates (approx) do you think rattling would work best? Thanks!

[bigmactog]

I started this past weekend, with success. Several bucks already following doe's around

[baldybarton]

I tried on Friday afternoon to no avail, but I am in East Texas not North Texas

[DroptineDreamer]

Thanks guys

[Muddy Bud]

My experience with rattling has always had better results during the pre rut, when the sparring sessions become a little more aggressive and bucks are chasing does but they are not receptive yet. I am not saying it does not work any other time of the rut or year because we have rattled up deer at night during a coyote hunt is South Texas once, I guess it was just curiosity but the guy I was hunting with said it was very common.

[Ryanw94]

I saw a spike following 2 does yesterday morning.

[cosmiccowboy]

I rarely pull my horns out till post-rut. In my experience you can rattle up small bucks as early as a month before the rut but if you are trying to rattle in a mature/dominant buck the best of all times is post rut before the does that got missed the first time start to hit the second estrous. your dominant bucks will be the most aggressive during this period.

The more you rattle pre-rut the more you will condition your mature deer not to respond post rut. The average hunter only sees the bucks that respond aggressively. A lot of your older bucks will come in cautiously and might take as long as 45 minutes. During pre-rut and rut they might stand motionless out where they are hidden and look at the source of the noise, sometimes for 20 minutes at a time. If they bust you then you can forget about fooling them later.

[qzilla]

That can definitely be the case in high density areas but, right now up to the first of Nov is absolutely the best time to rattle up here in North TX.

I cannot tell you how many panhandle bucks (big deer) I have killed opening weekend of rifle season because they came to horns.

I had a buck dogging a doe on Saturday here at the house. He was not a monster but, a great deer and it tells me they are looking!

[rjet]

I rattled up my first deer ever Friday evening close to tishomingo, OK.
Pretty good buck came straight in between 5 and 10 minutes after light rattling. came in downwind and got to about 40 yards from me. Was pretty cool. Tried a couple more times over the weekend with no success.
One of my partners rattled up a younger deer the next morning.