Some say rattling antlers is a dependable way to attract wary whitetails, but others are skeptical.

After rattling up a buck for the first time Monday, I’m an enthusiastic convert.

Is my enthusiasm warranted, or am I biased by a random stroke of luck?

Mickey W. Hellickson, Ph.D., published an article titled “Deer Rattling 101” in the December 2009 issue of Deer Associates News, a newsletter for the deer research program at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Hellickson was one of the first to conduct scientific research on deer rattling. He knows that rattling shed antlers attracts bucks. He wanted to know what rattling sequence works best, and when.

He conducted his research at the Welder Wildlife Foundation Refuge near Sinton, Texas. He tested four rattling sequences over a three-year period at 17 different stands during the pre-rut, rut peak and post-rut. Each sequence began with a 10-minute segment that included one or three minutes of actual rattling followed by nine or seven minutes of silence. He repeated the pattern two or more times over the next 20 minutes.

His four sequences were“short and quiet,” (SQ), “short and loud” (SL), “long and quiet” (LQ), and “long and loud” (LL). Both of the short sequences included three, 10-minute segments containing one minute of rattling and nine minutes of silence. Both of the long segments included three-minute segments and seven minutes of silence.

During the loud sequences, Hellickson and his assistants clashed the antlers violently, but they also broke branches, rubbed bark and scraped the ground. One assistant observed reactions to rattling and videotaped deer. The second person rattled upwind of the stand.

By the end of the study, Hellickson and his assistants rattled 171 times and performed 60 sequences each during the pre-rut and rut peak, and 51 times during the post rut. A total of 111 bucks responded to the rattling. They determined rut periods by examining necropsy records on more than 900 does killed in the refuge.

They performed the two loud sequences 85 times and attracted 81 bucks. They performed the quiet sequences 86 times, but attracted only 30 bucks. The response rates were 95 percent for the long sequences and 35 percent for the quiet sequences.

However, Hellickson wrote that there was no difference in response rates among the response rates of the four sequences when they were combined according to the length of the rattling. The short sequences attracted as many bucks as the long sequences.

During the pre-rut, according to Hellickson, the LL sequence attracted the highest ratio of bucks. During the rut peak, the SL sequence attracted the highest ratio of bucks. During the post-rut, the LQ sequence attracted the highest ratio of bucks.

During the rut peak, 65 bucks responded to 60 different sequences for a response rate of 108 percent. During the post-rut, 28 bucks responded to 51 sequences for a response rate of 55 percent. Pre-rut was least productive for rattling. Only 18 bucks responded to 60 sequences.

Hellickson noted that the highest response from mature bucks occurred during the post-rut. The highest number of bucks responded during morning sessions. Sixty of 111 bucks responded during 64 sequences performed between 7:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Only 33 bucks responded to 62 sequences performed in the afternoon, and only 18 bucks responded to 45 sequences held at midday.

How about this? Of the 111 bucks that responded to Hellickson’s rattling, 67 were first spotted downwind of the stand.

The buck that came to my rattling Monday also appeared downwind.

Right now is a prime time to rattle. For best results, Hellickson recommended that hunters operate in pairs. Like adult gobblers, whitetail bucks respond differently to calling. Some come directly to calls and rattles, but wily, mature bucks often circle with the wind to try to catch a caller’s scent.

While one hunter rattles, a shooter should set up to intercept a buck working the wind.

Sports, Pages 27 on 11/24/2013