My brother & I have been rattling with real horns since the mid 70s. We have used artificial horns & rattle bag. Can't say they are any better/worse but we like our real ones best. We've rattled in more than we can remember..

 

I've used the pack rack magnum for a while and really like it. Rattled in several bucks, it's easy to carry, quiet when you have the pieces attached, i dont hit my fingers with the tips of tines with the opposite hand when its cold ; and I think it sounds really good.

as far as average deer per year that's tough. I've lived in CO for going on 3 years now so i have not used it in a while. In one trip to NE I think i rattled in 3 or 4 in a few days. In a trip to IL in '13 I rattled in 2 shooters (140"+) and several smaller bucks in a week. Where I grew up hunting in TN, we were lucky to rattle in one buck a year, no matter what we were using. They just didnt' respond to calls like they do in the midwest.

 

with the real horns do you use fresh ones every season or do the same old ones work for you?

 

My real horns are like 40 years old.. Get a few chips flying on occasion. My brother & I blind rattle (no deer in sight) to try & get things going. This guy popped up over the hill over 200 yds away. He was minimum (guess) 150 gross & I "missed" him due to a very stupid mistake on my part. Oh, we rattle visible too if they are not coming our way.

 

No experience with the Pack Rack...but I’ve been using the Black Rack the last two seasons in Illinois and I’ve has good success in October and early November.
I prefer the Black Rack over natural antlers just because they’re easier on the hands.
The sounds produced are identical to my ears.

 

yea i also blind rattle with my real horns. i think I'm gonna be sticking with the real horns then. Is it weird i rattled in a doe last season, about 20 yards from my tree. :set1_thinking:

 

Real sheds here. I rattle with something as big as I want to kill. it's makes a difference. You want to kill a big deer, you crack something w beef.

 

use real sheds both left side work well cut brow tines off.

 

I've always used real antlers. As others said, the bigger the better.

 

Rattle bags and similar products are convenient, but you can't beat the feel of real antler. I've never successfully rattled in a buck, but I love strapping those things to my pack. It's a cool bit of hunting tradition that I'm happy to participate in.

 

I stopped carrying real antlers because they took up a lot of space in my pack and went with the K&H Pack Rack. I can say that I have had good results with it, both blind calling and with bucks in sight. Last year during a 5 day hunt in the second week of November, I called in a buck every day except the last day when the wind was howling and calling was useless.

I'm not saying the Pack Rack sounds better than the real thing but I'm of the opinion there is more to making rattling sound good then just slamming antlers together. I've seen enough instances of bucks sparring to know that most of the time, they are doing little more than just tickling antlers and making enough sound to be heard. Only once have I seen two bucks in a full out shoving, back-pedaling, leaves flying, ass kicking fight. I know full out brawls do happen but my experience tells me the light sparring matches are more the norm.

Here is my rattling sequence:

- haul some stiff sticks up to your stand and snap one or two before doing any calling
- wait about 1 minute and make 1-2 buck grunts
- wait about 1 minute and snap another stick
- at this point, start rattling whenever you want but start out slow (the bucks I have seen sparring take a little time sizing each other up ... their first contact is typically light tickling of their tines before engaging in any more audible antler banging)

I never do a real slamming of the pack rack. And my rattling lasts maybe 15-20 seconds interspersed with a grunt here and there to mimic the sound of two bucks in a shoving match. If you are hunting from the ground, kick leaves, step on branches, and crash into bushes and branches. Bucks that are fighting aren't worried about how much noise they make so it only makes sense to sound as much as possible like two bucks fighting aren't worried about how much noise they make.

It's very infrequent that I can say I got some useful hunting advice from a hunting show but I got the idea for much of this from Mark Drury and also the late Jeff Murray from Bowhunting World magazine. Drury talked about "creating an audio picture" with calling to sound as realistic as possible. And I read a Jeff Murray article where he talked about hauling sticks up to the stand to snap during a calling sequence. Deer make noise as they move through the woods so trying to mimic all the sounds deer might make prior to locking antlers will only add more realism to any calling sequence.

With all this in mind, I think the Pack Rack can be every bit as effective as real antlers. It's just a matter of making the entire package of your calling sequence sound as realistic as possible.

 

thanks for the info

 

Rattling on high pressure public land does more harm than good IMO. Deer aren't stupid and when multiple ppl are rattling the same morning, they catch on!

Therefore, I only rattle in the rare instance late October on Private Land. I use an old Hunters specialties Rattle bag I got at a garage sale for $2.

 

I use pretty large real antlers and my buddy uses the pack rack. When we hunt within a couple hundred yards it’s easy to tell they aren’t real. I do have the black rack too just for he longer hikes. It really does sound fairly good and easy to pack in. I’d try that it you want something a bit easier to pack in.

 

^^^ I’ll 2nd that...I’ve heard buddies rattle with the pack rack and although they sound decent up close, u can definitely tell they ain’t real from a 100 yds away, or they suck at rattlin one. I stick to the real deal, although they are very cumbersome. I’ve rattled in a few bucks over the years I should have shot in IL but I didn’t shoot bc I’m a DA. It mostly works on younger bucks tho.

 

Pack rack fan here. I have called up a pile of deer with the regular pack rack. Real antlers are just more than I want to carry and store up the tree with me. I’m confident in the pack rack.

 

I use the Pack Rack (not the Magnum) I put black electrical tape on the back to Tone it down a little, sounds great and works great.

 

Real horns just have different sound. Good sound