I've rattled in two bucks out of hundreds of tries here in Alabama. It was on the same piece of public land and a few years apart. Both times, the rut was one week away. The first was a small 6 point that came running in hard. He stopped and was looking around for the fight. The second deer was a nice 8 point. I had gotten to the stand at daybreak (later than I wanted). I had to get in the stand quick and chose a pine tree that was too big for my climber. I had to attach the cable to the last hole. I was making bark fall like crazy; it was so loud. Luckily, the fog was so thick, I could not see past 40 yards...so I knew the deer couldn't see me either. I was on the edge of a cutover. I thought maybe if I rattled and simulated a horned fight...a buck nearby would think the bark scraping was a buck rubbing a tree. I hit the horns for a few seconds and paused to listen. I immediately heard crashing out in the fog. Crashing and thrashing and could make out a small tree shaking. I strained hard to see through the fog and made out a buck thrashing that tree. He stopped and walked straight to me. 20 yard shot and stuck him!...It was like a scripted TV hunting show. But other than that...It hasn't been worth the trouble of carrying horns around.
FYI, an old buddy of mine used to hunt Dale County on 60 acres of thick pines. He told me he used to rattle in big bucks there quite often when the date and wind was right. He had a handful of nice bucks mounted, so I believed him.
