Hey,

Looking to try a compact rattle call this year when I get a little bored with still hunting. I know it's likely to be a compromise, but I don't feel like carrying around bulky antlers - real or fake. Any suggestions on who you think makes the best compact rattle calls?

I just use hardwood cut-offs out of my shop 5-6 inches long mixed round., square 1/2, 3/4. 1" mixed in a cloth bag rolled between your hands.

Have you had any luck with those? I have tried rattle bags and plastic horns and have never brought a deer in with them. I have had them look in my direction.

Micky, I have good luck w/the rattle box. I can't remember who makes it but it's a half hollow box w/floating disks inside. powdr

I have rattled bucks in with a bunch of different calls, it aint rocket science you just got to know when to do it...If your looking for a compact call I have rattled in several bucks with a Knight and Hale "Pack Rack", I keep one in a pocket on my pack, its very compact.....Good hunting....Hb

Knight & Hale Pack Rack.
I doubt I'm telling you something you don't already know but be sure you do so where you can watch a good distance to your downwind side.

I can’t quite get my pack rack to sound right. Always sorta has a plastic sound to it, but I couldn’t say whether or not the deer notice.

JJ,

I prefer the mag (larger) size Pack Rack and you get beyond the plastic sound if you hold them tightly in the palms of your hand.
When I rattle, I do not tickle or half-arse "click" them, I stage an all-out war. Brush piles get "fallen into", small trees get snapped, leaves get kicked etc.


Here are several that met their fate via the Pack Rack (and a bullet) using the above method.

Dang, SKane, with him in that kayak it ought to be riding a little low in the water on the trip back!

Skane please start a thread somewhere on this forum that tells the story of the deer and the kayak. I am mostly interested in the extraction of that toad in that kayak.

I thought those things were a joke but I better reconsider that now. Like the traditional antlers but I am always poking myself or they knock together when I am trying to be stealthy. I wish we had more public land around here so I could hunt by Kayak but almost all is private along the rivers and lakes.

micky,
There's a Kansas thread somewhere (from 2015?) that talks about that one a bit. The ground across the river is spectacular bedding area. Sometimes one can get a crack at them across the river but the setup is more about catching them crossing the river.
Retrieval would be a lot easier to come in from the other side but it'd also blow all the deer out the heavy cover, buggering things for a long time - hence the kayak for retrieval.

Whelen Nut watched the buck jump a fence on the other side of the river some 600 yards away and the deer headed for the heavy cover. He contacted me and said he might have a candidate for rattling across the river.
I showed up and positioned myself where I could see Whelen Nut in his treestand and commenced to making war. From the time I hit the Pack Rack and breaking brush, it took less than a minute and I saw Whelen Nut raise his rifle and I knew game-on......Pow!

The buck dropped on the bank on the other side. The photo was taken on the treestand-side of the river when we got the kayak up on the bank.

A memorable hunt indeed. BobinNH was there for retrieval too, and, his booming voice pretty well blew the deer out of the heavy cover across the river anyway.

I've rattled in a pile of bucks with the Pack Rack and I'd never go back to the authentic stuff. The PR is far more portable (even the mag size) and my thumbs thank me too.
Seriously though, it takes awhile to get the hang of them. I think too many people start just rolling them together and expect results. Deer don't stand with their antlers together and bob their head's to-and-fro in unison.

If I'm rattling, I want a mature deer thinking there's someone on his turf that needs its arse kicked - not two toy bucks playing around where the mature deer isn't going to even bother to take a look.

A lot of folks think because they didn't see a deer that nothing responded. I shot the buck in the bottom pict above at about 1/4 mile in a broken clearcut. He hung-up, mostly hidden at that distance. Were it not for the rock cropping height I had for a vantage point, I would have never seen him when he turned to walk away.
That's why I'm adamant about good visibility downwind - if they're going to show in heavier cover, that's where the shot is going to eventually happen if you don't catch them beforehand.

Dragging bottom:

Scott's buck 2015 with Bob in NH after retrieving from across the river.


was draggin on bottom on the way across, too. The buck was dry but Scott wasn't

Micky here's the thread: https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/10796783/1

Those pics are way too cool........you couldn't scrub that grin off of Kane's face with a Milwaukee grinder.

Bob was the wise one - he shot his deer on the same side of the river. Buggy extraction.

Reminds me of the time my buddy and I took my 10' jon boat down the Wolf River bow hunting and Tom got a nice about 160 dressed 8 point. We were pretty close to BIA max rated with just the two of us and our gear and then another 160# in there left about two inches of free board. I had the thing over motored with a 9.8 Merc which in retrospect was probably a good thing because we could get the boat out of the water a little better at higher speed. River systems are a great way to access excellent flood plane hunting areas. Nice bucks and pics!

Ive used several but the N&H Pack Rack is my favorite and likely my last rattle I will ever buy.

Has anyone ever tried hauling a whitetail out on a paddleboard? I'm wondering if something like this would work, as opposed to a kayak: https://www.inflatableboarder.com/blackfin-model-xl-review/

Seems to be big enough, and it would probably be easier to load/unload than a kayak.

Thoughts?