Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Texas rattlers aren’t always snakes
Mention something that rattles in the state of Texas and the first thing that most folks envision is a pit viper, or, more specifically, the western diamondback rattlesnake. This critter can grow up to seven feet long and its warning rattle can move back and forth as fast as 60 times per second. But snakes aren’t the only creatures that rattle here in the Lone Star State. Some savvy hunters also rattle. Allow us to explain.
With few exceptions, basic deer hunting in the state of Texas consists simply of taking a stand within range of a mechanical feeder. The hunter hangs out in a camouflaged shooting shack with openings on all four sides or in an elevated tripod stand and waits for a hungry whitetail to show up to eat the feed that’s dispersed just after dawn or just before dusk. To many, this method of bagging a deer is more a case of just shoot-
ing rather than actually hunting. But to be fair, this is the same approach taken by many hunters who bag and tag their deer both in Texas, Pennsylvania and most places in between.
Here in our Special Regulations Areas (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties and also Allegheny County out west) the Pennsylvania Game Commission allows baiting for deer under the regulations set down in the Deer Attractant Permit which essentially mirrors those Texas “waiting in ambush” strategies. Elsewhere in the state, hunters staking out stands overlooking legal food plots are essentially doing the same thing.
In Texas, a much more exciting way to hunt whitetails is by something called rattling, not like a diamondback, but by imitating the sounds made by the repeated clash of antlers of bucks battling for supremacy during the breeding season, also known as the rut. While this technique generally only works during that rutting window, it can be extremely effective. When a rutting buck hears the sounds of what he supposes to be two other battling bucks, he’ll often race to the scene in hopes of shepherding away the doe they are presumably fighting over.
Broomall’s Harry Kidd, who arranged our trip to the Lone Star State, learned this first hand during our recent foray to Texas. Hunting with Steve Ford’s Big Game Management guide service, Kidd downed a hefty nine-pointer that fell to the rattling skills of guide Larry Braddy. After an unproductive morning on stand, Kidd accompanied Braddy to one of Braddy’s “hot spots.” It didn’t take long for a nice mature buck to respond to Braddy’s rattling magic. Moments later Kidd filled his tag with a quick, clean shot.
The following afternoon, Braddy, rattling antlers in tow, led me to another prime location. Well camouflaged, we took cover as he began his rattling routine, clicking the antlers together, scuffing the ground, and scraping and shaking tree branches, all in an attempt to attract an opportunistic rutting buck. Braddy, 48, was born and raised in Albany, Texas, our hunting headquarters, and has successfully rattled in countless deer over the years. His 23-year-old son Keylan (who helped with some of the guiding chores) also has expertise in rattling in deer.
After a few concentrated minutes of clicking and clashing his set of rattling antlers together, Braddy whispered, “Here comes a buck.” It took a few moments of squinting through a brightly sunlit tangle of mesquite and hackberry tree branches, but I finally spotted the buck moving downwind as he closed the distance between us. The buck was a young six-pointer and certainly not a “shooter” by any Texas standard.
We watched as the little buck circled cautiously, irresistibly drawn by sounds of the mock scuffle Braddy had staged. Braddy paused his rattling routine as we watched the buck approach to within ten yards of our position, curious, cautious and confused, before drifting away into a Texas tableau of broomweed, mesquite, hackberry, and prickly pear. “That was fun,” I said.
“He came right in,” Braddy nodded. “Now let’s go find his grandpop.” We hiked to another potential hotspot and took cover where Braddy again performed another expert rattling rendition. Unfortunately, this time, his efforts apparently fell on deaf ears. Like the use of grunt calls to lure in rutting deer here in Chester County, Texas rattling doesn’t always yield results.
And the reason that rattling can be deadly effective in states like Texas but a non starter here in Pennsylvania may have something to do with the buck to doe ratio. When the ratio is fairly equal at one to one, so the theory goes, rattling and other calling techniques work well since there is so much competition among bucks for available estrus does. But when the buck to doe ratio is out of whack with as many as five does for each buck prior to the hunting season, and potentially growing to 50 to 1 (or even more skewed) as the hunting season progresses in poorly managed areas that target bucks only, rattling loses its luster.
On my five day whitetail hunt in Texas, I saw plenty of deer every day and hundreds of turkeys. Although I observed more does than bucks, the ratio probably wasn’t more than two to one. And although I had chances at some nice trophy bucks (at least by Pennsylvania standards) I never fired a shot. On the other hand, all but two of the eight hunters in our group filled their deer tags with beefy bucks. The two that didn’t (West Chester’s Ron Dill and yours truly) both had a few close encounters but never pulled the trigger. Collectively, our six other stalwarts downed eight bucks, two or three feral hogs, a coyote, and a bobcat.
In the end, although Dill and I both came away empty-handed, we nonetheless enjoyed an extremely successful hunt and plan to return to the Lone Star State next year in our mutual quest to collect that elusive whitetail trophy of a lifetime.
*** For more info on hunting in North Central Texas with Steve Ford’s Big game Management guide service, check out their website at http://www. biggamemgmt.com/ or give him a call at (325)762-4441.
For some deer hunters in southeastern Pennsylvania, the generous seasons that began way back on Sept. 17 will continue through Jan. 28 here in WMUs 5C and 5D for hunters carrying flintlocks or archery gear and for antlerless deer hunters wielding shotguns here in Chester County and also in Allegheny, Bucks, Delaware, Montgomery ,and Philadelphia counties. The statewide deer seasons ended on Saturday, Jan. 14.
*** The West Chester Fish, Game ,and Wildlife Association will hold their membership meeting this Friday evening, January 20, at 7:00 PM at the East Bradford Township Building at 666 Copeland School Road in West Chester. Admission to this meeting is free and open to the public. Featured is a presentation by past president M. John Johnson focusing on memorable fishing adventures to the Smith River in Helena, Montana, the Trout Wilderness Area of Yellowstone National Park and several others. This meeting will also include a 50/50 raffle, door prize, and bucket prizes. Election of officers and board members will also be held. For more information and directions visit www.wcfgwa.org online.