Rattling is a hunting technique based on imitating the sound of the clash of the antlers, that is a common accompaniment to the fights for dominance that the males of some antlered animals have during the rut. Those are mostly different species of the deer family, including white-tailed, black-tailed and mule deer, fallow deer, red stag, elk, and moose. Although such species as ibex, Caucasian tur, and Marco Polo rams also clash their horns during sparring, and the resulting sound carries far over the mountains, imitating this sound to attract other animals is unknown. Bucks, stags, and bulls of the deer family are attracted by rattling as they believe that a fight between two males is going on, and they may be able to take their turn and fight the winner, and, by defeating him, claim his does or cows. The most common rattling tool is pieces of antlers, obtained from sheds or lesser valuable trophies of the previous hunts. Rattling may be seen as a variety of calling, and in fact is often practiced together with or in addition to imitating the vocalizations of elk and moose, and to make the sound picture more convincing. In the latter case, hunters often thrash the surrounding trees and bushes, as the rut-crazy bull is liable to do. Here rattling should be practiced with care, as the rival bull that dares to approach the sound will definitely be looking for a fight. Bull moose in such a state will charge anything that even remotely resembles the rival, and they are both aggressive and well-equipped to incur physical damage. However, “practiced with care” applies to rattling for smaller species as well - rattle at the wrong moment, or overdo it, and it will have the opposite effect on deer. It’s always best to learn from professionals, and if you are curious about how rattling works, you may want to book one of the rattling trips from experienced and trusted guides and outfitters available on BookYourHunt.com.