With most mature bucks tied to does and in “lock down” mode, has anyone had success rattling, calling, etc. on opening morning? If so, do you call often, limit the calling or stay silent?
A whitetails nose will save their lives more than anything but will their ears let them down right before the shots ring out? 
Due to the pressure in our area from neighbors, we sit in excape routes-can sit all day as you never know when a big one is going to come sneaking thru. In our neck of the woods, bowhunting tactics rarely work during gun season. I
i’ve never tried to rattle or grunt opening morning but i think i am gonna try it this year…the bucks in my area seem to be in the final stages of the rut and think i may have success spraying a little buck bomb and rattling away. 
The times calling has worked for me has been later in the season (Thanksgiving thru Sunday)
This, I assume, is after a few breadable does are thinned out and the bucks start looking again?
A continuous doe bleat at first light has brought in two shooters, both on Thanksgiving morning……
This has been kind of a weird year for me so far. I sat from daylight to dark from Oct 30th to Nov 7th. I either rattled, grunted, or used my can (or a serenade of a couple calls) every hour or two. I never once had a buck come in to investigate. But from this past Friday thru Sunday, I had 3 bucks run to the bottom of my tree and a few other lookers. I would say with lock down in full swing, a chance at catching a buck looking to find another doe would happily come to see what the racket is all about. What’s it going to hurt? Throw em’ in the backpack and post your pics when the big boy is laying in front of you.
THe success I had this year was the exact opposite. Around Haloween and the first weekend in November, I was calling in a great number of deer, with rattling being the best. Last weekend, with the bucks in lockdown mode, I didn’t see hardly any deer, and the ones that I did see were fawns without the does 
This year, I am going to give rattling and grunting a try on opener. At least for the first 20 minutes at my house, the deer will still be rutting. After the shots start flying, all bets are off calling wise. THen its time for drives 
I can’t wait!!!!!
We general do not do drives, so therefore we sit basically all day waiting for the deer to seek shelter on our property. We do make scheduled moves to different stands on occasion to have a change of scenery and possibly move some deer if it’s slow. 
Do some calling in the early morning hours but after sun up the deer are usually running for their lives around us.
Where I hunt, that is pretty much the only option after opening day. THe land we hunt is small little creed ditches, CRP fields, and small patches of woods. Only way to hunt it really. After about noon on opening day, deer do NOT like to move, so we simply do it for them 
Sit all day on Sat & Sun, a few can calls has never produced a deer but has stopped some that are passing through.
I get fired up even more when I hear the 4 wheelers start up on the farms around us. There movement is what kicks the deer up and gets them moving.
I see more deer between 10:00am and 2:00pm then any other time of the day. Plus I look forward to listening to the packer/badger game in my blind and through out the years I have shot a few deer during the games.
Thinking about putting some scent out this year though.
Opening morning strategies vary greatly depending on the area that you hunt in and to me it’s all about hunting pressure. I typically hunt pinch points, funnels or inside corners that enter or exit the thickest bedding areas. Two reasons – that’s where the bucks will head when they are pressured and that’s where the non-estrus does will go to get away from the bucks and hopefully the bucks will come to scent check those areas. I do not rattle or blind grunt either. I just think by this time most of the the pecking order has already been established by these bucks and that they’ve heard it all before which may cause a negative reaction. We always talk about the bucks that we rattle in but who knows how many we have scared away too. Not saying that rattling doesn’t work during this time, I would rather just sit tight and be quiet.
I get in early, sit tight,be quiet, and hope the neighbors are bad shots or bump deer my way on their way in 
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I get in early, sit tight,be quiet, TEXT OFTEN and hope the neighbors are bad shots or bump deer my way on their way in
So true Mike so true
i’ve tried it but havent had much success but i also havent been seeing a lot of deer the past couple years, um maybe like 4 the past 3 years 
and i usually just keep quiet most of the time unless i get bored and start messing around with some calls.
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