“If I were to rattle on the edge of an open field, bucks could easily come by and see there wasn’t a fight going on,” Sommers said. “By being in thick cover, they have to get up close and personal to see the fight.”

He only rattles for a minute or so before he stops and looks around.

“Often when I am rattling, I will only do it for less than a minute and then stop. If a big buck is within hearing distance, it doesn’t take much before he will come in.”

It must work. Many of the bucks he has killed with a bow were standing broadside at less than 10 yards when he took the shot. Being in thick cover and close to a buck’s bedroom is obviously one way to succeed on a regular basis.

Grunting and bleating are other tricks he uses.

“I always have a variety of calls with me,” Sommers said. “If I see a buck way off, I will grunt at him and try to get his attention. By hunting close to a bedding area, if I see a buck and grunt at him, often he will turn on a dime, looking for a fight. I have used a lot of doe urine in and around my tree, and I have bleated bucks into range. Between rattling, grunting and bleating, I am always trying one call or another. I never just sit around and wait for bucks to pass within range.”

HAVE PATIENCE
Another key to Sommers’ overall success is he only hunts stands at certain times of the year.

“As a rule of thumb, I don’t bother hunting most of my good stand sites early on in the season,” said the veteran. “I may hunt and kill a doe for meat, but I save my prime locations for November when the rut gets going. Too many times I have seen guys go into prime hunting locations early on in the season and get winded or jump a buck from his bedding area and ruin that site for the rest of the season. When I find a good setup and I think a buck is bedding and working in the area, I patiently wait for November to come before I start hunting hard. That is when the bucks can be called in using grunt tubes. That is when rattling works best.”

Six of Sommers’ last nine bucks were arrowed in November, proving that being patient and waiting for the right time to hunt paid off.

KEEPING RECORDS
Keeping records of his hunting success helps Sommers keep scoring. He writes down the date of each kill, the weather conditions, how he called in the buck and whether it was rattled in or if it came to a bleat or a grunt call. All of these things are tracked so he knows what to do more of and what not to do. By keeping records, patterns start to evolve, like the fact that most of his bucks have been killed during the rut. Most of his bucks have been killed at close range, proving that setting up on the edges of thick cover provides him with enough concealment to rattle without being seen.