Good question so we dug into our archieves of articles and found this.......
EARLY PRE-RUT:
This time period would be from the time bow season begins here in Iowa on October 1st until approximately the end of the third week in October. A buck’s attitude in this time frame ranges from being sociable towards other bucks, with some still in small bachelor groups during the first and second weeks, to increasing aggressiveness during the third week as testosterone levels rise.
Rattling efforts should be limited to lightly tickling antler tips together in the first week to very light sparring in the second week to heavier sparring in the third week. Light sparring is simply locking your rattling antlers together lightly, pausing for one to two seconds, and then slowly, but softly, twisting them back and forth, this time pausing every three to four seconds. Heavier sparring is the same, but with more force. Grip the antlers more tightly and add some grinding motions after locking up before sparring. This simulates two bucks in a pushing match....
The rest of the article can be found on our Homepage under the Roger Hill photo call "Timing is Everything" by Tracy Templeton.