sparring already?

I was scouting from the road tonight and saw three bucks sparring with eachother.
it was getting pretty dark, and my binoc's were to their max range, but i could see that they were sparring with eachother.
is this normal for this time of year?
would rattling in the next week or so be a good idea?

the bucks were about 500 yards from my property, but im hoping they will venture down to my property. will rattling help bring them a long distance?

 

Picking the pecking order is very normal this time of year right after the gloves come off. I wouldn't rattle but some light "tickling" could bring them in :D

 

these two are still in velvet and seem to be doing a lil nudging yesterday morning.

 

Yes...sparring is normal at this time of year...these contests are generally not as aggessive as what you might see closer to the rut

 

I've never had good luck rattling early season, even light tickling of the horns. A social doe bleat has always worked well though..

 

:D Got quite a few pics of bucks not getting along this week

 

I got some video 2 weeks ago of a couple 1.5 years olds sparing in velvet. Think it might just be a playful thing or a pecking order thing. Click on my link if you want to watch it.

 

I haven't had much luck calling in bucks early, but a fawn bleet usually gets the does coming.

 

I wouldn't rattle this early....but it sure gets me excited. DANG!

 

i've heard that some periodic light rattling works well for some people never gave it a try myself though