Deer Calls

[NFA-ADK]

Who uses them.

How do you use it.  Low pitch, high pitch anyone try using the can with your mouth?  Works good for an extra long call.

When do you use it.  Early late day?  Early season late season. 

What type of luck have you had.  

Favorite call. 

 

I love using doe in heat can's the big can and medium are my favorite.  I never really used buck grunt calls until a few years ago and love the buck roar but use it sparingly.  My main call is a basic grunt tube set with a high pitch to indicate a young buck that others would like to push around.

 

I have called in 3 bucks with the can and took two, second one was coaxed in the final 50 yards with the grunt tube at a high pitch indicated before.  I tend to use the calls less if I can not find deer and more when located or believed to be in the area.  Early season I almost never use calls but as the rut progresses into late October and early November I tent to "play" with calls more often. 

 

I did the Ma MAA call by mouth and WOW 2 doe charged me but I know that they had a fawn, SHOCKED at the reaction but loved the effectiveness, just wish the buck in the valley reacted the same!  Bad use of a call at the time but man it was fun!

 

I do not use the calls that often, maximum of 5 times a day and more than 20 minutes apart minimum.  I always wanted to talk to deer and find Peter Feduccia,s videos to be extremely helpful. 

 

One think I notice is deer from over 100 yards away and closer have a uncanny ability to pin point your location and keeping motionless is key especially when calling.  Now if I can just get my scent under control I might actually see more deer!

 

In the off season I love to play with calling Long Island deer.  Helps me see how they react and what calls seem more effective.  Nice to test calls in a non hunting situation to get a  handle of the effectiveness of the ones you are using.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14NucAEvZBc

One of his videos, highly recommend his DVD's.

[NYbuck50]

I've used them sporadically over the last few years. never had much like with the can or the grunt tube, but i did rattle in a small 6 2 years ago.  

 

Kinda cool when a call works. I also put away all calls at the end of bow, they seem to spook deer during gun season around me

[JALA RUT]

I've used an HS True Talker for quite a few years now with some scattered calling success as well as rattling.  Like you I don't use the calls until well into the pre-rut and during the rut.  I got an Illusion Extinguisher deer call after this season ended and will try that out this year along with using the True Talker.

[First-light]

Last year I called in two big bucks with a doe estrous call. Early season bow then opening day of gun.

[Woodjr55]

I called two deer last season two good size bucks. The first surprised me when he showed up. That was during mid bow season the other was the buck in my profile that was before thanksgiving

[nyantler]

I never go in the woods without mine... I have killed many a buck with my True Talker... The only call I use... I have one of the originals before Hunters Specialties bought the right from my friend... he made it special for me.

[Terry]

Calling deer is just like every other tactic, it can work but it's not even close to 100%. It helps if you have confidence in it and if you know the right time to use each vocalization.

I actually have had my best luck with the plain snort.

[Hardcore]

I use grunting rattling, and bleats and have had very good success over the past 25 yrs. I could really get long winded on this subject and will try to keep it short.

 

My favorite call is by a mile a grunt. First deer I killed @ 12 yrs old grunted before it came in. So here I am sitting in a Baker tree stand (wonder how many remember those) when a hear this deep guttural noise three times in a row. Scared the daylights out of me to be totally honest, had no clue what it was. So as I am sitting there scared out of my mind when I see a deer walking up within two minutes from the exact direction of the noise, spike buck and the rest is history, I had my first deer. So we are back at the skinning shed that night and my father is telling a friend and very good hunter about the noise I heard, all this is happening under whispers like some sort of clandestine operation since we hunt heavily hunted public land and @ the main skinning shack . I explain the sound to him and he says after thinking for a minute " you heard that buck grunt, not many people have ever heard that".  A light bulb went off....ding ding ding.

 

Deer calling was in its infancy at the time. There were not many options as far as deer calls out there in the mid 80's but I was determined. I had seen one or two hunting videos that we rented on VHS talked about vocalizations and grunting, I was determined like Ralphie from A Christmas Story, my Red Rider was going to be a grunt call. By the next season I had saved up the money and bought a grunt call, Woods n Wise if I remember correctly. So the following season believe it or not I grunt up a 3 ptr, by imitating the sound I heard by the trophy spike make the yr before. The following yr I grunt up a 4ptr....I am on to something.

 

I can remember my father looking at me with almost shame in his eyes saying what the hell kind of nonsense you have there, you wasted your money, your going to sit in the middle of the quiet woods blowing on that damn thing like a trumpet. I learned all the hunting basics from my father but newer techniques came from me. He blasted me for the first two yrs about my waste of money grunt call and wrote of my two kills by coincidence. Then he snuck my grunt call with him one afternoon during the week and called in and killed a buck. He looked like a kid @ Christmas relaying the story that night. IN the many years since we have had more than one argument about have you seen my grunt call only to see the end or string hanging out of his pocket. And then he going borderline bonkers cause he doesn't have his and needs mine.....lol

 

Grunting, my favorite grunt call for the past 15+ yrs is a Knight & Hale EZ grunter. I have tried quite a few different brands and models over the yrs but I always go back to this one. It seems to not be as loud as most of the grunters out there but I control the sound and volume by blowing harder, softer, longer. A lot of the grunt tubes are trying to sound like older and more mature bucks, this in my mind is only calling in mature deer and haven't had as much success with these. If I sound like a younger buck then I should be able to attract younger and older bucks alike is my strategy. A young buck is not coming in to challenge the big boy but the big boy will definitely come into to a younger buck that he thinks may have a doe with him. The tending grunt (3 shot burst) has been the most successful for me, this works best pre rut, during the rut and shortly after. maybe I am extremely lucky but I have had heard numerous deer grunting over the past 25+ yrs with a lot of this occurring on public land. I copy the sounds I have heard over the yrs and give the the calls personality. We all have different voices and don't know that I have heard two deer sound exactly the same. I have called in numerous 1-1/2 yr olds, better than a dozen 2-1/2 yrs olds and several 3 & 4-1/2 yr olds with most of these deer going to the house with me. A grunt call during pre rut, the rut and early post rut is almost as important as my bullets or release to me.

 

I call approx every 30 mins if I don't see deer in the immediate area, 95% of the time it is a tending grunt and the call goes away for until 30 mins later. I will call to bucks that I see in the distance if they are moving away from me. Be warned and READY when you call a buck in they can either sneak in as cagey as can be or come charging in like your pulling them on a rope, either way they have an uncanny way of knowing almost exactly where the noise came from. By no means by you using a grunt tube or any call technique does it equate to seeing a deer, there are a number of variables, wind, deer close enough to hear, type of call method, volume.

 

 

I know I have never killed a big boy via a doe bleat, the can call is the best in my mind. I have brought in deer with the can.

 

I have rattled in a few bucks as well and very exciting but also very rare in bringing them in. I do rattle pre rut and rut but usually I want the perfect situation to occur and bring a rattling bag with me isn't the the top of my list. I used shed antlers back in the day but now use a rattling bag. I f I really want to bang bang bang I slam the rattling bag into the tree to give it a realistic crack.

 

I have grunted, rattled and bleated while watching deer on countless occasions to see the reaction and most times it has no effect on them, they are not bothered by it as long as you are closely imitating real deer sounds.

 

I have never tried the snort wheeze or buck roar.

 

As with any and all deer hunting the WIND is as important a tool as you are going to have. Calling to deer when the wind is wrong or not knowing where the deer should be coming from = no bueno. Deer can easily become educated to hunters calling too much or making odd unnatural sounds. Calling and getting a curious deer to come in to only spook when you clank your stand will educate that deer. Calling is no magic secret but another tool in a bag of tricks...I could go for days with different situations and experiences I have had but all ready to long winded.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 28, 2014 by Hardcore

[A Sportsman]

I too have called in many bucks with the grunt. Mostly while bow hunting. The biggest of them (read: all the ones I've actually wanted to shoot) have found a way to evade me. So often They come in to a point and then hang up when they don't see another buck. Eventually they lose interest and walk off.

Incidentally the buck I got with the rifle last year gave me a shot after using the grunt call on him. He was with a doe on the level below me and strayed from her a little to see who was grunting at him.

[dbHunterNY]

don't over call.  if a deer is coming toward you don't call to it.  if it's walking away, sure try it out.  I grunt and bleat mostly.  I use contact grunts probably 75% of the time.  20% of the time probably use a tending grunt and/or bleat(s).  then on rare occasion I use a roar or snort wheeze.  basically tell a story and what they want to hear.  if a buck comes through with it's nose to the ground and a couple doe came through then grunt like you're two doe.  that sort of thing.  you can change the sound with your hands.

[Hardcore]

I too have called in many bucks with the grunt. Mostly while bow hunting. The biggest of them (read: all the ones I've actually wanted to shoot) have found a way to evade me. So often They come in to a point and then hang up when they don't see another buck. Eventually they lose interest and walk off.

Incidentally the buck I got with the rifle last year gave me a shot after using the grunt call on him. He was with a doe on the level below me and strayed from her a little to see who was grunting at him.

I too have this happen, the bigger boys will not come flying in to 20 ft from the stand, younger bucks will. The big boys hang up 20-40 yds from the stand and when they do not see the deer that made the call they leave quickly. Thankfully I usually have a firearm in hand but have had a few occasions with bow where you are excited about the encounter but frustrated about the deer being either just out of range or doesn't offer a shot.

[NFA-ADK]

I love those stories Hardcore!  More More!

 

I did not use calls well until about 7 years ago, I just had no luck and was probably using too low and noisy of a grunt trying to imitate a brute and never had any luck.  I used a fawn wheeze called kmerdeer I think, just because I heard a fawn and mother both use it and I could imitate it but again no luck. 

 

One thing is for sure the right situation dictates the call and effect.  Some of the shows my buddy gave me makes me laugh how bad some can use the call yet still have a deer come in.  Not so true in the real world of ground hunting.  Between scent and them pegging your position it is a cat and mouse game.  Another reason I use them sparingly and usually when in cover. 

 

Anyone ever hear a Buck in heat, grunting every few seconds while trailing.  I never have but this video is well I guess it exemplifies how I see a buck on a doe track with only one thing on his mind.  One of my favorites.  Nice little 4 point but WOW is he intent on that trail with nothing else except finding that doe on his mind.  I think he gets in 5 grunts in 20 seconds lol.  Crazy! 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzMljN6Ut7s

 

 

[philoshop]

I had a forkhorn come past me a few years ago grunting with every stiff-legged step. I heard him coming way before I saw him and he walked by at about 30 feet. Every ten steps or so he'd sort of slow down, almost stop, and let out a pathetic sort of groan. It was like watching a frustrated teenager at the school dance. I ended up laughing so hard I fell off my stool. He looked backed at me, gave another groan and kept walking.

[Hardcore]

I was hunting in Georgia in 04 and had 2 does run high speed right past my stand early in the AM. A minute or two later I hear unmistakable rapid grunting for very far off. This has to be the furthest I have heard a deer grunting from. Anyway I heard this guy almost non stop grunting in a steady slow trot, heading my way. I know I heard this buck coming in hot and heavy for almost 2 minutes, zig zagging down the ridge into a river bottom. I had laid out scent bombs and when he caught wind of it he slammed on the brakes , did what appeared to be a lip curl and took one fatal step, respectable 6 ptr made a death run of about 50 yds and met his demise.

The whole time he was coming in until right before he stopped he was grunting like a grunt between each breath. Changing tones and volumes throughout.