Calling deer

[billNpam]

On calling deer either by rattling, doe bleat or grunt tube. What is the time of year this is most effective and how often should it be accomplished? For example rattling 30 sec period over a 2 minute time then wait 30 minutes and move.... Grunt tube or doe bleat 1 time every 30 min. And when is each effective, Prerut, Rut, Post Rut.

[baitchunker]

ive been huntin' all of my life, and it will prolly be 2 more lifetimes b4 i actually call a deer in. i have managed to make them stop long enough to get a shot off, but other than that zilch with the callin'. i am really interested in learning what answers you get from this thread bp.

[Scott Daw]

the only time I called in a deer was a doe with "the can". I was running late to my spot which was a funnel of thick brush leading into security cover in a public park. I came around the corner and they were filing out of the funnel. they all ran back in. so I quick set up and set of the can twice and one doe came out looking thinking it was another doe trying to regroup. well, being so high strung, she ducked my arrow and that was the last I saw of her.

[billNpam]

ive been huntin' all of my life, and it will prolly be 2 more lifetimes b4 i actually call a deer in. i have managed to make them stop long enough to get a shot off, but other than that zilch with the callin'. i am really interested in learning what answers you get from this thread bp.


Don't feel like the long rancher I have tried and have not had any sucess either

[derbycitycatman]

Ive called them in and had them run away. I do most of my hunting in the rut and have had spikes run right to the tree I was in or right past it. Ive had does venture out of the woods to glance around a field then go right back in the woods. My calls are usually the grunts though the bleats have called in some small bucks. I havent had any luck rattling though. Usually I resort to calls when Im bored, to stop the deer or bring it in range. Ive got friends that swear by the can for bucks but I havent had any luck with it. I think Im better off not using a call most of the time.

[jtrew]

I've never actually called them in, but when hunting the edges of the pastures long about dark, and the deer moved back into the woods, I've called them out in the open with a dying rabbit predator call.

[postbeetle]

I get more deer come out of the woods calling the hogs or cows than I do with a set of antlers, cans or dog whistle.

[BLKCLOUD]

Ive called in a train load of deer and Have also ran off a train load..I never do much calling with out actually seeing them first, just to see the reaction, early in the season a fawn in distress works pretty good, deer do get educated, the first year I used them back in 1986 you could blow one and the deer would run at you full steam ahead.. later in the season it doesn't work very good at all, Ive called them in with the can you turn upside down and have rattled in a few bucks, Probably had the least luck with the grunt tube as anything..good luck!

[jeffw51]

i usually only call after ive seen the deer,and i use a grunt to change his direction,they dont always respond but sometimes they immediately head my direction.prerut is definetely the best time to call around here end of oct ,1st week nov.buck to doe ratios determines responses to calls,a buck in an area full of does doesnt have a big reason to respond he has what he needs all around him.a buck in an area with few does has to respond or he looses his chance, and may respond very agressively.alot of deer when called circle down wind,thats why i usually wait until ive seen them.

[Grimpuppy]

I call a deer every time I miss a shot. I really can't repeat what I call them!

[baitchunker]

i wonder how much the area you are in matters?

postbeelte: do you call your cows and hogs with a feed bucket? corn makes a very distinct sound to animals scol.

[Cathooker]

Pressured deer do not respond to calls very well. What you see on tv is to sell calls....calls will work and I have had success with them BUT it was on a large tract of private land with very little hunting pressure.

[tkyhnt]

I have used about any call on the market today and have had luck at times with all of them. My favorite routine would be during the pre rut and rut, break out a good grunt tube or a snort wheeze and hit it a couple times. give it a minute or two and hit the can (doe in estrous bleat) then in a minute hit the horns for a solid minute and then if nothing shows give it fifteen minutes or so and hit the can a few more times. I have had deer show up during all periods of the calling sequence. I have used the horns early in the season to call up small bucks. I have used a snort call to call in deer that I have spooked earlier in the day. The biggest deal with calling deer is having confidence in what your doing. Personally I do not go in the woods without a grunt tube and a set of horns. Just start calling softly at first then get more aggessive as the rut gets closer. Good luck.

[Big B]

I tried to rattle a nice buck in last year @ 200 yds. It was around the beginning of the rut. He heard the rattle bag and high tailed out of there. My neighbor grunted a buck in last year. He said that he worked that grunt hard and loud. He got a 7yd shot on a huge basket rack buck while standing on the ground. MADD calls has put out a new call called a buck growl. It's supposed to be the newest deer call technology in 20 years. Supposedly, if a buck blows at you you can use a snort wheeze call to challenge them. If you are in prerut and the yearlings haven't been kicked aside a fawn bleat will work. If you work it loud and hard like a predator call the deer will sometimes come running in, mostly doe but sometimes a buck, looking for a wounded or scared fawn. If you work it soft they will also come in looking for a stranded fawn.

[kkyyoottee]

I in my OWN MIND AND MY OWN MIND ONLY !!!!!! Believe calls are hokus-pokus!!! We just had a real debate on camo on another thread so now we are all camoed up and we are going to start beating antlers together to give every critter in the forest our exact location? And for every love sick basket rack that is thinking with wrong head there are 99 big bucks that come in looking long before you see them. What are they looking for? The combatants, and the love sick doe who is being mounted by his arch rival!! They dont see this they high tail it out and you never see them!! The reason the call companys, camo companys, scent company's and etc. make a killing off hunters is most enter the hunting store and their eyes glaze over and in their mind they see themselves on every front page of every hunting magazine in America.

[jeffw51]

i tried my grunt call in a bar one night,some dude ran up and punched me right in the nose,so i know they work!

[baitchunker]

jeff that is fun knee! its a good thing you didnt rattle some antlers he might have cut you. lol.

[777]

I’ve had some success rattling in bucks. One thing you have to get past is how stupid you feel out there making a bunch of noise when you’ve been taught all your life to be still and keep quiet. I’ve had the best results 3 weeks before the peak of the rut. This usually falls during our muzzle loader season for this area. I’ve had limited success during the peak rut and better success 3 weeks after the peak rut. I usually wait until after I have been on a stand 2 or 3 hours after day light before I try rattling. I still think being still, quiet and as scent free as possible while sitting on a good travel route between feeding and bedding areas will produce more kills than rattling. I like to start out rattling softly for 1 minute and no more than 2 minutes. Be prepared to shoot at anytime, I’ve seen them come in fast and slow and most times sneaking in from down wind. Wait 5 minutes and if nothing has shown start rattling again but louder wile making more noise like hitting the ground with the antlers and raking bushes. Continue for 2 to 3 minutes. If nothing has shown this is when that stupid feeling starts to creep in:smile2:. But don’t give up, move at least ½ mile and try it again. I usually use real deer horns, I have a rattle bag and have yet to call anything to it. My cousin has called in two bucks with his rattle bag so they work, just haven’t worked for me yet. Your buck to doe ratio and hunting pressure will also play a big roll on whether rattling will work in your area or not.


As far as callers, I don’t leave the house without my grunt call. That call has cost a lot of bucks their life. The most common mistake people make with a grunt call is to call to loud and to often. The sound of a grunt call will not travel very far so unless you can already see or here a deer you are probably wasting your time to even hit it. If I’m stand hunting I can usually get a buck to change direction and come in to check out where the source of the grunt came from. Once you have him coming your way do not call anymore or he will pinpoint you and be gone. Also if I’m still hunting and jump a deer about 50% of the time I can get that deer to stop or even come back by first exhaling air to imitate a deer snort :ooooh:then using the grunt call to get him coaxed into coming back. I’ve tried the can for the last couple of years and so far I have just called in one deer and two coyotes with it. The deer was to small but the coyotes paid the price:smile2:.

[massa_jorge]

i have called in more than a few mule deer while coyote hunting with a screaming jackrabbit call, but i would never try it during deer season. the deer where i hunt are pretty high strung.

[bootshowl]

I have one of those puddy in the can things. I use it to find out how close the other "sorry pilgrims, molesting my hunt" are. If ya get snorted, rattled, bleated, and poor baby'd ....ya can just get the thermos out an have a cup.

[jeffw51]

i tried my grunt call in a bar one night,some dude ran up and punched me right in the nose,so i know they work!
i forgot to mention there was a doe involved,and i know she was in heat, because of the way she was moving her tail!!

[fishnfool68]

I was told by a "expert" caller at a hunting show that calling is a performance.You are painting a picture with sounds.He said that bucks don't just smash antlers,they kick leaves,grunt snort and all kinds of noise.He also recomended making mateing noises moments after a long fight.He said more than likely that if you let other bucks know they are fighting over a doe they will come and try to take her.He also said that by imitating sexual noises you will make other bucks jealous.He said to be most effective you need two people calling at once to really make it sound real.A buddy and I called in two monster bucks this way,they came out of the woods and trotted up to about 50yrds in front of the trees we were behind.I couldn't beleive it .My buddie got off a shot and missed.They took off and didn't look back.We had a friend with video there.It was hard to see how many points they had in the early light at the time,we just figured they looked big to us.When we looked back at the video,the one he missed was a NICE 8 pionter,the other had 13 points including a drop tine.:ooooh:I was waiting till we had a little better light,I think he was just reacting to buck fever.Like others had said this was on private land which had no pressure on it.Unfortunatly we can't hunt there anymore:sad2:. I'll perform the "fight and mate" again if it'll get me a second chance at bucks like those!

[jeffw51]

all joking aside ,i have seen days when bucks were so agressive that they could be called with anything.i was bowhunting in late october and it was one of those days the bucks were insane,they were comming and going in every direction wth noses to the ground,chasing each other,fighting.after the hunt was over while lowering my stand to the ground it slipped and fell to the ground with a loud bang,as i reached the ground and grabbed my stand,i heard a noise,i looked up and a buck was standing five yards from me he had come to investigate the noise.calling is a timing thing a call can be a useless piece of junk getting in your way or a magic flute depending on the deers mood.several years ago,i looked up in time to see a monster buck start to jump a fence 50 yards from me,as he squatted to jump i grunted,he instantly stood up turned his head sideways and with stiff legs and hair standing up headed in my direction.this was the deer i had been waiting for for twenty years he was absolutely a giant body and rack im guessing he was a 180-190 class 300lb freak.there was a big white oak in front of me and he stopped behind it at ten yards and started rubbing a tree.i drew my bow and he jumped the fence and i stopped him with a whistle at less than seven yards,i settled the pin and shot,i centered the one tiny sapling he was standing behind,i still get a sinking feeling every time i think of it.

[psychomekanik]

Pressured deer do not respond to calls very well. What you see on tv is to sell calls....calls will work and I have had success with them BUT it was on a large tract of private land with very little hunting pressure.
i totally agree. i call and rattle through most of the season, with pretty good success. deer get very call shy in pressured areas. every hunter has seen videos where guys call deer and shoot them. so now, every hunter has a call. the important thing is not to over-do it. if you see a deer and call to it. sometimes the deer will barely react at all. you think he didn't hear you and you call again right away. now. he's pinpointed your location. he'll be directly downwind soon. (if he's even still interested). take your time and dont call too much. especially when he walks away. he may just be walking away and circling downwind to approach you. but you start grunting frantically and run him off. also in areas like mine. never open a bottle of any kind of deer lure sold at wal-mart. every hunter has a bottle of that too. i get a kick out of watching a deer walking through the woods and then he bolts back the other way. later to find a guy hunting upwind of there using tinks or something. most of that is spoiled goat pee anyway. use small amounts of quality scents. and, or use fresh authentic deer pee. i'm lucky enough to have a deer ranch close to home. so i use real deer urine. as with anything.... do'nt over-do it!

[plainsman]

never been successful at bringin em in, maybe got em curious, but I did use it to stop a buck once. I was sittin on a log at the edge of a draw, and getting ready so have a smoke, I got a cigarette about to my mouth and a young buck, 6 pt comes running up the draw and stops about 15 feet from me. Now I notice its got antlers, pretty small, almost missed them, and I freeze, for seems like 5 mins. He takes off and I'm really confused now, but I picked up the grunter, and he stopped just long enough to pop him. I guess he was interested in what it was, got him about 50 ft.

[kkyyoottee]

I been calling deer for 20 years but since this is a family site I can tell you what I been calling them!!!:big_smile:

[Howie Ketchdem]

code blue peak estress is all the calling you need my friend luke used for first time had 8 point come in and was so caught up in the smell my friend luke shot deer with muzzle loader and missed at 65 yds and reloaded and shot the deer. now try and tell me taht stuff doesent work!!! he said the deer never even flinched just kept his nose right in the air..he wont go out after november with out it...my friends all have luck in late in the bow season with antlers rattlin but i like decoys my self doe decoys work sweet but be ready to shoot cause they come quick when it works!!! and i never grunt a walking deer either id much rather have a walking shot than basically saying "hey watch out". ny advise get a standing doe decoy and cover its but with code blue.

[Howie Ketchdem]

My first expierience with calling was when i was 12 years old 1st year allowed to hunt i was sitting in a tree no stand just on a limb dinking arouund carving sticks was about 10;00 in the morning 1/2 hr after i got out there.lol i was sitting in a fence row about ten feet off the ground and looked up and there were deer everywhere i pulled out my bottle of tinks 69 the deer were down wind of me about 300 yards and i dumped my whole bottle of tinks down the trunk of the tree and 2 minutes later a MONSTER BUCK was at a full blown run right at me he got with in 70 yds and stopped probly heard my teeth chattering or smelled the pee in my pants LOL. he stopped and started bobbing his head around but i never got a shot he just trotted off and i actually found the deer dead 5 years later while pheasant hunting i know it was him by his brows very palmated. he was 17 points and scored 162 non typicall he died from a bad placed arrow in the rear hip. so i must not have been the only person that was under his buck fever trance.

[Zing]

I have found that a grunt tube is your best weapon in the woods. I will use it throughout the season. early season a couple soft grunts with no agression, this is to say hey whats up over there come on over, right at pre rut a little louder and a little more agressive when there running around makeing scraps and establishing who's the boss. during the rut agressive grunts and about four short grunts about every 15 mins . If you have every called in a deer that you have seen with a grunt tube think of the ones you do not see. If one answers you he most likely is coming in get ready he is looking for you. I have had them come in like pulling them in on a string. Since I hunt extremly thick areas, I do not get a chance to always see the buck to call them in. Last year got in the woods late around 7:00 am as soon as I got into the tree with climber pulled out grunt tube hit it during black powder season. not a minute later killed a 9 ptr The only time I do not do this when a area has a lot of pressure such as public land. Try it.

[dust777man]

Can't say calling really works. Most deer I have called to that I can see just keeps on going.

[hunter]

I myself have had good luck with calling. I have rattled in 4 bucks that were shooters that came running in and have had several small bucks that were curious, but kept there distance. As far as grunt calls by themselves I use them when the deer is visible so I can see how they react by body language.
For instance an "twitching of the tail" I heard you. "Stiff legged or stomping" doesn't like, Etc. You have to try different languages to see what works for you and how they react. One might react to call one day and next day don't care at all.

Had a nice shooter two years ago that were chasing does in the timber, I was positioned 30 yards from cut corn in timber watched him chase for 20-30 minutes. The three does finally headed for the cut corn right towards me, with the buck following. The does crossed the creek and passed by me, then the buck come 20 yards broadside marked my spot and releases, and a miss, a small twigg deflected my arrow. Buck runs back up in timber and I had a few choosen words. 10 minutes later 100 yards up in timber there he is again. So I hit the can a few times waited and done a couple soft tending grunts. He started right back to me, this time got ready and hit the spot 30 yards across creek and watched him crash 40 yards later. Luck ?. Don't know. But it worked that day.

[Tubby Catfishin]

http://www.gameandfishmag.com/hunting/whitetail-deer-hunting/RA_1007_02/index2.html


I read ur thread and decided since i didnt know that much about callin deer and usin scents and rattlers either Id try lookin it up!! Its a rather informative article on a few topics!! Hope it helps!!

[Tubby Catfishin]

Bill if u click on the previos link i sent ya it will take u to the last page of the article.. Just hit tha page button @ the bottom and read from there!! Good luck

[jlingle]

I've called bucks in lots of times. I've killed several bucks rattling, and I've had bucks charge right in to me while just grunting as well. It does work, you just have to pick your place & time well. Pre-rut is by far the best time to call in a buck. There are fewer does coming into estrus at this time, and the bucks are fresh. They are out there working thier butts off to find a receptive doe, and they're moving around a lot. This time of the year, it's fairly common to rattle or grunt in a buck... bear in mind, the better your buck-doe ratio, the easier it is to call in a buck. If there are a lot of does in the area, then bucks don't have to compete much for a receptive doe, and they simply don't have to come into a fight to get a doe. They learn that it's much easier to stay away from fights. If you're in an area where there is a pretty even buck to doe ratio, then you can call in bucks with ease. They are gonna have to do whatever it takes to get a doe. It's all dependent on what your doe count is, really.

My buddy and I had exclusive rights to hunt a REALLY good piece of property for about 5 years. During bow season, we killed every doe that we had a chance to kill. When the rut rolled around, it was a 3-ring circus out there. The bucks were everywhere, at all times of the day. This is directly opposite of what we initially thought would make sense. Initially, we kept corn feeders running for months ahead of deer season, so we could have lots and lots of does on our place when the rut kicked in. We had a hard time killing good bucks with all the does running around, we could get pictures of them on trail cams, but they rarely showed themselves in the daylight. But, we cut into their doe population, and they had to literally work their tails off to get a doe. Made 'em way easier for us to find.

Calling deer works. You just have to stick with it and try to use it at the best possible times.