Your thoughts on deer calls

[gspn]

In general I've not had any luck with deer calls (grunt tubes specifically).

I've tried them in any number of ways over the years but have had very little success with them. I used to grunt every 15 minutes or so just in case something was near. Other times I grunt while looking right at them and I get to see that they are just totally uninterested.

I can only recall two times when I know it worked. The first was early bow season and a doe was cruising past me about 60 yards away. I hit the call and she turned on a dime...90 degrees...and came right at me.

The other time it worked I was using a fawn in distress call. I had just bought it, and immediately drove out to where I hunt to try it out. This was in mid-summer...not deer season...I just walked out into the woods with the call to see if it would work.

I hit that call, made it sound like a fawn was absolutely wailing, and I almost got RUN OVER by a doe. I had no idea she was in the area. I heard her coming through the tall grass...hooves were just POUNDING. She came scrambling right by me just beating the ground and running kind of zig-zaggy...clearly searching and trying to scare off the predator that was attacking the "fawn".

I sat there for 5 minutes with an "Oh S$#&" look on my face. I couldn't believe it happened. First time, almost run over, unbelievable excitement.
I never had that call work again...no matter where I blew it.

What's been your experience?

 

[Hookeye]

I won't hit the woods without a grunt call.
Blind call, call after smelling a deer nearby (unseen), or call one in spotted from afar.
Have had does and bucks sneak in. Or come in crashing.
Bow season they tend to come in downwind and get nervy about 50 yards out.
Which means a caller 50 yards upwind of you is awesome
Have blind called and killed deer at start of bow season. But wasn't aggressive in calling.
I don't get mean until later Oct.
If you have others hunting around you blowing calls, cracking antlers or dumping doe in heat pee for a month solid...........kinda ruins things.

 

[courtgreene]

timing is everything. During deer season, when there are no fawns on the ground, a fawn distress call won't bring in anything (but maybe a predator who hears a generic distress call). Similarly, if it's not the right time of the rut, why does any deer care about a grunt call? There are all sorts of sites that talk about when to use certain calls.
Location matters too. If you're in a wooded area that is loaded with deer everywhere, they know they're not alone and don't respond to calls. If you're in a large open area with few deer around, they may come to see who has barged in on what they thought was their own turf.
I've had luck with a rattle bag and some with doe bleats, but mostly I don't mess with calls.

 

[jrdolall]

I have successfully called in many deer with a grunt tube. I have also had many deer turn tail and run from a grunt.
I use them more for a stopping mechanism than as a lure. A buck walking through the woods will normally stop and try to determine the source of the sound which then gives me a chance to evaluate and possibly shoot.
I have on occasion called a decent buck to me using a grunt. Slobber, ears back, stiff legged and all the stuff you see on TV but those instances have been rare.
I too have used a fawn bleat with great success in bow season...if you consider almost being run over by a doe to be a success. I swear they come out of nowhere and are trying to scare off predators with the way they come blasting out of cover toward the call.

 

[ironworkerwill]

I've seen deer that I'd have never seen at all without a grunt. I feel nekkid without it. BUT I've been very unsuccessful with them too. It sounds stupid but sometimes the deer are just not there.

Every time I've seen a deer the grunt always got attention, maybe not positive attention.... I used a deep dominant buck grunt on a small spike(once) and he ran like a pack of wolves were chasing him. Learning experiences are fun.

 

[Patocazador]

The only call that has worked for me on deer is rattling and then only pre-rut.
I have had success with a "Kmeer Deer" call in having coyotes and wild dogs come in.

During bow season in northern Wisconsin, I bleated like a lamb with my mouth (no call) and had a doe come uphill about 80 yards to check it out.
The last 2 years I tried "The Can" from Primos but never got a response.

 

[sage5907]

I'm not an expert at deer calling but I have called in several bucks by using a grunt call and a doe bleat. The main thing about using a grunt call is to pick a call that sounds like the deer in your hunting area. This is really important. Where I hunt the bucks have a low guteral sound and very few grunt calls sound like that. The closest I have found is a Premos hardwood grunter blowing so the grunt is slow and I use it by cupping my hand around to tube to muffle the sound and to lower the volume. For a doe bleat I use a Premos doe bleat box that you just turn over and it makes a bleat. The next key is to hide before you attempt the call because you don't want the deer to see you when they approach. I like my downwind side to be to an open area so the deer won't sneak in behind me. I grunt low about twice and then use the bleat twice. Then I wait a few seconds and grunt again. Then I sit quietly and wait. Any buck within a few hundred yards will know exactly where the calls came from.

 

[matrem]

I've learned to use grunt calls, either only in conjunction with rattling or when I've been busted moving.

The one stand alone sound I've had dramatic results from, mostly bad, but occasionally good from. (and no manufactured "call" needed)

Is a snort wheeze.

phhh phhh phhhhhuughh.

 

[jmr40]

I think it depends on the location, the makeup of the local deer herd and timing of the rut. If in a place where the buck to do ratio has too many does I don't think they work as well as areas where there are a lot of bucks challenging each other for available does.

We have way too many does here. Never had any luck either. About the best use is to get a moving animal to stop for a few seconds to get a shot. They rarely come to calling or rattling here.

 

[matrem]

We've had "whackadoe" in place for years here. (Knox County, Ohio)

I see as many or more young bucks searching in November, as mature does.

Certainly agree with poster # 9 as far as buck to doe ratio.

 

[busdriver72]

I hate deer calls....they don't say anything....and just hang up.

 

[buck460XVR]

What's been your experience?

They either work.......or they don't. Like turkeys, deer need to be in the mood to respond, they need to not already be alerted to danger and it helps if they have not been "educated" by nimrods walking thru the woods calling continuously all season long.

I've had bucks run in to grunts and rattling that I never knew were in the area and I have watched them look in my direction when they heard one of them and then turn their head and continue walking in the other direction. There are times when I didn't have a call on me and wished I would've and times when I used a call and wished I wouldn't have. Like everything else in hunting, there is no sure thing.

 

[Hookeye]

Have killed several deer with rattling, many more brought in with grunt calls.
Even shot some using the little bleat "can" call.

You gotta get a feel for your area, how sound works, if you have a dominant buck or not (and deer body language and other).

You stomp in and park your butt in a tree........the best calls aint gonna help.

If a bruiser is around, and has thumped a few heads...........a sturdy grunt call might send a lesser deer toward the next county.

Had a small 7 sneak by, early bow season, end of Oct. Afternoon sun shining, saw doe flitting about on far ridge (oak stands). Then a 6 pt came in, and a spike. 3 bucks, they had the doe bopping around............so I let out a mean grunt, aggressive, to scare them off and see whatmight be in Xmas tree farm on other side.

Sounded like the cavalry coming, saw the buck hit the oaks and beeline to me.

145"net (guess). Nice deer, but not the big dude. Big enough to make everybody else leave. He got spooky and didn't offer a shot when at 15 yards (trees). He went to look for the other bucks, offered me a wide open 35 yarder broadside. But I don't shoot spooked deer with trad gear. Time of flight too long.

Passed on him in gun. Wanted him by recurve. Never saw him again.

Cuz used a grunt call and rattle bag, same spot (actually where that deer first appeared). Few yrs before. Never saw much hunting out of state.

Just gun hunted. Told him to come down and bow hunt.

When the weather was right, pre rut...........told him the weekend would be magic. About 10 am..........2 hrs of nothing, he sees a deer so does some grunts and rattles. 25 deer and 8 different bucks............in an hr or so.

He was so tickled (and shocked) he never picked up his bow. Deer literally came from all over to his calls.

Like another has said..........."timing".

I think once the properties around us got idiots hunting ....who used calls and scents all the time.........they ruined the effectiveness.

 

[red rick]

I have had good results with them . I called in my biggest buck to date using one , along with doe urine . I main only use them during muzzleloader season , that is about the only time I still hunt and the rut is usually in then .

 

[PonyKiller]

This is going to sound stupid, but until i watched "hunting shows" in my early 20's i had no idea deer could even make a sound... almost 20 years ago. I grew up in the woods of south jersey, in the state forest down here. I've seen a lot of deer growing up and since. If you were still they would come right up to within feet of you and move one. Never, ever once did they make a sound barely even by their hoofs. I started Hunting about 5 years ago and even now have never heard them made a sound in the woods. I've been close enough to touch them.. doe's in buck season. Have seen thirty does and fawns in a field and watched them feed from less than 50 feet away and have never, ever heard a peep from them. To this day I belive if i blow some manner of deer call here i will be among the hunters as the only one's

 

[buck460XVR]

I started Hunting about 5 years ago and even now have never heard them made a sound in the woods. I've been close enough to touch them.. doe's in buck season. Have seen thirty does and fawns in a field and watched them feed from less than 50 feet away and have never, ever heard a peep from them.

I can't believe there is a hunter alive that has not had a deer stomp their feet and do an alarm snort when busted. Both are a from of communication. Most sounds deer make are quite subtle and don't carry far in the woods. If you don't know what sounds a deer makes, you may be hearing them and just don't know it's deer making that noise. Believe me, the deer in your area are communicating amongst themselves. Deer also communicate with their tails and can be called with a white handkerchief.

 

[jrdolall]

f you have hunted for five years and never had a deer blow at you then my hat is off! I get busted going in and coming out of my stand on a regular basis. It's dark, I am walking in the woods, and BAM, cold busted by a yearling that scares the crap out of me!
I have a friend that has been hunting for 20 years and is just now starting to recognize the sounds of a soft bleat or a soft grunt. we hunt all over each other and trade stands on a regular basis and I hear deer calls all the time. As Buck said, maybe you just aren't recognizing the sounds. It's not like every buck is stomping through the woods grunting like he's on Buckmasters. Usually the sounds are very subtle.
I have very rarely heard bucks fighting in my local area, maybe 3-4 times in 45 years.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

f you have hunted for five years and never had a deer blow at you then my hat is off!

For sure. Happens all the time to me. Several times a year at least.

 

[rcmodel]

I don't know nothing about calling deer.

But years ago, I was setting in a ground blind calling coyotes with a 'wounded fawn' coyote call.
And two doe deer came charging across the field and tried to stomp a mud hole in my 'position' before I could jump up and hide behind a tree yelling and screaming at them.

One bolted, and one still wanted me, bad!

Finally fired a shot in the air and she took off too.

rc

 

[jrdolall]

I don't know nothing about calling deer.

But years ago, I was setting in a ground blind calling coyotes with a 'wounded fawn' coyote call.
And two doe deer came charging across the field and tried to stomp a mud hole in my 'position' before I could jump up and hide behind a tree yelling and screaming at them.

One bolted, and one still wanted me, bad!

Finally fired a shot in the air and she took off too.

RC, I had a doe try to get in a darned shooting house with me one year! I swear she actually pawed the thing. I guess you have to hit just the right time and those dominant does will go berserk trying to save what they think is a fawn in danger because I have tried it umpteen times and it has worked like this maybe three.

 

[LRShooting]

I don't use them. I rely on trails and scouting to bring me my bucks. I never had any luck with calls on deer but I think that's my fault as I probably am not using them right.

For predators, however, that's another story

 

[Skyshot]

I've Had good success using a grunt tube during the prerut and when a lot of chasing is going on.