I am fairly new to hunting whitetail and i decided to get some calls to experiment and to just learn how to call whitetails. i have knight and hale pack rack, a buck grunt call, and some doe bleat calls and estrus bleats. i would like to know how often you should call, if you can overcall deer and scare them away, how and when to use the calls, and how to get them close enough for me to harvest one with my recurve. If anyone has any techniques it would be great if you could share them too.
My personal opinion.... I'm sure a lot will disagree and some will agree. I don't call at anything I don't intend to kill. For me that's usually only a particular buck I'm hunting. I wont call if I think I can kill him naturally without drawing attention. I've seen way to many people call at small bucks and does just to get their attention. WHY? All your doing is educating them! They already have a huge advantage so why educate the young ones that your hunting there. Once they know your stand is there they will most likely continue to look for it throughout the season (besides rut). I don't call unless the particular buck I want to kill is just out of range, simple grunt. If no response I wait a few seconds and call slightly louder, if he hears but doesn't respond I will wait a little bit longer. Then try a snort wheeze to get his attention. If he isn't coming then he's prob not going to. Not all bucks are aggressive. Different areas of the states will be different too.... Texas/KS has a huge success rate compared to OH, not saying it wont work here. To keep it simple, be stealthy, be quiet and don't call just to call.
I don't call too often, maybe 3-5 times total in a season during the pre-rut or rut. What I do is a few consecutive deep grunts first to "test" and see if anything is within range. If you just haul off and slam the antlers with nothing leading up it can really spook everything. After a few minutes if nothing comes in I will start light and lead into a 30 second rattling sequence with a few wheezes and then I finish with another few short deep grunts and maybe a long grunt and finally a few more short ones.
Best tip I can give you is to NEVER call at a deer that is looking in your direction. Always wait until they are looking away. That will usually drive their curiosity. If they are looking your direction, they have an uncanny ability to know exactly where the sound came from, and if they don't see the deer, they often get jittery. This is in reference to vocalization calls and rattling. I often blind call with rattling and grunting. It has meant success for me on many occasions. Go to Youtube or anywhere else that you can listen to deer vocalizations. Then practice what you hear.
I'm a little different than most as I will call to them anytime I'm in the woods but I also have a ton of success doing it and like to stick to what works . You can over call from one spot though so if you don't have a bunch of stands out or move around a lot on public land , you should probably limit the amount of calling you do . I start calling as soon as season starts and up till mid Oct. grunting , rattling , and snortwheeze are the only calls that I use . Grunting - you should set your grunt tube to sound like a young buck as grunting too deep will scare most bucks off , even during the early season . If 1 buck exits the area he could potentially take more deer with him . I believe that most hunters would be happy shooting some of the bucks that they scare off by grunting too deeply , I know I am . Rattling - most hunters wont even consider doing it till late Oct. but their missing out . Early season rattling , if done right , will bring almost any buck in the woods . The key is to never get to loud or try sounding to aggressive until you notice the bucks getting more aggressive . As soon as the buck shed their velvet , they start sparring and that is what you want to try to imitate . The best time to do this is during the first or last hour of light while the bucks are already up and moving , they will not get out of a bed and charge in during the early part of season . Keep it extremely light but you can drag it out for 10-15 minutes as I have seen some sparring buck go on for longer than that but if nothing comes in during the first 10-15 minutes , there aint nothing coming in . Snortwheeze - is an aggressive sound but I have heard buck make it in September . Their fight for dominance is something they do year round and sometime an aggressive sound will work for you but I tend to only use it if the bucks body language tells me that it might work . I have only used it in sept. with success twice but I have only had cause to try it twice . After mid Oct. I will get a little more aggressive with rattling and continue using the grunt and snortwheeze the same but my favorite call during this part of season is the roar . I have witnessed several buck roaring and 95% of the times that they roar , they are charging out to scent check a doe . The roar is a loud call and I don't think that the bucks can determine age or size of the buck making it so it will bring almost any buck in the woods . I've had 180inch giants and spikes show up at the same time , of coarse the spike didn't hang around long Oh and the daughter missed the giant . I tend to really start using just the roar around the last week of Oct. as the pre rut is starting to heat up . During the rut and late season I keep my calling the same as pre rut with the exception of rattling . I will start getting extremely aggressive with my rattling and prefer to do it from the ground so I can add in some ground noise (kicking a brush pile , raking a tree , etc.) Most of the buck that I call in , I see before I call but I have had a lot of luck with blind calling . The best thing that someone just getting into calling can do though , is to start out calling mainly to bucks that you can see . By doing that you have a chance to gauge their reaction to your calling . Just remember to watch for the tell tell signs that you just made the right sound , when a buck licks it lips , lays it's ears back , or bristles up you should hit him with the same sound that got that reaction from him and get your bow ready . At the same time you should know the sign that he aint going to listen too much more , if he looks the opposite direction he's just about to leave and you should not make any more calls (even if all you done was 1 grunt) . Hope this helps !!
Some sound advice here for sure. On my hunts no calling is implemented but the deer usually have their iphones powered off during the rut. These muleys rarely hand out their numbers anyway so I just quit trying and break into their bedrooms... when I can.
Almost forgot , anytime you are blind calling you should try to use the landscape to your advantage . Most bucks will try to get downwind rather than come straight in . For blind calling I try to set up on a steep creek bank , cliff , or even a harvested crop field with the wind to my advantage. Most are surprised my the crop field but I have never had a mature buck get that out in the open just to try to scent check me .
One time I had a buck that was grunting back at me, but wouldnt come closer (druring the rut, nice 4X4). So i borrowed an old elk calling trick and interrupted him with my own grunt. That really ticked him off and the second time it turned him into hamburger patties and summer sausage.
I hardly ever use any calling, I feel it's over rated to a gross degree and costs more deer than it provides. I've had some success with it in the past but seen too many spook for no reason apparent to me at least. Maybe I am just not smart enough to be good at it but as long as I'm killing deer, I'm not going to worry about it.
It's a double edged sword. I've had a buck come in to grunts or doe bleats, and I've had a couple smaller bucks take off for the hills on a grunt. As mentioned before, a higher pitched grunt is less intimidating. If a smaller buck has recently had it handed to him in a fight, he isn't really going to want to take on what sounds like another big bruiser. Rattling can definitely get some attention, both blind calling, and calling a deer you can see.
here deer..... heeerree deer..... or sometimes I just go with... hey babe will you grab me a beer deer....
I read last year that using a turkey call will attract does. I did it last year at the end of season and brought in two does. Maybe coincidence maybe not.
