What kind of calls do you guys use this time of year, I've heard going with a fawn bleat works pretty well. What call would you recommend?
IMO....leave the calls at home. Especially in the early season. I will carry a grunt tube ONLY when the rut kicks off and I only use it if I have a visual on the buck and am trying to turn his attention my way. Thats it.
It depends. Are you trying to call in a doe for the freezer? I have used fawn and doe bleats early season and had does respond. As far as calls for bucks I have buck better luck with grunts in the seeking phase than I do later in the fall.
I grunted in a great buck in Nebraska in early September years ago. Every time he looked away, I would grunt. Curiosity killed the cat. I have also rattled in bucks in mid October by simulating light sparring. Its always situational, but I certainly would not leave the calls at home. If you have them in the pack, you can try them on deer that you see and know are not coming your way. The pressure your deer herd receives may make a big difference. Once the rut hits, I blind call a lot. I have killed several of my best bucks by doing this. I am certain that I would not have killed many of them without their response to my blind calling.
I have called bucks in using a grunt call as early as the the first week in October. After bucks lose their velvet they get really territorial, so if they hear a different buck in the area, they want to check him out and see how tough he looks. It's more of a curiosity thing than agression. They will always come in downwind, though. A couple times I've seen bucks go completely out of their way just to get downwind of the sound.
