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Deer Calling Strategies
How often should a person grunt call, doe and fawn bleat call and/or rattle call? Does it matter if he grunt calls, then doe and fawn calls and rattle calls all mixed together at the same time?Thanks.
Marcel
Calling white tailed deer is a fun and exciting way to up your odds of seeing a big buck. Knowing when and how long to call deer will depend on what stage the deer season rut is in during your deer hunt.
Whitetail deer have a wide range of vocalizations including grunts, bleats, snorts, the snort-wheeze and others. Another sound a hunter may hear while out deer hunting is deer antlers being hit together. This of course happens when two bucks fight. Reproducing this sound is called rattling and can be done using real antlers or rattling devices.
Can You Call, Grunt or Rattle Too Much?
This is a heavily debated topic among deer hunters. I believe deer respond to deer calling differently in different parts of the country.
This past deer season I tested different deer calling strategies. I aggressively called during the deer season rut including rattling antlers, grunts, and bleats. I even went days without deer calling at all.
Here is what I found on my deer hunting land.
During the rut, I tried blind calling. This is deer calling and antler rattling when you do not see deer. I climbed into my deer hunting tree stand and settle in. Then I grunted four to five times softly. Then I rattled deer antlers for three to five minutes. I followed by four more soft deer grunts. I waited for thirty minutes and repeated the process.
On days I did blind calling, I pulled in one small spike buck deer. I did have a mature buck deer snort at me, but I never saw him through the brush.
I also grunted when I saw deer, trying to pull them closer to my tree stand. After I located a deer in the woods I would deer grunt two to three times — softly at first and progressively louder by the third grunt.
Each time I did this I was able to call the deer – both bucks and does — to within 15 yards of my deer hunting tree stand.
If a big buck would hang up and start to walk off, I would make a fawn bleat. The buck would stop in his tracks and look towards the sound.
During deer season, when I spotted a nice size buck deer in the distance, I tried to lure him in by rattling.
This did not work as well here on my deer hunting land in the Wisconsin. I feel the doe to buck ratio is still too high in my area. There are many more does than bucks; so the buck figured he would move on to find an easier doe to breed.
One deer call that works extremely well is the snort-wheeze. The snort-wheeze is a sound a dominant buck deer makes when he challenges a lesser buck.
I took a nice, non-typical 8-pointer this year using the snort-wheeze call.
This large 8-point buck deer came in at about 120 yards. His head was down. He was moving to a large scrape about 80 yards to my right. I let out a snort-wheeze call; his head jerked straight up. He came running towards my tree stand. The buck deer stood broadside to me at less than 50 yards when I took aim.
I feel the best way to see if a certain deer call strategy will work in your deer hunting area is to try several different deer calling patterns and see what works best.
One call to try, regardless of where you hunt, is the snort-wheeze.
If you have a big, mature buck deer in front of you and he hears a snort-wheeze, he will come running.
Good Luck and Great Hunting!
Marty Prokop
www.free-deer-hunting-tips.com
Posted by Marty Prokop
Comments
Thanks for the good, solid info.
Jim
Posted by: Jim at March 18, 2007 2:39 PM
I have found that you can do too much deer calling.
Calling deer too often gives the deer the time to find you and deer will not come out to the fields, whether cut down or food plots.
After that day(when deer pin point your location) the deer will look toward your stand and shy away from that area.
If this happens you need to move your stand, not far away maybe as little as 20 yards.
Dan
Posted by: Dan Caison at March 18, 2007 5:25 PM
Hi Marty,
Thank`s for your time. You said a mature buck snorted at you while you were blind calling but you didn`t see him.
How do you know that was a mature buck ,and how old they have to be to be mature?
thanks
marcel mclaughlin
Marcel,
Thanks for your comment.
The area I was doing my blind calling in was one that I had pre-scouted and had seen three very nice bucks in prior to my hunting that location. Even though I could not see the buck that snorted, I was resonably sure it was one of the three mature bucks I had seen during my pre-scouting.
Also, the deep tone the short had was one that I have not witnessed or heard a young buck make.
A mature deer will range in age from 5 1/2 to 7 years old. A buck in this age range will sport his most impressive antlers and body size. Of course age is not the only factor in determining antler size. Nutrition, stress or lack of stress and genetics will also play a key roll in antler development.
In the case of a doe, the same holds true as to age and maturity. A doe in the 5 1/2 to 7 year old range is considered mature. Her body size will be at its peak during these years also. There are some great trail cam pictures of mature does at www.free-deer-hunting-tips.com
Look at the does body sizes. You will see some pictures of an 8 year old doe with her fawn as well as pictures of some 3 year olds with their fawns.
Good Luck and Great Hunting!
Marty Prokop
Posted by: marcel at March 18, 2007 6:55 PM
Hi Marty,
Thank`s for your time. You said a mature buck snorted at you while you were blind calling but you didn`t see him.
How do you know that was a mature buck, and how old do deer have to be to be considered mature?
Thanks
Marcel Mclaughlin
Posted by: marcel at March 18, 2007 6:55 PM
Marcel,
Thanks for the question.
I always try to do a lot of pre-season scouting on my hunting land. I use trail cameras in addition to my binoculars to try to pattern certain deer on my deer hunting land.
I had seen a very nice mature 5x5 or ten-pointer near my deer hunting tree stand a week prior to me hunting in that location.
I have also heard a lot of deer snort at me over the years. This snort had a much deeper sound than those I hear from does and young bucks.
Even though I did not see the deer that had snorted, I was reasonably sure it was the big buck I had seen a week earlier.
Mature Deer
A mature whitetail deer is one that has reached the age of at least 5-1/2 years.
Between 6-1/2 and 7-1/2 years old, a buck will be hitting its peak for anlter growth.
Keep in mind however that antler growth depends on a buck's food source, stress and genetics.
For example, we went through a drought last year here on my hunting land. There were no real huge racks on the bucks as a result.
The prior year was what I would call a near perfect growing season, which provided ample grasses and grains for the deer to eat while antlers were being developed. That year I saw some antlers that would have grossed in the 200 inch class.
Good Luck and Great Hunting!
Marty Prokop
www.free-deer-hunting-tips.com
Posted by: Marty Prokop at March 19, 2007 2:25 PM
Dan,
Thanks for your comments. You raise a very valid point.
Excessive calling could help reveal your location to already wary deer.
I agree, if a deer has pin pointed your deer hunting tree stand, move your tree stand site. Also, if the deer seem call shy, a hunter may choose to not call as much or may choose to not use a call at all.
Good Luck and Great Hunting!
Marty Prokop
www.free-deer-hunting-tips.com
Posted by: Marty Prokop at March 19, 2007 2:40 PM
Marty,
What does a deer grunt mean exactly. I've heard deer grunt and then take off running. Last season I had a typical 8pt. coming in from behind me and I didn't hear it, see it or anything then I heard it grunt and it ran past me and scared me do death. It was only about 4 feet from me when it went by ,but I don't think it seen me because I was standing up against a big red-oak and my body was compleatly hid from behind.
One more question. Do deer travel more during the full moon period or the new moon period. I've heard my grandfather and his brother's argue about it during rifle season every year.
Good Luck and Thanks Again
Zachary
Zachary,
Thanks for your comment.
I will address this in an upcoming newsletter also.
Deer have many vocalizations. A grunt can mean several things. In many cases it is used to express dominance. This is probably the type of grunt you had heard.
Grunts can also be used by deer to locate other deer that may be nearby.
You may hear deer grunting during the rifle season most often because in many areas rifle seasons take place very near the peak of the rut and because this is when you may be in spending the most time in the woods.
I agree, it can be very alarming to hear a deer grunt when you are not expecting it.
In regards to the moon phase, I have witnessed more deer activity during the full moon phase here on my deer huntng land.
I noticed my trail cameras had twice as many pictures of deer during a full moon than when a new moon phase was taking place.
Good Luck and Great Hunting!
Marty Prokop
Posted by: Zachary at March 26, 2007 11:38 PM
