November 15, 2007
How to Attract Big Bucks
Here is a nice picture of a big buck I recently attracted onto my deer hunting land.
Here is an email I just received from a www.free-deer-hunting-tips.com reader asking how to do the same with his deer hunting land.
Marty Prokop,
I am getting so frustrated. I enjoy your tips each week and don't know if you respond to e-mail or not, especially on November 13th!
I usually consider Nov. 6 - 14 the peak of rut in Ohio, but I haven't seen the big bucks or the chasing this year. I am open to some tips on how to get deer under my stand.
I hunt in a small yard which borders thousands of acres in the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreational Park. I see many deer in the woods, and many come under my stands, but I can't get the big ones off of their trails, 50-75 yards into the park. I have bow hunted here for 6 previous and have taken 13 deer and passed on multiple deer a year.
I have harvested 2 bucks, one a 7 - pointer scoring in the 100 - 115 inch range. I have seen the 120 to 150 class bucks, but can't get them to cross onto my legal shooting area. The park rangers know me and are very nice and always allow me to track the deer all over the park after shooting them.
I just purchased a Matthews Switchback and can group arrows better than ever, golf ball from 20, softball from 30 and football from 40, which I could never do with my Browning Mantis. Just after purchasing the bow last January, I shot a doe from 40 yards right at dark through the heart, so my confidence level is high if I can just get those bucks my way.
I grunt, wheeze, rattle, and use Tinks™ 69 over mock scrapes. I haven't invested in a motion camera, but I did stoop to buying some stuff called C'mere Deer a week ago and watched a spike eat it at 15 yards.
Help, I really want a Pope and Young, Ohio Big Buck, or a B & C deer-120, 140, or 150.
Thanks,
Desperate Don
Don,
Thanks for your comment and questions.
I feel your frustration. Last deer season was similar for me. I needed to get those big bucks onto my deer hunting land, then do what it took to hold them there.
Do you own the land you are hunting on? Or, do you hunt land with permission from a landowner?
The reason I ask is this, to get big bucks to want to leave the safety of the park, you need to attract more does to your side of the fence. During the rut big bucks will spend their days and nights chasing does. If you can hold a few more does on your deer hunting land, odds are you will attract bucks.
I planted food plots to get more does onto my deer hunting land. The deer food plots are strategically placed near water and bedding areas. On any given day I see fifteen to twenty does grazing. When the rut is on, I see four to five nice bucks tending the does.
A good food source that attracted more does was key for me seeing and holding more bucks. Since you are facing winter in your location, food plots will be an answer for you next year.
For the remainder of your deer hunting season try the following suggestions.
First, start using dominant buck urine along with a doe in estrus deer scent. Buck Bomb™ is a great choice for filling an area with deer scent without spreading too much human odor. Once you activate the Buck Bomb™ climb into your deer hunting treestand and the wind will spread the deer scent for you.
Try using two deer decoys, one buck and one doe. Place dominant buck urine on and around the buck decoy and doe in estrus deer scent on and around the doe decoy. This will make it seem a buck has moved in on a hot doe in another buck's territory.
With your deer decoys in place, call and rattle to entice a buck to come in to investigate. A deer call to try is The Can by Primos. This call imitates doe bleats made by a doe in estrus. When combined with the grunt and rattle calls, the scenario of two bucks fighting over a hot doe becomes more effective.
Before placing a decoys be sure to check your local deer hunting regulations for legality.
Good Luck and Great Hunting!
Marty Prokop
Posted by Marty Prokop | Questions and Comments (0)
October 21, 2007
How to Call Deer
Below, Terry asks a great question concerning the True Talker Deer Call.
How can a deer hunter reproduce the sound of the fawn bleat during deer season to attract does?
You can read my answer under Terry's comment.
Marty Prokop
Marty,
Someone gave me a true talker deer call. I have never used a call before and would love to try it. I have read that you can call in does with a fawn bleat. How do you make that sound? I hunt in an earn-a-buck unit so I need to harvest a doe. Any help you can give me would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Terry
Terry,
The Hunter’s Specialties True Talker is a great call. I personally use one each year and have had great success.
The True Talker has four bands over the top of the reed. Depressing each band will produce different deer vocalizations. You can also vary pitch and tone, and alter the volume, rhythm and inflection when calling. The True Talker's four memory bands allow the caller to quickly find the desired tone.
The Bleat is the fawn version of the bawl, it is given by the fawn when it wants urgent attention, is hungry, or wants care, and may be heard as far as 100 yards away with the human ear.
The Bawl is an intense call used by deer in distress, often when caught by a predator or trapped. The sound is a loud baa. Does often respond to the call by running in, presumably out of maternal instinct.
The pitch of the fawn bleat is low-medium-low. The tone is low-medium, and the volume of a fawn bleat is low-moderate.
The Mew is used by the fawn when it wants attention, or is given in response to the maternal grunt of the doe. The mew sounds much like it is spelled. The pitch of the sound is low-high-low and lasts about 20 to 30 seconds in length. Both tone and volume of this call are low.
If you have the chance to go into your local sporting goods store before your season begins, look for a deer vocalization tape or cd. Listen to the tape and try to duplicate the sounds with your True Talker.
Practice as much as you can before you head out into your deer hunting woods. When deer season opens you will be calling like a pro.
Good Luck and Great Hunting!
Marty Prokop
www.Free-Deer-Hunting-Tips.com
Posted by Marty Prokop | Questions and Comments (4)
October 15, 2007
Deer Hunting During the Deer Rut
Late Fall is when you will generally see rutting behaviors, but in some areas, the rut can continue into December.
Doe deer coming into estrus late or those who were not bred during the main rut may catch the attention of bucks well into December. They don’t watch a calendar or care what month it is, so neither should you.
Even during deer bowhunting in December carry along your deer scents and deer calls. You may find that you are out in the field late in the bowhunting or muzzleloader season and hear a dominate buck grunt. If you have your deer calls with you, you can use them to bring in the big buck.
If you are bowhunting or muzzleloader hunting for deer later in the season, be prepared in case you find yourself deer hunting a late season rut.
Good Luck and Great Hunting!
Marty Prokop
www.free-deer-hunting-tips.com
Posted by Marty Prokop | Questions and Comments (0)
April 29, 2007
How To Attract Deer Using Food Plots
Marty,
Can you tell me how to get the deer to cross the brook at my place?
The brook is 200 feet from the house, there are deer tracks and deer droppings everywhere, but they don’t want to cross the brook.
The brook is, in some places, 20 feet wide and the water is only 12 inches deep.
I don’t want to hunt them; I just want them around the house.
One of my brothers lives six houses from me and across the road.
He also has a brook. Another brother lives across the road from me.
They both have deer on their land. They each own 2 acres. The brother who lives six houses from me has deer eating right by his door steps.
Last week I went to buy a salt lick, oat seed, alfalfa seed and beef mash Atlantic deer food.
I walked across the brook and laid little piles of beef mash food in a little trail back on my land. Then put about one gallon of beef mash in one pile on my side of the brook.
So far the deer have not crossed the brook.
I have to wait for warmer weather to seed the oats and alfalfa.
For two weeks I called three to four times a day with a lost fawn deer call trying to entice the deer to come in. The deer still do not come in.
What am I doing wrong?
We did not have any snow on the ground for two weeks. The weather was actually nice.
Two days ago we had six-inches of fresh snow.
Last night I went for a walk across the brook for about a half mile and did not see a single deer track. What is up with that?
Thanks.
Marcel
Marcel,
Getting deer to do something they normally would not do can be difficult.
I think you are on the right track using corn to attract them. Also, putting in small food plots on your side of the brook may help the deer decide to cross the brook.
Food plots will work exceptionally well when the deer’s normal food sources are low. For example, a drought period causing the normal grasses and forage deer usually eat to dry and not grow, will force deer to seek out different food sources.
In the summer and early fall, deer prefer to eat green vegetation as it is usually high in protein and other nutrients deer need. This is where your food plot comes to play.
If your area experiences drought, make sure you water the food plot regularly. This will keep the oats and alfalfa green and lush. Seeing the green vegetation, deer may decide to cross onto your side of the brook.
With any food plot, it is also important to keep the protein level as high as possible by regularly mowing the food plot.
Every six to eight weeks mow the food plot to a height of four inches. This is especially important with alfalfa and clovers. Mowing keeps the stems smaller and promotes thicker growth of the plants.
Deer generally do not eat the stems of oat plants. The exception to this is when the oats are still very young and range in size from 1 inch shoots to six inch tall plants. If the oats are allowed to grow to full maturity, the plants will dry and brown. Deer love the dried oats and will clean the oats off the stems.
Food Plot Secret
Here is what I would do in your situation. It is a secret to help steer deer to a specific location using a food plot.
Plant a food plot in the shape of a funnel. The food plot edge that is closest to the brook will become the narrow end of the funnel, or point. As you move back closer to your house, the funnel shape will widen.
Once deer cross and begin feeding at the point end of your funnel they will, in most cases, follow the funnel back and feed in the wider section.
Deer Patterns Change with the Seasons
One possible reason you are not seeing deer tracks now is that the deer in your area may be moving into their spring/summer patterns.
I have watched deer on my deer hunting land. They have different areas for each season.
In the spring of the year, deer on my deer hunting land seek the thick undergrowth near swamps.
As summer heat increases, deer will search for the coolest part of the forest to escape the heat. This area is usually near a good water source.
In the early fall I see deer frequenting the wood edges and more open terrain. Their bedding areas are closer to good food sources this time of the year.
In winter months deer seek yarding areas. A yarding area is a place where many deer congregate at one time.
Yarding areas are usually found in very dense forest or areas offering deer protection from winter winds. Often times, yarding areas are close to good winter food sources.
Although deer patterns change with the seasons, the areas deer occupy year long may overlap. The main difference is that the areas deer bed and spend the majority of their time will be different with each season.
Calling Deer
Calling deer too much or with calls which are “out of season” may confuse the deer.
You’ve called in early spring with a lost fawn call. In early spring, does are pregnant and her fawns from last spring are nearly grown.
As does become closer to having their new fawns, usually end of May to mid-June, they seek thickets or heathers to deliver. As delivery time grows closer, does will also chase their year old fawns away.
It could be does are not responding to the lost fawn call because they are actually kicking their last year fawns away to give birth shortly.
I think you are moving in the right direction to get the deer to cross your brook. Using corn and food plots is a great idea. For now while does are delivering, put your deer calls away.
After you start seeing newborn fawns, try to use the lost fawn bleat again. You may get a more positive reaction from the deer in your area.
Good Luck and Great Hunting!
Marty Prokop
www.free-deer-hunting-tips.com
Posted by Marty Prokop | Questions and Comments (2)
April 14, 2007
Why do Deer Grunt?
Marty, What does a deer grunt mean exactly? I've heard deer grunt and then take off running. Last season I had a typical 8-pointer coming in from behind me. I didn't hear it, see it or anything. Then I heard it grunt, and it ran past me and scared me to death. The buck was only about 4 feet from me when it went by, but I don't think it had seen me because I was standing up against a big red-oak and my body was completely hidden 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 questions. In this blog post I will answer your question concerning the deer vocalization. I will answer your moon phase question in an upcoming post, so I can dedicate the space needed to that great question which is often the subject of deer camp banter. Why Do Deer Grunt? The deer grunt is made by both bucks and does and could have several meanings. A buck will grunt to express dominance, to threaten another deer and as a means of locating other deer. A soft or low grunt is used by both bucks and does as a first act of aggression. When a dominant deer uses the soft grunt and the less dominant deer does not move, the dominant deer will either charge or hit the less dominant deer with a fore leg. During the early spring or while deer hunting in the fall, especially when food was involved, I heard and observed this increased aggression. Bucks approached food sources and grunted softly at does and fawns. If the does and fawns did not clear for bucks so they could eat, the bucks slammed their front hooves onto the backs of the other deer and forced them to move. Marty Prokop Says, “More Than Just Bucks” During the spring, I have seen does act similarly towards fawns around food sources. If the yearlings don’t move, the does actually rise on their hind legs and flail their front hooves striking the yearlings until they move away. Many Deer Grunt Patterns Bucks have several grunt patterns throughout the year. One of the vocalizations is referred to as the “tending grunt.” The tending grunt is used by bucks when they are on the trail of estrus does and to display dominance in hopes of keeping other bucks away. The tending grunt can also be used to attract does. The tending grunt can be a series of several grunts or a long, drawn-out grunt or even a short, single grunt. Calling a Deer using a Deer Grunt Tube When deer hunting, one of the most common ways deer hunters mimic natural deer calls is by using grunt tubes. Deer make grunt vocalizations to contact or locate other deer that they may not see. When a deer hears a grunt, often times they walk towards the sound attempting to locate the deer making it. When you see a buck moving past your deer hunting tree stand, you may opt to use a grunt call to stop the buck and get him to come towards your location. The Deer Snort I have been in similar deer hunting situations like you have described. I am sitting next to a big tree looking in the direction I expect a deer to come from. Then, from out of nowhere, I hear a deer snort and run past me at full speed. After I changed my shorts and composed myself, I watched the deer disappear into the brush. Notice I said the deer snorted. From what you described, I would say, the sound you heard might have been a snort. Here is the reason why. Even though you didn’t see the deer approaching, it could have heard you. When a deer is alarmed and can see or hear something, but cannot smell the source of potential danger, it will snort loudly and run. A deer snort is a sound a deer makes by blowing air through its nostrils. Generally, when a deer sees or hears something it cannot understand, it will snort consecutively two to three times while stomping the ground with a fore foot. Other body movements a deer can make while snorting include bobbling its head and flicking its tail. Deer snorts help alert other deer in the area of potential danger. A deer’s body movements — like stomping, head bobbing and tail flicking — can be used by the deer to get the source of the disturbance to move or show itself more plainly to the deer. Marty Prokop on How to Stop a Running Deer In most cases, a deer that snorts is one that bolts shortly after snorting. But, by using a deer call, you could stop a deer that snorts and starts to run off. I tested this during the archery season on my deer hunting land. One afternoon, I was walking out to my deer hunting tree stand. On the way to my tree stand I encountered two does feeding in the field. When I saw the deer I dropped down and began to crawl to some tall grasses to my left. The larger of the two does looked up, snorted loudly and stomped her foot. After a couple minutes she took off running. I grabbed my deer call, grunted twice and followed up with a fawn bleat. The doe stopped in her tracks. I used the fawn bleat two more times, and the doe began to walk towards me. She walked to within 30 feet. The young bucks, in the nub buck to two year range, have stopped and walked towards the combination grunt and fawn bleat. The older bucks are similar but with two big differences. They respond to the grunt, but not as readily to the fawn bleat. In addition, they stop but may not come in as close as the younger deer. Using a grunt call, I stopped two nice bucks that snorted and ran. Unlike the young bucks and the doe, they did not come to within bow range for me. They stopped at about 60 yards and would not come in closer. I believe since they could not see the deer calling, they eventually just moved on. Deer have many different vocalizations. Make sure you bring your grunt tube the next time you hit the deer hunting woods. You could stop a big buck in his tracks if he snorts at you and starts to run off. Good Luck and Great Hunting! Marty Prokop www.free-deer-hunting-tips.comhttp://
Posted by Marty Prokop | Questions and Comments (4)
March 18, 2007
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 | Questions and Comments (7)
January 25, 2007
Does the Buck Growler Really Work?
In a recent blog post from Moses, he asked if the Buck Growler by Madd really worked?
I shared with Moses that I had not had the chance to use the Buck Growler yet.
Here is your chance to help your fellow deer hunters.
If you or any of your hunting partners has had success using the Madd Buck Growler let us know.
Scroll down to the bottom of this post and click on the questions and comments link.
As soon as I receive your post I will put it up on the blog for our deer hunting community to read.
Good Luck and Great Hunting!
Marty Prokop
www.free-deer-hunting-tips.com
Posted by Marty Prokop | Questions and Comments (1)
