One of the best deer hunting tips is to use calls to attract the attention of a buck.
To a novice it can seem quite an intimidating task. I mean, you don’t want to scare a buck off with the wrong call, do you?
And sure, you may feel a bit silly making all these noises, but just imagine how awesome it will feel when a call helps you bag that huge buck.
I’m going to run through the best calls you should make and, more importantly, when you should be making them.
Rattling
This is one of the most popular calls for deer hunting and simply involves rattling a pair of antlers together.
But where do you get these antlers from? Well, you can use a real pair (which is my preferred, and recommended way of going), reproduction antlers or even special rattle bags. As long as they make that rattling antler sound you’re on the right track.
Why do you want to start rattling though? Doesn’t it indicate a fight between two bucks?
Yes, it certainly does, but if done carefully it can bring great results.
Say, for example, it’s early season and the bucks are all trying to establish their hierarchy. If an adult buck hears two young bucks rattling, they’ll want to come in and show them who’s really boss.
This is why you need to be conservative in your rattling. If you make it sound like a fight between two heavyweights then bucks are going to stay well away.
Bleating
What do bucks love more than a scrap with a young buck for dominance? Love.
You should make a bleating noise which alerts bucks to their presence and establishes an opportunity for mating.
It may take a bit of time for you to nail the doe bleat, but practice makes perfect. You want to aim for a bawling sound, but use it sparingly. You don’t want to give your exact location away.
It’s also possible to buy cans which produce bleats and certainly save any strain on your vocal cords, so they’re a great alternative.
Grunting
The calling card of a buck, and definitely a call you should keep with you on your deer hunt is a grunt. Most grunt calls are all pretty accurate and should get the job done, but here’s my favorite grunt call.
Grunt calling is very helpful because deer are always using it themselves. You can find a buck grunting during almost all of his daily activities. Making scrapes, fighting, chasing does or even just because he feels like it.
Other bucks, of course, can interpret these grunts to mean several things.
If they hear continuous grunting then it usually indicates that a buck is chasing a doe. In this case they’ll definitely want to investigate to size his rival up.
A number of well-spaced grunts, meanwhile, can indicate one buck challenging another. This is a fantastic way to bring a buck out into the open to assess his chances in a fight.
As you can see, grunting is going to be most successful in the pre-rut season when bucks are fighting for dominancy and the resulting reward of does.
Wheezes
If you ever encounter a mature buck meeting a younger, smaller buck then you’re sure to hear the mature buck giving a short wheeze.
This wheeze stands for “I’m in charge, so get out of here!” and it’s no use using this when on the trail of a young buck.
However, a dominant buck is only going to rise to the challenge and head towards a wheeze.
Remember, though, only use a wheeze when a buck is heading away from you. If it catches a glimpse of you it’s soon going to know that it’s not another buck wheezing.
If you found these hunting tips and tricks on calls useful then please let me know in the comments below!
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