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Hi guys, I am new to your forum and thanks for having me. I have a few questions about deer calls. I find it neat to try to call in a deer. I was wondering if anyone could tell me long/how many grunts/wheezes/ between each use. I watched the DVD (instructional) but it does not speak of duration...Any tips on this would be helpful. I am hunting in southern maine. Thanks a lot guys. Whit

Depends on the circumstances. Trying to stop a deer for a shot or trying to attract a deer blindly...Welcome to the Fire

I hunt deer about the same way I hunt turkey. Get as close as possible, and call as little as possible. If ive done my job scouting, ill know where they are, and wont have to call much, if at all. If im going into a new area, ill call a little louder(depends on terrain) and more often.

First learn the animal, then the tools of the trade so to speak. Once you learn your animal, everything from calling to lures to decoys....etc will make more sense. Good luck!

Until about 7 years ago, I was always trying to add something to my hunt in order to boost my odds. Finally, one day, I realized that the decoy, the scents, the calls, had all consumed my hunting and it was now overly complicated. My solution was to get back to a bare minimum.

1) I keep my scent signature down with nothing more than baking soda.
2) I put away the decoy, the climbing stand, the calls and the scents.
3) I did a lot of scouting and put up simple ladder stands.
4) I put myself in the best possible spot to get deer.
5) I sat and waited.

I've been wildly successful at filling my freezer ever since. Little by little, I've experimented with bringing back certain individual pieces. This year I bagged the BIG ONE.
see "The Savage Speaks Again . . ."

All it took was three little poots on a grunt call spaced about two seconds apart. The telling part of the story is that the sub-dominant deer took those grunts as a warning and left the area immediately. For what I was trying to do, namely draw the smaller bucks into range, the grunt call was a huge failure. It just so happened that the big buck was there, just out of sight and took the challenge.

My advice is to be very careful with calling and especially blind calling. I will grunt to stop and turn a deer that is walking away. I will snort at deer that are snorting at me in order to confuse them. Occasionally I blaat. Mostly I just stay quiet and rely on my scouting. If the deer are there, they will come.

Hi Shaman,
I appreciate your kind words of advice. I can now see how overly complicated I can make this. I also appreciate the baking soda tip. I used to hunt as a kid only without a gun. I would follow deer around. I had a beautiful doe come up to me this year and I passed on the shot. I guess the calls intrigue me. The idea of watching does in their habitat. I will not lie, I would like to get a nice buck.

Thanks for your time. Whit

Two thoughts: The first is that if you're just getting started, bagging a doe is not such a bad idea. I held off several years, passing on a does almost every time I went out, because I wanted a buck. Then I accidentally nailed a doe (long story) and found that it helped settle down my hunting game. It seriously de-mystified the process.

On the other hand, just remember: Even if it all goes well, you've still got a dead deer on your hands and the rest of your life ahead of you. Pick your shots accordingly.

Here's a link to what I do with the baking soda:

Cover Scents

One other thing: Most of what you read is intended to get you to buy something. However, very little of what I've bought over the years has actually done anything to enhance my hunting experience. There is no replacement for solid scouting. If you are able to find the deer and learn their habits, the rest comes nearly as an afterthought.


Write soon. Write often. Best of luck.

If you are after any deer, just hunt the wind and wait and watch.

If you are after specific deer, then things change some, IMHO. THats when you use tactics, have calls available and so on. Rattling, in the correctly populated areas, works just super, and allows one to see bucks they never would normally see, but it also pushes away smaller ones.

You make the call of what you are after and adjust accordingly. If nothing else and after any buck, doe in heat scent drag rags and bombs are about foolproof it used correctly(assuming a buck actually is around to scent them) It will keep them in an area if they traverse it overnight and scent it, so I often open my bombs the night before a hunt.

Jeff

The can calls work also. I had a small 6 pointer 243 yards downwind of me (Leica 1200 rangefinder) and used the Primos estrous bleat can call three times, about 2-3 seconds apart. After the second call he turned his head and ears toward me, after the third call he came right in to 20 yards away, looking past me down the hill for the doe that wasn't there. He left and came back 3 minutes later looking again. Amazing how they work sometimes!