How To Call Whitetail Deer
By Bill Vaznis
The secret is out. Rattling horns and grunt tubes can turn an otherwise uneventful morning of deer hunting into a day of reckoning. Indeed, they will draw a buck passing just out of range into bow range as well as a deer that is sneaking behind you undetected. They work so well I would rather set foot afield without my lunch than to leave my grunt tubes and rattling bag back at camp.
There is a catch however. The strategies for blind calling versus calling to a deer in sight differ. To be successful this fall, you must understand the differences.
Blind Calling
According to Mark Drury of M.A.D. Calls, “the first calling or rattling sequence you do is the most effective of the day. I start out in the morning by just tickling the antlers together, or emitting a quick short series of calls from my grunt tube. A soft quiet approach is important because you never know if there is a buck bedded nearby. You may have walked right by him in the dark on your way to your stand, and because you were noiseless and the wind was favorable, you did not bother him.
“The tonal qualities of a grunt call carry through the woods much better on a real crisp morning.”
“I make it short and sweet, and then grab my bow. I can’t stress this enough. It is one of the biggest reasons for failure. You must be prepared to kill as soon as you touch those antlers together or make that first note with your grunt tube. Look all around for a deer, but concentrate on the downwind side of your position. This is where the buck is likely to show himself. And he may come in hard and quick. If that buck doesn’t see an animal he can exit just as quickly as he entered. Approach every calling situation like there is a deer behind every tree!
The weather is an important consideration for Chris Kirby of Quaker Boy. “When I am blind calling,” says Kirby, “I try to pay attention to the weather. The tonal qualities of a grunt call carry through the woods much better on a real crisp morning. Mind you I do not blow three notes every ten minutes or a single note every five minutes. That is too repetitious. Calling deer is like calling turkeys, ducks or geese. You must change things up and be willing to try new patterns and new calling sequences if you want to be successful.
“During the pre-rut stages I prefer a lot of grunts with maybe a few bleats mixed in. In my opinion during the pre-rut the bucks are still marking their territory and chasing other bucks off. Once a few does come into estrous however those bucks will focus more of their energies on those hot does, and less on protecting their territory. So during the pre-rut I have much greater success on calling bucks to me with a grunt call. Once the does start coming into estrous, bucks are a little more responsive to the bleat call.
“You must protect you back door however when you blind call,” cautions Kirby. “I take two canisters of buck or doe-in-heat urine, and place them a few yards out to the left and to the right of my position. If a buck tries to circle around behind me, he will smell that urine, and generally walk right up that scent line giving me a broadside shot. If you don’t protect that back door he will circle you, smell you and be gone without you even knowing you were successful calling him in.”
Calling To A Buck In Sight
“I call and rattle differently when I have a buck in sight” says Drury, “than I do when I am blind calling. In fact, I handle the situation very carefully. I first test him by grunting or tickling the antlers. I start out lightly, and on the bottom of the scale, to try and find the range in which he will hear me. He may or not come right in, but he will let you know if he hears you by turning his head, stopping to look in your direction or even twitching an ear.
Be selective in your calling. Bucks learn fast what is real and what is not.
“If he hears you and doesn’t come in or let you know by some sort of body motion that he is interested, let him alone until another day. You don’t want to educate him by bombarding him with every sound in your arsenal. The next time you cross paths he may just come a running!
“If he hears you, say from 80 to 100 yards out, and turns toward you then I work him my way by just tickling the antlers or calling to him very softly. I won’t call if he is looking right at me, and I never give out a full-fledged rattling sequence or he will quickly realize there is not a deer in the vicinity.”
Like Drury, Chris Kirby believes the most exciting time to call a buck is when he is feeding right in front of you because you can see the deer’s reaction to your calling efforts, and then react yourself accordingly.
“I generally watch their ears, tail and head,” says Kirby. “They might just jerk their head up and look right at me, and then put their head back down to feed. As soon as they put their head back down I grunt two or three more times at them. I want to keep them interested in me.
“Hopefully, he will jerk his head around to your first grunts, and just start walking in your direction stiff-legged, tail down and ears pointed right at you. When that happens, tuck the call away and grab your bow–it’s time to rock and roll!
“If he continues to ignore me, I will mix in a few bleats with my grunts to see if I can spark his curiosity. If that doesn’t work, I will avoid all calls for at least a half an hour. After all, a buck’s testosterone levels can vary by the hour.
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