Location: Heaven is my home, temporarily residing in WNY :)
Posts: 6,661
Game call effectiveness
I thought I would ask you guys what your thoughts were on the effectiveness of calling deer ..... I truly have had about a 10% success rate, if that. Your experiences???
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A Trophy is highly personal and is often determined by the circumstances, events, and the individual feelings of accomplishment and not by a score card. - Greg "Doc" Caldwell
for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks!
I've grunted a couple in, and those 2 were ones I could see but would be passing out of range. As far as "blind" calling, zero. Nadda. Nothin. Don't even do it anymore. I bring a grunt call just in case one is walking by....
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Location: Heaven is my home, temporarily residing in WNY :)
Posts: 6,661
RE: Game call effectiveness
Mobo ... what % do you believe respond to the call ......... most of the time, for me, they just ignore it ...
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A Trophy is highly personal and is often determined by the circumstances, events, and the individual feelings of accomplishment and not by a score card. - Greg "Doc" Caldwell
for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks!
I took a grunt call ZERO times to the woods, this season. I took a can, a few times. I used the can, once....and actually had a doe come to it.
"I" think the effectiveness of calls is directly proportionate to your herd dynamics. They are absolutely useless, here (grunt calls). I've never had any luck with them....and don't even take mine to the woods, anymore. I just choose not to tip them off to my presence.
BUT.....HUGE..."but"......
If the herd dynamics are different......(say....where Rob hunts).....I think they're awesome. I grunted in a nice buck up there......from 100yds away (when I first spotted him). Based on what I hear from Rob......he'd never go into the woods without his.
I don't know much about them.....but this has been my limited experience.
Speaking of course, only of the ones I see......100% respond. They don't always respond in the manner I'm looking for, but every one of them responds. Whether it be a stop and look my direction, start to run when they were walking or standing still........something. I get some type of response from each one.
Now if you're talking about how many I've "called in".....probably 25%.....
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Im gonna say 10% as well. same as Mobow said, i get a responsw almost always, a tail flip, looking my way for awhile, ears alert, circling my location trying to get my wind, but not always come in, but i have never put a deer in alarm from calling that i know of. Rattling, i have 0% sucess rate.
GMAMT is right, I never, never go into my deer woods without at least one grunt tube.
Every buck I've tagged in the last 10 have come to the grunt tube. I may or may not have shot them otherwise. This years buck was carrying on behind me in the woods. I called a couple times and bam, he's looking for that buck that made that call. I arrowed him.
Last years buck, I called from 200 yards away. I was in the pin oak stand, he came out under my food plot stand and fed. Two grunts I had him racking the shrubs, a couple more grunts and he marches straight down the field to my arrow. That is of course after I missed the big 4.5 year old a week earlier that kicked this bucks ass. I called him that same 200 yards with the grunt tube, exact same scenerio and call sequence.
2005's buck came in chasing does. I concentrated on calling them and it was too much for them and they came, he followed.
2004 if you remember correctly, I called him from behind me into the field same as the 2007 buck, almost the exact same scenerio except I missed him....twice. He stood some 50 yards inside the wood line and I worked him out into the field with the calls again and arrowed him at 41 yards.
2002, a buck skirting a ridge, 2 grunts later he was standing under my tree looking for the source of the call.
2001, my best buck to date, running does all morning. He was headed away from me, a couple grunts later he is on my wall. That same year I was filming a friend when suddenly he frantically points out into the field. About 100 yards out is a buck jogging away from us. I quickly grunted and he stopped dead. I grunted a second time and he charged us. He was arrowed on video.
2000, my Halloween buck. He was walking by me about 70 yards out, sparing with a smaller buck. He started angling away when I called. The first grunt caused him to rake a tree. The second grunt had his nose on my tree. I arrowed him as he walked away.
On video you can watch me talk to a nice 7 point, it's my first video buck. I call to him occassionally as he feeds in an alphalpa field. He looks, twitches an ear, wags his tail. This went on for about 15 minutes or more. Finally he walked to the edge of the field about 50 yards or so out and made a scrape. Two grunts later I had him arrowed on film.
I've had other bucks in those last few years that came to my grunt tube. Some I called in and let walk away only to call them back again.
In 05 I called a buck that was walking away from me at 250 yards, I had to grunt several times to get his attention but once I did, he came on a string...he would have also been my best buck but he moved too quickly at the shot and I flesh wounded him. Saw him again but he was not going to come into the call again.
Countless times tho as well, I've grunted to bucks that don't come in. I still however called them successful calling events.
I watch the body posture for information. An ear twitched my direction I consider a positive response, a look I consider a positive response. I cannot recall a single incident where I grunted to have a deer flee.
I bought my first deer call when I was 16. That was 25 years ago. I've called in more whitetails than I can ever imagine counting.
When it works, it's magic. They come in on strings, almost like you cast a lure, caught them and reeled them in. Other times, they look, wag their tail and go about their business. It doesn't always work but......I would never go into my deer woods without them.
If I were going to put a % to my success calling whitetails. I'd rank it in the 60-70 % success range.
Location: Heaven is my home, temporarily residing in WNY :)
Posts: 6,661
RE: Game call effectiveness
Wow ..... Jeff must be right .... what a difference in experiences .....
Yaknow something else .... I rarely hear bucks grunting in the woods ......
__________________
A Trophy is highly personal and is often determined by the circumstances, events, and the individual feelings of accomplishment and not by a score card. - Greg "Doc" Caldwell
for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks!
I heard more grunting in one morning this year (before daylight)....than I have in every other day afield I've ever sat.....COMBINED. It sounded like a whoopee cushion factory.
I hear 'em grunting here......about 2-3 weeks.....but RARELY. I only had 17 buck sightings the entire season. But that buck in PA.......he surprised the heck out of me coming to the call. I guess I look at it like this. WHY would they come to a grunt call, here??? Why would you leave 4 does in the thicket.....to go possibly get your ass kicked....unless you were the big daddy rabbit?
You wouldn't. A nanny in the thicket is better than a possible ass-whoopin in the bush.
Game call effectiveness
