sky_guy_61

I have seen a lot of posts about calling.. but mostly only about using bleats and grunts. Also, the commercial calls and sites that discuss calling never talk about snorts.
The reason I am asking is because the only sound I ever hear deer make is snorts. I usually hunt from the ground.. often still hunting, and when I get busted they snort and run away. Has anyone ever responded to a snort by using a snort? Would this help? I am wondering if there is any hope of bringing them back with a snort.. OR if I can use blind snorting to bring a deer out from cover. I often hunt near thick brush where I know there are deer.. but have never brought them out using grunts or fawn bawl. Right now I would just as soon hunt does until my buddy gets his first buck.
I often hear deer movement in the thick stuff.. so what would be the best way to bring them out? Bleats, grunts, or snorts?
I can do a decent snort with my mouth since I have heard it so many times.. but is there a commercial call which can do snorts?
Thanks..sky

Bulzeye

Never used a snort, only a grunt, and no luck with it yet.
My gut tells me a grunt would only be good for stopping a deer to take a shot as it is a warning sound and would most likely scare them away or keep them from coming closer.

Just my gut, not experience.
I'll come back to read what others say.
It's an interesting question.

Keep 'em all in the Bull.

kodiakhuntmaster

If a deer snorts at you and you snort back, it is suppose to make them think that they were scared by another deer. It won't bring them back (at lest it never did with me) but it will keep a deer from snorting for 5 minutes and alarming every deer in the county, unless it smelled you, then it knows you are not another deer. If you get on the edge of some thick cover and have a buddy blow a snort call and stomp with his foot about 80 yards away or so, you may just see a buck tring to "sneak" out of the area. Most likily if you do it yourself, you will just see alarmed deer running away from you. I've grunted deer out of thick cover, just sit on the edge and blow a grunt call softly once or twice every few minutes. I never had any luck rattling, but I have called in many bucks by blowing a grunt call and rubbing a stick against a pine tree to simulate a buck making a rub. There are commercial snort calls, it's called a grunt snort and wheeze call. If you "grunt snort and wheeze" a buck it is suppose to challenge him to a fight. Doesn't look like it would work to me. Why would you make all that noise if you can already see the buck? If you do "blind" snorting you will only make deer think another deer is alarmed by something in your area, and you don't want that. Hope this helps clear things up a bit. Good luck.


-Ray

"Hey ya'll, watch this"

sky_guy_61

Hey thanks alot for the info. You kept me from making a big mistake. One more question. If a deer DOES snort at me.. should I grunt back in order to make him think I am a deer? Recently one saw me, snorted, and ran into the thick stuff. I could see him where he stopped, but it was too thick for a shot. I grunted a couple times, but could not longer see the deer and he never came out.

Thanks again

epic

Do Moose snort too? On Saturday, just about sunset, I got up to leave the woods and something BIG snorted at me. It was as loud as my wife's horse. I never saw it, but you can be sure I was watching my back as I left.

kodiakhuntmaster

Anytime sky,

The short answer is no.It's a tough situation anytime a deer snorts at you, and there isn't all that much you can do once you are "busted". After you are busted, you don't have much to lose by grunting.

When you hear a (usually) single loud snort, usually fairly close, and hear the deer stomping his hoof, the deer was just milling around and thinks something may be wrong. If you can see the deer he is usually putting his head down slowly and then snapping it back up and looking in your direction (the head bobbing thing). Stay still, and don't make a sound. He is tring to make you move, or make a noise. If you do, the deer knows something is wrong and it's time to high tail it out of there. You'll know when your busted, you'll here him snort several quick times in a row and you can usually hear him running off.
But If you don't move, there is a chance that he will calm down and keep walking. In this case, a grunt call wouldn't do you much good as any sound could set the deer off. But If he is walking away from you, you don't have much to lose by tring to grunt him back in.

But if you hear the deer just run off without snorting, or maybe one quick low snort, you may be able to grunt him back in (your not busted yet). One important thing to remember is, doe snort at bucks during the rut. So this time of year a snort may not be directed twards you.

It all boils down to this, when you "might" be be busted, the best thing you can do is try to be invisible. If a deer smells a hint of human in the air and sees something odd, it is unlikely he with think it is another deer whether it grunts or not.
But if you are busted already, like I said you don't have much to lose by grunting. You will have lost that deer, but maybe not another one close by.

well Epic,
I don't have much experince with moose, but it would only make since to me that they have an alarm call too.



"Hey ya'll, watch this"