I'm not really big on making noise, as I believe it simply gives away my position. When bow hunting elk, a bull will only come in as far as he thinks he needs to in order to see the source of the noise. This is mostoften further away than you can shoot with a bow.

When deer hunting, I have come to believe in a similar standard. You may call or rattle (which I have donewith success in both instances), but most times an animal which chooses to respond will only come as close as they think they need to in order to see the source.

It helps to be patient. Call, but wait quite a while between sessions, as a buck may eventually work his way to you if enough time elapses. Same with elk hunting. The critters are on critter time, not Timex. They have all day to investigate a noise or smell, while we tend to think it ought to happen just right now! Patience is the key with calling.

A decoy may help in conjunction with calling. I tried this once with a buddy who owned the decoy, and we did pretty well.

Also, I much prefer a doe grunt to stop/turn/draw deer that I may already see or hear over a buck grunt any day. This may be my own biased personal experience, but a doe grunt has turned many a headed-south deer hunting situation into a dead buck over a buck grunt for me.