ORIGINAL: Schultzy
ORIGINAL: Rob/PA Bowyer
ORIGINAL: Hoyt_Viper
Our archery season is October 4th. I know thats pretty close to, but not close enough for pre-rut.
What works early in the season, bleats? Grunts?
In PA, I've grunted in bucks from the beginning of the season to the end of the season. Contact grunts work year around if they are interested. Couple that with contact bleats in early season. I will NEVER enter a woods for the purpose of hunting without a grunt call.
You sound allot like my brother Rob. My brother lives, eats, and drinks his deer calls. He's excellent with them and has had great success with them. I for one have had just the opposite luck. I've actually had better luck burping (Imitating a buck grunting) then I have using calls. This year I'm giving it my all being I went out and purchased a bunch of calls this winter. I picked up some MAD calls- Grunt Snort And Wheeze, Buck Growl, Heat Bleat. I am really interested in the Snort and Wheeze and Buck Growl and I plan on using them as the rut nears this fall if I'm still with out a buck yet come that time.
I bought my first deer call when I was 15, 26 years ago and at the time I don't even recall if grunts were available. The one I bought was a wooden call resembling a duck call and it was strictly a doe bleat. I called in an amazing amount of deer with it and I wish I still had it.
Almost ever single deer I've taken, and more specifically, ever deer I mounted came to the call and I may or may not have ever killed said animals without it. I've called bucks from over 250 yards walking away from me right to bow range. I've called does in, I've called in bucks only to let them walk away and call them back again. That 04 buck I missed twice and called him back in to kill him on the 3rd shot.
They don't work every time but when they do it can be like a magnet.
Most times it's two grunts, one to get their attention, the second to pull them in.
If I get a chance I'll make a calling tutorial, not HOW to but what works for me. I don't think there is a real HOW TO, but definately some successes.