before the rut a ussually do a little soft grunting. other than that i hunt places like funnels between food and bedding areas, also ill look for acorns, when they drop thats where deer will be. also in like october i carry my tiny rattling horns and may make a little sparring session like between two little 1 old bucks and alot of times more dominant bucks may come and try to run the younger deer off, esspecially 2 weeks and closer to the rut