Greg, yes grunting and bleats are their way of communication (natural sounds). However when they can' t see a deer making that noise they then become curious. During or closer to the rut these calls can bring them in to find the intruder or doe just in case she is ready to breed. Although sometimes they pay little attention and carry on. While I believe in calling and use different facits of calling, I also know it isn' t fool proof or 100% gauranteed success method. I truly believe they are curious of where that deer is and what is he or she doing, because most hunters hear very few grunts or bleats while hunting. They are largerly pretty unvocalized animals, they will grunt while tending (which is breeding), they sometimes will grunt while fight or during confrontations to show dominance, I have heard on occasion bucks grunt while walking but that was during the rut(and my theroy was they were scenting another animal) and I have heard does talk to their fawns and likewise. To this day I have never heard a doe bleat when solo, I am sure they do just haven' t witnessed it. I also have never heard a buck grunt when solo or bached up prior to rut. I really believe calling works on the curiosity bone of deer. Hey I may be wrong but I do believe in doing it, just not blindly blowing a call and expecting a deer to respond. With a visual it is a great tool to stop or possible bring that animal a few more yards for a shot. During the rut all bets are off, they are searching and blind calling along rattling can produce results.
Good luck Greg, hope you get a crack at him.
