You can take the quotes off the I and make that a "We."

Where I hunt in Canada I would say blind calling, any method, works about 7% of the time. Sight calling works about 75% of the time.

In WI, blind calling works about 3% of the time and sight calling works about 10%.

They are two totally different herds and respond totally different.

VERY good point on the herd dynamics. The mood of the deer means alot too!

Great stuff guys ..... I always felt like I was doing something wrong ..... I guess that'll happen if ya watch too many hunting videos [X(]

Probably not, Tony. Remember my theory on "location"?

I don't think Bill Dance would pull any 10#'ers out of the pond across the street.

Jeff's spot on in his assessment of his herd and calling as well. When I hunted the two days last season with him I roughly saw 10 different bucks in those 2 days. I called to each of them. I had one come into the call and it was the biggest one of the 10. Like he said, they don't need to come to a competitor buck when they have plenty of ladies for themselves. The one that did come probably was the dominant or a dominant buck checking his territory out. I told Jeff, I wondered if that was the bull, last year. It was the right spot.

It is all about herd dynamics as others have commented.Where the herd has better balance and more competiition for breeding the use of a grunt call will be much more effective.In Idaho I grunt bucks in practically every year.In NY I have grunted one buck in and killed it.At home here in NY even when I go soft I have been ignored or had bucks spook.I have called doe's in with soft bleating.

never used a call and never will, to many hunters using the same call, to many deer know one call...

I start carrying my grunt call from day 1 to the end of the season. I hunt Ill and Wi. I've carried a can call for the last 3 years and try rattling every year.

My results:

Grunt call - 25%

Can call - 0%

Rattling- 0% (scared a lot away though [&o])

I rarely grunt during Sept. but from Oct 17th through Jan, I do it frequently. I blind call alot during early Nov., works pretty good.

The most important thing is .... what the buck is feeling.

You have to play a tune that they like. If not, they'll simply ignore you. Try to guess his mood, aggressive, passive etc. call accordingly. I have some techniques that work well during certain times of the year which I've written about before. A lot of trial and error.

I hear bucks grunting all the time, meaning, every season. This is a good thing, if you see a buck that you'd shoot and he's grunting, START CALLING.

I was 10 yds from the tree you were in when I shot him.

And I didn't see 10 different bucks ALL SEASON, this year. More like 5-6.

I grunted up 3 bucks last week alone. The buck:doe ratio at one of my spots supports it. I grunted up the 8 pt that I shot last Saturday. I actually grunted him in from about 100 yards and he was walking and grunting as he came. This, you could say, was a sight grunt. I saw him, grunted at him, and he came too me...no shotthough. Saturday morning, the next morning, I blind grunted and he again responded by coming right to me...grunting as he walked. I've heard a snort wheeze in the woods before but these were my first grunts I've heard. That was really cool to hear. I've grunted in probably 8-9 different bucks this season. The first was in the second week of October and the last one was the 8 pt I shot last Saturday.