Game call effectiveness
 

I thought I would ask you guys what your thoughts were on the effectiveness of calling deer ..... I truly have had about a 10% success rate, if that. Your experiences???

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

I've grunted a couple in, and those 2 were ones I could see but would be passing out of range. As far as "blind" calling, zero. Nadda. Nothin. Don't even do it anymore. I bring a grunt call just in case one is walking by....

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

Mobo ... what % do you believe respond to the call ......... most of the time, for me, they just ignore it ...

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

I took a grunt call ZERO times to the woods, this season. I took a can, a few times. I used the can, once....and actually had a doe come to it.

"I" think the effectiveness of calls is directly proportionate to your herd dynamics. They are absolutely useless, here (grunt calls). I've never had any luck with them....and don't even take mine to the woods, anymore. I just choose not to tip them off to my presence.

BUT.....HUGE..."but"......

If the herd dynamics are different......(say....where Rob hunts).....I think they're awesome. I grunted in a nice buck up there......from 100yds away (when I first spotted him). Based on what I hear from Rob......he'd never go into the woods without his.

I don't know much about them.....but this has been my limited experience.

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

Speaking of course, only of the ones I see......100% respond. They don't always respond in the manner I'm looking for, but every one of them responds. Whether it be a stop and look my direction, start to run when they were walking or standing still........something. I get some type of response from each one.

Now if you're talking about how many I've "called in".....probably 25%.....

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

Im gonna say 10% as well. same as Mobow said, i get a responsw almost always, a tail flip, looking my way for awhile, ears alert, circling my location trying to get my wind, but not always come in, but i have never put a deer in alarm from calling that i know of. Rattling, i have 0% sucess rate.

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

GMAMT is right, I never, never go into my deer woods without at least one grunt tube.

Every buck I've tagged in the last 10 have come to the grunt tube. I may or may not have shot them otherwise. This years buck was carrying on behind me in the woods. I called a couple times and bam, he's looking for that buck that made that call. I arrowed him.

Last years buck, I called from 200 yards away. I was in the pin oak stand, he came out under my food plot stand and fed. Two grunts I had him racking the shrubs, a couple more grunts and he marches straight down the field to my arrow. That is of course after I missed the big 4.5 year old a week earlier that kicked this bucks ass. I called him that same 200 yards with the grunt tube, exact same scenerio and call sequence.

2005's buck came in chasing does. I concentrated on calling them and it was too much for them and they came, he followed.

2004 if you remember correctly, I called him from behind me into the field same as the 2007 buck, almost the exact same scenerio except I missed him....twice. He stood some 50 yards inside the wood line and I worked him out into the field with the calls again and arrowed him at 41 yards.

2002, a buck skirting a ridge, 2 grunts later he was standing under my tree looking for the source of the call.

2001, my best buck to date, running does all morning. He was headed away from me, a couple grunts later he is on my wall. That same year I was filming a friend when suddenly he frantically points out into the field. About 100 yards out is a buck jogging away from us. I quickly grunted and he stopped dead. I grunted a second time and he charged us. He was arrowed on video.

2000, my Halloween buck. He was walking by me about 70 yards out, sparing with a smaller buck. He started angling away when I called. The first grunt caused him to rake a tree. The second grunt had his nose on my tree. I arrowed him as he walked away.

On video you can watch me talk to a nice 7 point, it's my first video buck. I call to him occassionally as he feeds in an alphalpa field. He looks, twitches an ear, wags his tail. This went on for about 15 minutes or more. Finally he walked to the edge of the field about 50 yards or so out and made a scrape. Two grunts later I had him arrowed on film.

I've had other bucks in those last few years that came to my grunt tube. Some I called in and let walk away only to call them back again.

In 05 I called a buck that was walking away from me at 250 yards, I had to grunt several times to get his attention but once I did, he came on a string...he would have also been my best buck but he moved too quickly at the shot and I flesh wounded him. Saw him again but he was not going to come into the call again.

Countless times tho as well, I've grunted to bucks that don't come in. I still however called them successful calling events.

I watch the body posture for information. An ear twitched my direction I consider a positive response, a look I consider a positive response. I cannot recall a single incident where I grunted to have a deer flee.

I bought my first deer call when I was 16. That was 25 years ago. I've called in more whitetails than I can ever imagine counting.

When it works, it's magic. They come in on strings, almost like you cast a lure, caught them and reeled them in. Other times, they look, wag their tail and go about their business. It doesn't always work but......I would never go into my deer woods without them.


If I were going to put a % to my success calling whitetails. I'd rank it in the 60-70 % success range.

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

Wow ..... Jeff must be right .... what a difference in experiences .....

Yaknow something else .... I rarely hear bucks grunting in the woods ......

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

So far this year:

Grunting: 4 bucks responded

Rattling: 2 bucks responded

Estrous Bleats: 1 doe came in and was shot

FawnBleats: 1 fawn came running towards me to investigate

Id say this year my % is right around 75-80%

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

Tony:

I heard more grunting in one morning this year (before daylight)....than I have in every other day afield I've ever sat.....COMBINED. It sounded like a whoopee cushion factory.

I hear 'em grunting here......about 2-3 weeks.....but RARELY. I only had 17 buck sightings the entire season. But that buck in PA.......he surprised the heck out of me coming to the call. I guess I look at it like this. WHY would they come to a grunt call, here??? Why would you leave 4 does in the thicket.....to go possibly get your ass kicked....unless you were the big daddy rabbit?

You wouldn't. A nanny in the thicket is better than a possible ass-whoopin in the bush.;)

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

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.

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

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

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

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(]

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

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.

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

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.

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

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.

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

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.

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

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

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

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.

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

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.

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

Though deer on pressured areas may adapt danger to calls, I adamantly disagree with this as a whole with obvious results.

Per Greg's posting,

I've rattled in 3, or 4 in 26 bow seasons, and imitated the can with good results on several. I even rattled one back that I missed by banging my aluminum arrow off my riser and stabilizer. That's right.

Like Greg, I've scared more bucks than I've called in rattling.

RE: Game call effectiveness
 

This year, was/is the first year I really called on a regular basis. In previous years, I guess you could say I was scared that it would just scare deer away more than anything. This year, I grunted in 6 different bucks. 5 were non-shooters, and one I couldn't seal the deal with but I think I would have taken him, if a shot would have presented himself. I only rattled on 4 sits this year, I'm not real confident with it in my woods. I think I may have rattled one buck in, either that or he was headed that way anyway, I guess I don't know. I believe that grunt calls are very effective in my area, when used properly.