Its cool we know what ya mean.
and i'll be the first to admit THEY DONT ALWAYS WORK. i have one piece of land that i hunt that i have tried calling and it was not as successful as other places. but it was worth a try.

Hence , the name of the post....my question was not if some or all of yo believe in calls. Its which works this early in the season. I have ad great luck with buckgrunts and doe bleats in Mid November to Mid December, but Im concerned that not much will be reacting such early in the season other than maybe a fawn bleat to let a buck know a doe is aroud the corner....somewhere.

Maybe like some have said, do nothing, but Im bringing my A game the first day. If its a fawn bleat, Im gonna try it. I know rattling, tending grunts, even doe bleats are a little later on in the season.

My main concerns is what stages the deer are in. Woould this be considered pre-pre-rut? or just normal activity at this point in the game?

No.

If you remember, I saw more than I stopped counting deer at 75 in the one morning sit and two evening sits. I saw that buck in the am then at least 9 skirting to and fro in the edge of the park and such.

You did treat me well.

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.

One tactic that has produced bucks for me in the past during the pre rut or rut stage...

Take the estrus can and roll it over 3 times...Wait 3-4 minutes and give 3-4 grunts with your grunt tube...Don't make the long agressive grunt, go with the shorter grunt...What you are trying to do is mimic a doe saying, "I'm looking for you big boy, where are you?"...Then the buck comes looking and he is saying "I'm here darling, come on over..."

This works especially well near a cutover or a bedding area...I've had bucks get up from the bedding area and come looking for the hot lady...

Jeff, I just thought of something and it may or may not be the case, we'll never know but maybe the reason I did see so many bucks was the calling. They came looking but didn't commit. Who knows it could have been right place, right time but that was an exceptional 2 evenings in a treestand.

I too always have a grunt call with me, even in the early season/opening days. My buddy called in a buck last year the second week of September.

Even if you aren't blind calling early in the season...it's not a bad idea to have your call with you. You might just pull that buck in from 50-60 yards to 20-30 yards with a couple of soft, contact grunts. It can't hurtif you weren't going to get a shot anyways!

simply put .....early season -2 doe bleats. it has always brought does in. of course if your looking for a buck it may not work as well.

I carry my rattling horns with me from the second week of sept after the bucks are out of velvet they start sparing and testing each other to see what head gear each has and to form there pecking order. I don't do any agressive rattling until mid oct but will tinkle the horns together. I have also used grunt calls and "the can" to call several bucks in. Bucks do go into lock down and there seems to be a time when deer movment does slow some but if you don't try you'll never know.