This will be my first year bow hunting. I've been putting trail cams out consistently all year near my stand and have seen deer there on a regular basis. I went to the store today to look at calls and felt pretty overwelmed. They had about 5 different types of can calks, wheez calls, all kinds of moans and groans, racks, blow in this, squeeze on that, usi
pre rut early rut late rut after rut...no clue.

I bought a "lil can" by primos for 8 bucks.

I feel like if I go out there and start calling, I'm not going to do it properly and the deer are just going to take off. Does anyone hunt without using calls? I mean if they are regularly walking within 10-25 yards of my stand, no need to call right?

You got it. If theyr're coming through within range there is no need to be call happy.

If you do decide to grab some calls, don't let all the smoke and mirrors confuse you. You basically just need something for rattling, a grunt call, and a doe bleat. Thats all you really need.

Here's an intro to calling sounds. http://www.hungry-for-hunting.com/ca...iled-deer.html

I have cut back every year on calling, pretty much down to rattling and grunting during the pre-rut anymore.

I never call and do okay. Not to say calling wouldn't help

get in there without being noticed and sit tight. You'll be way better off than drawing attention to yourself. Learned that the hard way.

Only call in large area's, really large where the calling isn't pin pointed, even then you have to be as keen eyed as an eagle. Just when you get tired and let down your watching or lose patience and call again, your pegged.

Patience is a virtue. Take your best shot, learn the area, adjust if need be and the years to come will be good.

I carry a can call, and a grunt tube. Use sparingly. I've not seen the can call scare deer. But a grunt definitely can. If you are seeing deer, don't worry about calling. Try that if things get slow.
-Jake

Yep. Ghost method. I will use a can call and maybe grunt a LITTLE during the rut.

I only use grunt call. Rattiling does not work much here as the doe population is too big. last year i had some clue less bowhunter snuck into my lil block of woods. I hear can call 27 times in a row!! all i could do was shake my head till after last light and confront him.. which i did..

I rarely use a call. There are occasions when I do you a grunt or a doe bleat (can) but only sparingly. Also a word of caution on using a grunt call. Either get an adjustable one or only use it if you are trying to get a big mature buck in range. The reason I say this is from experience. I knew there were a couple good buck in my area a few years ago. One morning I had a 2 year old six point at about 40 yards that I knew I wasn't going to shoot. I wanted to see what would happen if I grunted at him with my call set on mature buck. The instant I gave a soft grunt he didn't even look and took off like a scalded dog. I presume the got his clock cleaned from one of the big boys and wanted no parts of that again.

i always go hunting with my calls hanging around my neck i use modern mouth calls they work great. it takes many years to learn calling techniques or i should say be comfortable calling.get some videos on calling from different sources and you can blend them to your own style.when i lived in western new york i had great luck calling deer in not to say i always killed one but it's very exciting to in a way communicate with them. also when your going to your spot have that call ready especially if you know there deer around and if you jump a deer you can use that call to stop them just enough to look at them to see if you want to shoot.also if deer are blowing at you but not running and they don't know what you are use your call maybe fawn call to trick them they might walk right out and you can get a shot. another great deer hunter is roger raglin i picked up a lot of valuable information watching his videos. well hope this helps and good luck !