whitetails & muskies

I' ve hunted mulies a few times, but not for several years now. I drew a CO tag this year and was wondering if an occasional bleat or grunt would make sense, or not?

A grunt/bleat for whitetails is about the best tool I have, but mulies...???

skeeter 7MM

I hunt mulies every year, however hardly never during the rut as I prefer to hunt them in Bow & ML season(sept/oct) when the pressure remains low. I haven' t had much success calling large mulie bucks in, does, fawns and smaller buck yes, but no hawgs. I either hunt them in transition areas to food/water or spot & stalk, these 2 techniques have accounted for all the Mulie' s I have harvested. If left unpressured they are fairly easy to pattern, provided you have time to scout.

JD IN ALBERTA

I grunted in a mulie for a buddy of mine 2 years ago. I saw him in the distance and closed in, at about 75 yds I started to grunt. He ran towards me about 20 yds and started thrashing the bush with his antlers. My buddy shot him at 50 yds. He wasn' t a brute, but it does work during the rut. I' ve had does and bucks walk under my stand before the rut (late Sept, early Oct) and they were making grunting noises. JDinAB

rather_be_huntin

I' d have to disagree somewhat with the last post. I' m not saying those things didn' t happen but I' ve been a muley hunter my entire life, no whitetails in these parts. And although on rare occasion they do make some noises and I would assume on rare occasion they would respond, they do not in any way consistantly respond to any kind of call. Meaning for the most part you' re just wasting your time. Now I' ll give you that maybe muleys behave differently in different parts but in the western US a call just isn' t worthwhile. Your time in the field is better spent on other hunting tactics. When you go to the sporting goods store how many muley calls do you see. There a a few but few is the key word. If you' re a whitetail hunter its best to change your tactics a bit to bag your big muley. At least if you' re hunting in the western US, I can' t speak for those Canadian types.

rather_be_huntin

Oh and by the way if you' re hunting in the Rockies of Colorado leave the treestand at home too. A lot of open country with few trees to climb. Peaks and ridges is where you want to be. Glassing as the sun comes up and just before it goes down, then spot and stalk is your best bet. You didn' t mention if you' re using a bow or rifle but it doesn' t really matter. Same technique just gotta get closer with a bow.

whitetails & muskies

Intersting responses...thanks, my intial thought was that they would not be. I have shot a few, although it was later in the year and at a distance with the rifle. This year I will be using the muzzleloader (open sights), in early September. My original post should have stated that, because my intent would be to only use a subtle grunt if I were in position where I couldn' t get a clean shot and would try to " re-position" him and get him to turn or move slightly closer...never expecting a buck to come in strong at that time of the year.

Now, those whitetails...... they can be some real " talkers" in the thick of the rut in November!!! Especially up in the big snow country of far northern WI.

So, would a subtle grunt be worth the effort, spook em off, or should I just leave the calls hang until I return?

rather_be_huntin

Yeah, that does change things a bit. I do not have any muley calls BUT a subtle grunt to reposition a buck or stop him for a shot might not be a bad idea.

JD IN ALBERTA

I' m only stating what has worked for me in the past....all be it, not all the time, but grunting and rattling doesn' t work for whitetails all the time either, some may disagree with my thoughts, but that doesn' t mean one shouldn' t try different methods to harvest different animals. I have hunted mulies for 20 years and I' ve spot & stalked, ground blind, tree stand, tripped over and yes even rattled them in.
I honestly don' t think you can say that every whitetail deer or even the majority will come running in if you rattle & grunt. Thats what hunting is all about, I' d agree the preferred method is the spot & stalk, but I never did like to listen to the majority....I like to do it my way and show other ways work too, it just takes persistence and patience. Imagine if we only made love one way only[], that would suck! try a little something different and you never know the results. JDinAB

rather_be_huntin

Like I said JD I don' t know how the Muleys in Canada react, might be a whole different ball a wax. But here in the western US doing rattlin would be like bringing an elk bugle on a turkey hunt. Everyone in the general vicinity, including the deer, might just have a chuckle at your expense. 1000' s of hunters with years of experience can' t be wrong. Point is no one does it cuz it just don' t work HERE. Again don' t know about Canada. Would you still make love to your lady the same way if she had a chuckle at your expense?

JD IN ALBERTA

dunno...never had a crowd around like you guy' s do.