Calls

I am still pretty new with bowhunting and doing it during the rut....I guess my question is...Should I be doing any blind calling? Grunting or rattling?? Or just wait till I see a buck and then if he does not come try grunting at him? Thanks for any advice guys....Heading out Thurs-Sun. Good luck fellas

In the deer world there is never a one size fits all. it is always where are you calling deer, have they been pressured, have they heard every call in the book, and are they in the mood. IT would not hurt to blind call once in a while now but don't sound like a spring turkey caller. If you do call one in watch his reaction to the call positive or negative. I like to play them like a spring Gobbler and as long as they are coming in become silent and let him come closer to find the other buck. If he starts to leave I turn my head away from him and call softly to make him think the buck moved or was farther then he thought. also on Sun. morning I saw a 6pt buck I didn't want to shoot so I decided to call to him and used my buck Roar call of a bigger buck and he ran off in a split sec. so it depends also on how big a buck you want to shoot or just any buck. If a buck is hot on a doe he already knows where the doe is and could care less about another buck unless he sees it. Don't ever be afraid to try a call just don't over do it or expect it to be a cure all for bagging a buck. it ends up being a hit or miss situation.

Thanks for the info....I appreciate it! Trying to harvest my first deer with a bow so I am gonna shoot or (shoot at) haha anything bigger than a spike...lol

On the 2nd last day of bow season in 2010, a pack of does passed about 120 yards from me. Approx. 5 minutes later, a single deer was on the same course. I thought this odd, but since season was virtually done, I made a grunt at him. To my surprise, he stopped and looked, then kept on walking. I grunted again, and he steered off his course, but not directly towards me. Lost sight, so I again grunted, but as stated in last post, a softer grunt... long story short, he finally committed, and I kept a very quiet grunt a couple more times (I shoved the call into my coat to muffle the volume). 15 yard shot, dbl lung, and my season came to an end 20 yards later.

Sometimes it pays to try.......

Calling advice- if you hunt a heavily hunted area or public, keep them in your pocket. If you hunt a lightly pressured area definitely do some grunt sequences every 15-20 minutes right now (pre-breeding). I don't like bleating but that's just me. Rattling, never had much luck either other than small bucks. But get that grunt tube out if you are hunting lightly pressured area for sure. In another 10 days or so the bucks won't much attention to anything unless you smell like an estrous doe.

Thanks black beard. Yes I will be on public ground. Thanks for the advice!