Deercalls?????

[3Feathers]

Does anybody have any luck blindcalling or do you wait till you see deer??

[YORNOC]

for me, it depends where i hunt. Locally, I rarely ever hear the deer make much noise. I've tried all kinds of calls with verylittle result other than an ear flick. A couple of young bucks have respoinded, but not  much. Around here I stay pretty silent.
In areas of southern new york I hunt, its the opposite. the deer are extremely vocal and respond all the time. so i'll blind call here every 15 minutes with excellent results.
northern maine, ZERO results. no calling ever did anything but make deer shy away.
Alabama, new jersey, pa, connecticut, all mixed results.
sorry about my typing, my good arm is totally out of commission!

[Brianlocal3]

I THINK I have had luck blind calling.  I say think because I don't know for sure.  But what I do, and I do it regularly , Is I will grunt 3 times or so, and then doe bleat 3-5 times.  Then wait a couple min and repeat.  Ill do this a couple time and then wait to see what happenens.  sometimes i see deer, sometimes I don't.

[Mojostick]

I've had great "luck" with blind calling, if ground hunting in thick 2nd cut cover with low visability and when you grunt, you quickl set the call down and get ready for the next 15 minutes. If you can only see about 20 yards on a good trail in heavy cover, blind calling is often the only option. But stay wired if you decide to grunt, often a buck will run in, fast and within seconds, since they were only maybe 50-100 yards away, but you never knew it due to the thick 2nd cut growth.
IMHO, the Primos Buck Roar is the best grunt made and I owned a sporting goods store and "tested" about all of them.

[Birdbow]

If you consider rattling a type of calling, I've had fair luck blind calling. Have rattled in half a dozen bucks, all here in NH. Most have approached from down wind and didn't offer shots. I find it helps to have thick cover at my back so that when they can't visually confirm what they've heard, they're inclined to approach to search in the cover (or circle downwind!) Sure is fun when there's a response though.

[beauleyse]

I like to blind call in an area I know the deer are close or could be close... I have had great success calling in bucks with doe bleats and tending grunts in early November. As with does I feel that a light grunt ever so often is a good thing and could make a deer feel safe...  I find though that calling works best in areas where it is very hard for deer to get down wind of me without me first seeing them...After a few years of predator hunting and calling I learn that animals always want to scent check what is making the raucous before approaching no matter how much like an animal you can sound.

[JamesV]

My opinion is: Deer calls are just something to sell and the people that sell them have made millions off the notion that deer will come a runnin. Every year there is always something new that will make the deer swarm into your stand. I don't need to kill that many deer so I don't buy into the hype. The only real advantage a bowhunter has is to do your scouting and play the wind and hope for a lot of LUCK.

[Rick Richard]

I have had great success mimicking a doe sound, which is like saying "aaaaaaaa".  I use this blind call when we are having a hot and intense rut.  Otherwise, I use it when first sighting bucks that are moving away from my location.  You would not believe the response I have gotten...turn on a dime and head straight to me.  Now bagging them is another story.

[Rick Richard]

I should have mentioned that I have never had any luck with a grunt sound of another buck.

[Wiley Coyote]

I have had some good responses from blind calling with the grunt tube. But keep in mind that once you call you are being hunted also.....! I have had no luck with rattling though............?  

[NBK]

I'll blind call when I'm bored.
When I see a buck I look at the calling kinda like calling ducks.  If he's heading my way I stay quiet.  If he's going to move off out of range I'll give a soft grunt first.  If he ignores it, I'll give a louder grunt.  If there's still no response I'll do a snort wheeze with my mouth.  Snort wheeze only worked once for me, but he came running like I was whistling for my dog.

[huntsman247]

During the early rut I always have my rattling antlers and a grunt tube. Very exciting to see them bucks stalking in. Rattle to bring them in and grunt if needed to keep their atention.

[jsweka]

I've never had any luck with a call either blind calling or when I see a deer.  Maybe I just don't know what I'm doing, but I just leave the thing at home now (one less thing to carry).

[Sam McMichael]

I have had a bit of luck with rattling, but I can't confirm success with grunt calls. Most seem to simply ignore it. I can't do passable snort wheeze so have never even tried it in the woods.

[rugrat]

x2 for the buck roar by primos. Have called in and shot 4 p&y's. The largest was called in blind. Have also called in numerous other smaller bucks and had them fight below me. In fact I called in a button this year and shot him at 12-15 yards. With almost all deer the snort wheeze was used as well.

 I am a firm believer in calling blind, although I usually wait till I see them and call based on their reaction. It actually surprises me if they don't respond. I do think your buck to doe ratio has a lot to do with how aggressively they respond.

[Tajue17]

since blind calling the last 6 deer I got 5 where bucks,,, BUT I keep it to an absolute minimum!  

I do a quick 1/2second single grunt every 20 to 30 minutes and thats it,,, someone mentioned when you do that you are being hunted too and they are correct so you need to sit motionless and if you can't do that then do not grunt.... BUT I have had many Bucks run right to my tree and even look up at me and not spook,,, about a month ago a week before the season opened here I walked into my stand with my regular clothes on and no camo just rubber lacrosse boots,,, I climb into my stand and while in a T shirt, black jeans and even drinking a coffee from a travel mug I grunted once and there where two bucks maybe 40yds away!  they both came right to the bottom of my stand and 1 looked right into my eyes and just sniffed around looking for the other buck...

I have never grunted and had a deer spook,,, BUT I have climbed down to leave the woods after last light to get blown at or spook deer so they do come in looking hard and very quiet so listen for them chipmunk foot steps.

my buddies nicknamed me Doeboy until I started blind calling,,, my call of choice is the deer extinguisher  http://www.illusionsystems.com/shop/extinguisher-deer-call/
because its not a loud call.

[Herdbull]

I have had great success with all types of calling. Doe bleats early and late season. Tending grunt, bawling grunt and primarily the wheeze call during the rut. Rattling while in the tree stand with a haul-line to 4 shed antlers on the ground works best for me during late season when you have only a few does comming in heat and you have an increased buck to receptive doe ratio that has improved around a food source. Yes I want to be a stealthy bowhunter, and calling does break the silence, but i have had too much success calling in young bucks as well as some very mature ones. Calling definately works best if you have competition, so that is the first thing. I may not call as much in areas with poor buck-to-doe ratios.
 I wheezed this buck into 5 yards during rut.
 

I grunted and wheezed 9 times to bring this buck in only to miss him at 17 yards.
 
Antlers on a sting, "Puppet Fights" braught this guy in to 18 yards during late season.
   


Mike

[Herdbull]

As late season come, young does come into heat. Good time to rattle, but a great time for bleats from mother. Does are protective and will come to investigate.
 

Plus coyotes come using doe bleats as well as rattling.
 

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Mike, I have a lot of hunters in my area so there is a ton of competition. I'm headed over to wally World to stock up on calls LOL        

I have had great luck calling at times. Like mike mentioned, when there is a lot of competition, it seems to work very well.  When our farm had a lot of bucks it seemed we could expect to call in at least one deer a day if not more.  It also let to a lot of broken racks on the bucks.  Not that that matters.