Call response times during rut

[bearhair]

I'm not exactly sure what teh current status of the rut is here.  Plenty of active scrapes the past couple weeks and some new rubs this week.

Just wondering how long until you get a responseafter you've let loose on various calls.  Can calls...rattling...grunts...bleats.  I've been trying them all the last couple weekends morning noon and night but nothing responding yet.  After 10 minutes of waiting after a call sequence I seem to let my guard down mentally.

[B.O.D.]

Steven,

           Unless you have LOTS of bucks and a limited amount of does ( and up here, it is never that way) you are better off to not to call or rattle at all.
Personally, I have never called in or rattled a buck here in Ontario( well maybe once, I think I grunted one in about 10 years ago...).
I think it scares them or puts them on alert.

You are better off to sit, not do anything and wait in a travel corridor between the beds and food.

I just put a stand 20' up a big hemlock between the cedar bedding area here and the big cornfiled where the deer go to feed. I used the cut hemlock branches to make a pretty spiffy ground blind too  
I do think a good scent like Jame's Valley used sparingly is a good idea, and mock scrapes seem to work too.

Just my opinion, but things that I have noticed over a long time.
I am going to try the snort-wheeze if I see a big buck though, wouldn't try it on a smaller one though, he may just run  :(
So in short, make no noise, cause up here? I have never seen a buck grunt when he is in view, or a doe bleat either.
Lot's of wheezes, but that is when I get busted.

BD

[BAK]

I always love hearing a phrase like that, "travel corridor".  Where I live there is virtually so much edge that corridors, pinch points, funnels, just hardly exist.  I have hunted where they did and it sure makes life easier if you have them.

[John C Keith]

Originally posted by bearhair:
Just wondering how long until you get a response after you've let loose on various calls.  

I am not an expert, nor do I have as much experience as many here, but I rarely use calls because I have never had luck with them. Not trying to be a smart ass but my answer to your question would be depends.       :p    On how far away the buck is, is he with a hot doe, etc.

I hope to some day hunt an area that has a good buck/ doe ratio to try it out, but don't think it will ever be around here.    Stay safe.

[hardwoods]

i rarely use calls also. @ a week ago i had a nice 8 point quartering away at 60 yards and slowly walking off. a couple of light grunts by mouth later he made a b line for my tree and at 10 yards he was my first trad deer. so......

[Gordon martiniuk]

Bearhair do not listen to big dog I have called in plenty of Deer and rattling when you hit the peak of the rut is pure magic I have talen 59 whitetails by bow and all have been taken while useing grunt tubes and yes rattling  so unless you dont try you will be like big dog whitetail free    

[bearhair]

I got to agree with the Big Dog on the plenty of does to go around comment.  I've only rattled in one buck but that was many moons ago back in BC and it was a blacktail.

2 years ago I brought a fork buck in on a string using a doe bleat can call.  Came straight to me within 10 minutes of me flipping the can a few times.  Didn't get him cause once he got 15 yrds downwind he took off.

[B.O.D.]

Gord,

        In Alberta...LOL, I have seen alot of shows there and yes, the grunting , rattling works there!
Not here though in our area of Ontario...we just don't have the same number of bucks to does that you guys have!        
I have killed 18 deer with a stickbow, not one have come to my rattling and grunting efforts..

Guess it all depends on where you live.
BD

[Guru]

I can't see why calling/rattling wouldn't work anyplace there's deer.

Do the deer in Ontario not make any noise?


I have guys tell me all the time here in NY that rattling and calls don't work....     I just laugh

[B.O.D.]

I think the biggest factor here in Southeastern Ontario is this...We have WAYYYYYYYY more does than bucks.
The bucks don't have to compete, hence they are not as vocal.

They also can breed at will, so alot of it is done at night, again the lopsided buck to doe ratio here.
Hopefully this will swing around again, I have personally seen about 60% less does this fall than last fall.
It seems our 2 week gun seasons, muzzleloading season, 3 month bow season and the 6 extra tags we have been able to buy are doing the job the ministry of transportation wants: Less deer/car collisions.

I wish they did respond more to rattling and grunting up here.  :(

[joe skipp]

Bearhair...you have another PM...

[draco]

I love to call deer.I call to them all the time. Most just keep going,but every once in a while one will come in and its just wonderful. But to fully understand rattling and challenge calls you need to know about dominance in the deer herd. A good read on this is The King of Deer by Rodney Marberger,a retired biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife. It`s out of print now but can be found on some auction site.          

A deers whole life is spent in a fight for dominance whether buck or doe. People that feed deer around their house and watch a lot can see it within "their" herd. Long before the rut starts the dominance factor is known. There will be no fights in that herd,as there is no need ,every deer knows the bad ass factor of all the other deer. But if a deer has to wander,whether for food,water or sex,it will run into deer with an unknown pecking level. The dominance thing rears it`s ugly head and it must be decided. Most deer never have to wander so there is never a problem,but if bucks start to wander,looking for more does,they will eventually run into deer they don`t know and dominance must be decided.  
I`m starting to think in areas with more equal buck /doe ratios, a challenge call is the way to go. But as Big Dog stated with his out of kelter buck /doe ratio,the snort/wheeze,and rattling wont work as the bucks dont have to go searching for does,and know the pecking order of all the deer they meet. However, the new growl call just  might work. It has to do with a hot doe gaurded by a buck and trying to keep other bucks away. If you see a buck going by you,it does`nt hurt to give him a call.Who knows,it just might work,and it`s so exciting when it does.

[hill boy]

It's been my experience that timing is everything on the calling.Right before the rut goes in full swing the bucks seem to be jockying for position.Once the mature bucks begin servicing does they have know reason to respond to a call.After the majority of the does have been bred I think they sometimes will respond again.Young bucks will resond until they have had the but kicked a few times.I killed a handful by calling mostly a grunt call.This has been my observation.Bucks do resond a little different in different parts of the country but I think calling works anywhere.If you figure them out.

[JDinPA]

IMHO

Scents and calling are for different times and different places. Deer react differently based on so many variables (hunting pressure, doe to buck ratio,  habitat, and individual deer, and individual callers/scenters).

I've had bucks and does come in on a scent drag or a scent bomb. I've had does spook on scent. I've had bucks licking an entire canister of scent gel.

I've had bucks come to the grunter and horns and sometimes they don't. I've had does come to the grunter.

I've seen bucks come to a decoy, but never had any success with a doe coming to a decoy.

I've never seen a buck come when he is on a hot doe - for any scent or call.

To repeat above, it just depends.

[hormoan]

The only thing that matters to me, and is field proven only be me is.(Although others will have had the same experiance) I have never scared a, in vision deer doe or buck with calls. Key word scared, worst case they just ignored me.   :(   Then again with no deer in site, and calling every 20-30 minutes has cost some of them to be table fare. And a few of them that where in vision when the calling started to become the same. JMO and field experiance.

[KILLER B]

The CAN is where its at when the time is right bucks will run straight to you.  Shot a nice eight pointer once about 30 seconds after turning it over.  He was dragging corn stalks on his horns when he got to me.

[bearhair]

I hear ya Hormoan, I've seen relaxed deer ignore calls but never run away scared so I don't mind letting off a few can calls every 30 minutes or so.  But then again I'm not hunting a specific big boy, I'll call out to any deer that will listen and drop by for dinner!!

[B.O.D.]

Steven, had an interesting thing happen the other night.

It dropped very cold and I was shivering...left my KOM at home like a dummy...        
Had a lone doe come out and move my way.
After it was apparent that she wasn't gonna come close enough for a shot; and with me shaking so hard the bow was vibrating along with the entire tree...         I tried to get her to leave so she wouldn't associate the stand with a hunter.

I tried barking, nothing, howled like a coyote...still nothing,
shone the 3 watt mini mag at her, still she didn't even flinch.

Tried yelling at her, still, she just stood there!!! lol

At last I tried a wheeze, tail went up and she booked. Just an observation from my neck of the woods for you.

BD

[B.O.D.]

We still should hook up some Sat. or Sun.  That would be fun.

BD  

[jimbob91]

i beilieve hillboy hit the nail on the head as far as the timing goes.i live in east cental ohio and our buck to doe ratio is way out of wack.but still at least in my experiences there is that 3 or 4 days when it  seems like every buck in the area im hunting is more than willing to respond to light rattling and "the can".