Calls, scents or silence

[Bullchaser1]

What are your thoughts on using calls, attracting scents(doe estrous/ buck scents where legal) or just staying silent when it comes to older bucks 4.5 year old or older. I’d love to hear from those who Consistently kill older deer (Barry, Gene, Mike M, RyanR etc. ) I usually lean towards silence majority of time, have Snortwheezed in some good ones. Good luck in the upcoming weeks!
J

[Orion]

I hunt big woods where there aren't a lot of deer, and they're quite spooky, particularly since the reintroduction of wolves 20 years or so ago.  The less I do to let them know I'm around, the better.  I don't use scents.  Used to use them occasionally in places where I wanted a passing buck to stop for a shot, not to attract them from far distances.  I seldom call from a stand, though I will grunt or snort wheeze a passing buck to attempt to bring it into range. Setting up in the right place with the correct wind is most important, in my mind, and that requires a lot of scouting, experience and history in a given area.

[Ryan Rothhaar]

I’m a “the less impact the better” kinda guy. I don’t want the buck to know anything is up till the arrow hits him. I HAVE called a few good ones in/closer by snort wheezing by mouth, but I only do that when I see a good buck that obviously isn’t coming my way. Never have closed the deal on one that way. The right situation though, and snort wheezing at a mature buck can lead to a pretty exciting encounter.  I’ve never had success here in Indiana doing the mock scrape/vine thing. I don’t have the age structure here, and I don’t believe older bucks get involved much in the territorial stuff…scraping etc…if there isn’t competition amongst bucks of the same age class. Where I hunt here at home a 4 1/2 yr old or older buck is pretty hard to come by and the odds are against two or more being in the same area.

FWIW, Dad always said “I’d only hunt mock scrapes if I was interested in killing mock deer!”  He also said the only real reaction he ever had from a buck to scent was when he poured a bottle of Tinks on a 2 1/2 yr old buck’s head one time. He said the reaction was quick and violent. 

Just my 2 cents.

R

[Stumpkiller]

I have tried calls with no success.  Also rattling.  I'm sure there are those who do both with success . . . but I have not.  Be quiet.  Be still.  I keep my bow lying across my thighs when sitting (with an arrow knocked until I move again) and keep my eyes moving and scanning.

[Kirkll]

Never played with scents much hunting blacktail, or mule deer. But i've sure had a lot of fun with calling in does with a fawn in distress call... i've had them run right in to 10 yards and start stomping their feet. 

For bucks in the rut, rattling horns in a mock fight has brought many bucks running into the area. you don't need to get carried away with violent crashing of horns together. i had my best luck using a pair of forked horn sheds i keep tied together with leather boot laces so i can carry them around my neck. just tinkling the tine tips together lightly, and grinding them a bit simulating two young bucks locked up does the trick at times.  The whole key to it is to rattle a bit, then pick up your bow and knock and arrow. You don't want a pair of antlers in your hand instead of a bow when they move in... and they move in quick at times...  Good sport!

[chefrvitale]

I do use scent, but only the first week in November right when does just start to come into estrous.
I position my stand very close to bedding and get on stand about 2hr before first light.
Once the sun starts peaking through and I will open my bottle and fling the contents as far as I can.
I do this process because it takes roughly two hours for the scent of your foot prints to diminish and the scent will be much fresher than your scent.
I order Antler Ice frozen estrous and break it down into smaller 1oz bottles. Any other time besides that first 10 or so days in Nov. I use nothing but the wind and stand placement

[Ulysseys]

I’ve undoubtedly taken multiple bucks with a grunt call, this time of year I won’t go in the woods without one but I’ve also noticed no response or or spooking deer if done into the peak of the rut. Once November hits I’ll stop using it. Scents I’ve never had success with and have had it spook deer, but oddly I’ve put it out in front of a camera just to mess around and have seen it have no effect on them in those circumstances.

[NY Yankee]

I think calls and scents can work but you have to know what you are doing. I'm not very practiced so I leave them home although I will be quick to add that deer are vocal and do communicate a lot.

[Herdbull]

For me it's a timing thing. First thing in morning for the first hour and a half I'm usually silent. I will use doe bleat calls during early season to turn does toward me when bucks could be trailing. I use light rattling late October prior to primary rut. During the rut, I use wheeze calls more frequently at bucks like Ryan said, mature bucks that have passed or are not coming toward me. I will also blind wheeze calls more often this time of year as well. I have called in several mature bucks and either killed or missed some of them.

I don't rattle much during primary rut. I've found that young bucks will come into rattling, but mature bucks are rare. BUT... I do use the rattling of what I call Puppet Fights during late season. This is after Christmas. I tie 4 large shed antlers together and let them lay on the ground while in a tree stand with a long haul-line. The line is used to lift and swing the antlers and rattle together, crashing against brush, leaves, tree trunk. I do this with one hand and bow with nocked arrow in other. This time of year, there is an increase in buck to receptive doe ratio. This creates great competition, and mature bucks tend to get involve. I have an entire chapter in my book. I have killed mature bucks using this method, as you are the puppet master and can create soft rattle and control intensity of fight. The idea is to turn the bucks as they begin to circle downwind with use of sound. The sound is directed from the ground level as opposed to elevation. This is important as bucks close in.

I still use tarsal glands from deer Ive killed as lure. Save and freeze in ziplock bags and use and re-use as needed. I hang near close by scrape while in tree while hunting, relative to wind. This helps raise curiosity of deer as they start to pass by me in tree. .... and the idea is you are using the scent of deer that lived in that same woods or area. I put a zip tie loop through the hock skin to make ease of hanging. Wear gloves.  Mike

[Zing]

I would rather leave a weapon at the house than forget my grunt tube.  I have actually got into my stand and realized I left my grunt tube at the house. I will get out of the stand and go back to the house and get it.  I used to be on the side  of not making any calls but now I will not hunt without one.  I use it about every 30 min. Sometimes a mature buck will come in quite and some times he will grunt back. If he grunts back he is coming in just be ready for him to show up.  I hunt private property mostly so I do not worry about calling in another hunter. I do not use it on public land unless I see a buck and try to call him in.  I use it mostly during the Rut, but will use it as a social call early in the season. 

[chefrvitale]

Real tarsals are pretty awesome, I haven't used them my last 3 seasons because I punched my buck tag the first hunt. Herdbull is spot on with a real tarsal, I had the best luck with them when a friend would provide one from a different property.

[woodchucker]

I'm with herdbull, Timing is everything 

I've used doe esterus scents with good success, but will only use them when i know that the bucks are actively seeking and chasing does. Any earlier and you will throw a monkey in the wrench.

Never really tried calling much? However, I'm a firm believer in carrying a grunt call.
I have grunted at bucks that were out of range, just cruising by, or actually walking away.
2-3 short grunts, and I've had them turn and come in like they were on a string.

[MnFn]

It has worked a couple of times. One buck I rattled in Another time I was putting up a portable stand and didn’t have anything to cut down branches. So I was knocking them off the tree.an average buck came running in.

The tarsal gland has also worked a couple of times.

[JR Chambers]

I never have had any luck with that stuff. But I am in WV and where I hunt Is in the mountains and we don't have 4 1/2 old deer. Lucky to have 4 month old deer. I just sit and wait.

[PrimitivePete]

Only time I actually saw a positive response to a call was by mistake, I was carrying my ladder stand into the woods and carelessly jiggled the stand while getting it off my back and setting it down, it sounded like a rattle and wouldn't you know it I looked up and 20 yards way from me was a beautiful deer all full of dripping snot and looking for a fight staring at me. Never got a shot off and never called one on like that again.

[Gil Verwey]

I swear by the Primos Grunt Tube with the snort wheeze. I have called in many bucks with it. In Ohio one year I called in 13 big bucks in the first two weeks of November. The buck to doe ratio is high there so there is a lot of competition between bucks.

In NJ where I live I have also called in some bucks, but here the buck to doe ratio is low and we have a trickle rut, so the amount that respond to calls is fewer.

I have had mixed reviews with scents, so I only use James Valley Red Fox Gel as a cover scent on my boots.

I have never had any luck with rattling so I don't have confidence in it and therefore don't use it. I imagine in areas like Ohio where competition between bucks is fierce it would work also, but since I have confidence in the Primos grunt tube I don't rattle.

Since I am no Gene Wensel and a whitetail hacker, if that grunt tube works for me it can work for anyone. The year in Ohio I called in the 13 bucks I was blowing it like a duck call.

[Roger Norris]

I have great luck with grunt calls, especially from about October 25th through November. I will grunt at a buck passing in the distance, and very often they come in. I will also quietly grunt evry hour or so, and have had previously unseen bucks suddenly in my lap.

I have very little success with bleat calls.

I am leary of scents, I try them once in awhile but cannot say I have ever killed a deer becasue of them.

[Burnsie]

Scents - I have them but have never had them help much.
Bleats - never had any luck with those, except for a doe now and then. 
I am a believer in grunts and rattling - but it is a roll of the dice when and why a mature buck will react to them.
I've had times where a nice mature buck has walked by me at 30-40 yds,  I grunt them and they give zero indication they even heard it.  I know they did, but they don't stop, look, twitch...nothing.  Be careful though, they know darn well what is happening - give them a 1/2 hour and often times they will make a wide swing around you and try to come in downwind. 
Rattling is also hit or miss, some times they totally ignore it, sometimes they charge in on a string. I've had some pretty cool encounters with some bruiser bucks that came in to rattling totally pissed off.