I harvested a nice buck yesterday at The Proving Grounds.  It was a thrilling hunt that included the buck grunting/balling, and then responding to my grunts by approaching my stand and actually walking a ¾ circle around me.  It might have walked all the way around my stand looking for the source of the grunt he heard except the Z7 launched.

There’s much to be learned from that experience.  Deer, and most wild animals, are excellent at determining the source of sound.  The woods are rarely quiet as Hollywood portrays.  There are small branches breaking and other common sounds that probably are not given much attention by mature bucks.  Other sounds, such as metal clanking, etc., are not common and probably serve to alert deer.

Bucks grunting are a normal and frequent sound in the woods this time of year, especially in areas where the deer herd has been managed to allow a substantial portion of the bucks to mature.  Hence, grunt calls, as long as they are within the normal pitch and tone of real bucks’ sound, are commonly heard by deer during or just before the rut.  Therefore, I use grunt calls extensively this time of year.

I prefer a call that produces a lot of volume.  I will commonly look around to make sure there are no deer in view, then begin by grunting very softly.  Loud grunts may alert deer that are close by and don’t expect a mature buck to be that close.  If there is no response, I call again using more volume.

The second way I use a grunt call is to attempt to make deer I observe to approach closer to my stand.  I simply judge how far the deer is from the stand, then call just loud enough so they can hear the call.  I typically call softly and increase the volume until the buck acknowledges the call.

Don’t be scared to use a grunt call.  This week throughout most of the whitetails’ range is a great time to use a grunt call.  I use a homemade call that a friend gave me.  It can produce a lot of volume and the tone is medium to deep.  Grunt calls are one of my favorite tools to harvest mature bucks.

Growing Deer together,

Grant