Calling Deer Effectively

Your timing of when to call and why is extremely important.

Before pre rut, bucks are going to somewhat stick to their normal routines.

Once pre rut comes in, this is when they will be out cruising, especially the closer it gets to full on rut.

During early pre rut you want to make sure that any calls you do, be it rattling antlers, grunting, or such, are not done aggressively.

This is not an aggressive time in the bucks habitat, and you are trying to get your calling as close to real as you can.

Aggressively calling deer during this time, can actually alert the buck that something is wrong, rather than make him curious.

As rut gets closer, then the bucks become much more aggressive. Their grunting, and fighting increases, and this is when you can start aggressively calling.

However, aggressively calling deer means the intensity in which you call, not the amount of times, that you actually call.

You still do not want to be doing this every half hour all day long!

Every few hours is a good time estimate.

Remember that early morning and late evening are still the best times to call, though bucks will be cruising during the middle of the day.

Do not start calling deer the second you get into the woods!

Wait until everything has gone back to normal and the woods have had a chance to settle down.

Along with mixing up your calls, and varying the length of them, make sure you sound as if you are moving!

Call to the right of you, then straight in front of you, then to the left side of you, then put the deer calls away!

Keep in mind that sometimes a buck will circle around to see what that sound was, so be prepared for that. Don't be moving around, thinking that your call did not work.

Many times your movements have run off a buck that has circled, before you ever knew he was there!

Only call to get him within eye sight, then wait on him to move in close enough for a shot.

Don't keep calling. If you can see him, then he should be able to see the buck making the noise he heard.

If he doesn't see what caused that sound, he will quickly realize that something is not right.

This is where deer decoys can come in handy. They allow the buck to not only hear another buck, but to see them also.

As for calling does, many people think that using a buck grunt will work.

However, have you noticed that in pre rut, does do everything they can to keep away from bucks?

They want nothing to do with a buck at this time and will run from them.

If you are wanting to shoot a doe, then make sure that you are using a doe or fawn bleat, and not a grunt call!

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