So this Nov I went on my first out of state (NJ) Whitetail in Ohio on a friends farm. It’s a well managed 250 place in Athens county. 3 of the 5 days I hunted I heard Bucks “roar” in fact I heard more roars in 5 days in Ohio than in over 40 years here in NJ. My question is... Why? Here in NJ I’ve hunted many different types of land ...deer density as well as buck/doe ratio and have only heard it 2 maybe 3 times... In Ohio 7 or 8 times in a few days... thanks
Well, all I can say is, I have been hunting whitetails 63-years in about every state that has them and most of Canada. I have heard a buck roar...ONE TIME. I have hunted and killed mature bucks in places that have an optimum population of mature bucks and high competition. ONE TIME, I heard what I could positively identify as a buck roar. I saw him do it. He was about 2.5-years old with about a 100" rack and I have not the slightest clue what or at what he was roaring. I have a sizeable deer herd that I manage in my backyard. I see them daily. Not once have I heard one of my bucks roar. So, I am of no help.
I haven't the time on stand as Bowriter but I "think" I heard it once.....or maybe I just liked thinking I heard it that morning,I dunno.I have heard the sound that the "Buck Roar" call makes many times......not by me!
I've heard a few buck roars and wheezes and/or snort wheezes over the years. I believe that some bucks are just more vocal than others and it may be somewhat genetic. That genetic trait might be passed down and may be more common in some isolated areas.
Years ago I was hunting an area consisting of a huge swamp with multiple islands and fingers/peninsulas extending into the swamp. I played cat and mouse with a mature 150" class ten point for a couple weeks. On several evenings I could hear him splashing his way out of the swamp on a steady walk. As soon as he stepped out of the swamp onto dry land he would let out the most incredible very loud wheeze call that sounded like air escaping from the end of a tightly stretched balloon. This was back before there were any snort wheeze calls available or before anybody had really talked about this call. I had never heard a deer make such a loud noise and it was very apparent that he was announcing his presence to any other deer in the area.
I kept adjusting my stand to where he came out of the swamp the last time but he never came out in the same place twice. Each time he came out he would make the wheeze call and it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
One day I had my decoy set up hoping to draw him closer and I saw a doe approaching with the big 10 point following close behind. She would have passed within about 10 yards of me and I probably would have had a chip shot at the buck but she saw the decoy and didn't like it. She bounded off about 50 yards and the buck followed and corralled her to keep her from going anywhere. For the next hour or so I watched him breed her 3 times and each time he would do a loud drawn out roar as he was mounting her and right when he thrusted his roar got very loud. Kind of like a rrrrrrrroooooaaaaROARRRR! It was incredible!
A couple days later he passed by me at 13 yards and I bumped the trigger on my release prematurely.
That was loudest most vocal and visible mature buck I have ever encountered in 45 years of hunting and hunting him was a very exciting experience. I remember telling my friends about his vocalizations and I think they thought I was crazy.
I have heard it one time. It was a mature 8 point that was closely trailing a doe. It was so loud that it actually startled me, even though I was watching him from 75 yards away. It was as if he was saying to the doe, "slow down"!
...each time he would do a loud drawn out roar as he was mounting her and right when he thrusted his roar got very loud." Mike, I do the very same thing.
I've also only heard it 1 time. Was sitting on the edge of a field and heard a roar about 100 yards away. I thought holy smokes this must be the king of bucks! I finally see a doe start walking towards me and here comes Mr. Big!! Well he was a spindly thin horned 8pt that would score about 80". I could tell he was frustrated that his doe wouldn't stop running away from him. Really neat experience to hear that. He got a pass
I have heard one mature buck roar, he did it as he came out of treeline and could see two does in the open pasture. I assume it was because they ran away away from him.
I have heard it twice and the last time was this fall. It literally almost made me jump out of the stand it startled me so bad. I was enjoying a 3 year old chase a doe around my tree and he just hammered. No mistaking it but I have heard it twice now. I have heard the snort wheeze only once though in 26 years.
I think I’ve hunted about 12-13 states for whitetails and I have never heard it. I have heard bucks grunting as many as 40-50 times, one after the other, following or chasing a doe. I’ve witnessed this several times and counted the grunts. Couple times I even got lucky when the doe brought the buck by close enough for a shot.
I've heard it only one time and the old buck was bedded with a doe. It was like he was telling her to lay back down. He made noises that I didn't know that deer made. He got away with out me getting a shot. LOL
Eagle Eye... yes much louder than a grunt. In fact if you didn’t know what it was or didn’t see the deer do it... You would be hard pressed to think it was a deer
Need to preface this with "I am not a whitetail expert" but I can give you a couple observations
Only heard a roar twice. Once was the instant an arrow double lunged a buck. It worked though, brought in a bigger buck, who also got double lunged. Second time was when i killed a doe late November and a (really nice) buck was upset she wouldn't stand up and he started ramming her and roared.
I heard the roar on two occasions and both times were in Ohio. I would probably associate it herd dynamics and an aggressive mature buck. One tithe roar was directed at me by very mature animal that was standing about 80 yards away. The buck was truly an amazing specimen body wise. The second time was when two bucks were in a thicket with what appeared to be a hot doe.
The reason I asked is because of an experience I had hunting here in Northeast Nebraska. It was mid October and a fairly calm, warm day. It was probably my 3rd or 4th time hunting my friend's land which is mostly heavy Oak Timber with some pasture. I hunted in my tree stand in the morning and saw nothing and decided to hop down and still-hunt over to an area I thought about placing another stand. I found a great spot to just sit on the ground observe and think, so I nestled in amongst a huge downed Mullbery branch in a great spot between two bedding areas and right off a well travelled trail. About 10 minutes after I sat down I heard heavy footsteps behind me headed my way and they stopped when he got to the downed branch about 5 yards behind me, I could tell by the way he walked it was a buck. I could hear him breathing and licking his nose, he then stepped around the downfall to my left and I was finally able to see a really heavy bodied 4x4 with nice mass. I tried raising my body off my knees and my bow arm to start the process of pulling back my bow when he caught my movement and stopped and lifted his head. At this point he was somewhere between 10 and 5 yards away. I froze again and amazingly he settled down but turned and walked behind me again this time more stiff legged with head up. It got quiet and I thought he walked away because I didn't hear anything for about 5 minutes. At this point I had to adjust my legs because I was starting to cramp up. As soon as I moved to adjust he let out what sounded like a doe snorting, but it was 10 times louder, more hoarse and drawn out. He was literally probably only 10 or 15 yards behind me. It scared the crap outta me cause I thought he was gone for one and also I had never heard a sound like it. Maybe its more like the sound Cheesehead Mike heard from that swamp buck. Anyways he sat there for about 10 more minutes never spooking or running away but just making this sound. It was getting to the point that I was afraid he might charge down on me any second! The hair on my neck was standing on end and finally I heard him literally stomp his way off up the hill to the ridge behind me where he came, he gave one last blow and I never saw him or heard him again. He sounded just pi$$ed as all get out that something was there in his spot, but it wasn't a grunting noise more like combination of forced air and a down deep diaphragm voice. Ill never forget that sound.
I have heard it once for sure and that was in Kansas at least 7 big bucks in a huge freshly harvested milo field chasing a couple hot does. The buck I ended up killing was in n the chasing and he stopped to smell the ridiculous amount of scent I had dumped at the end of my drag rag location. He lifted his head and let out what I can only describe as a roar as another buck approached him. I wanted to kill the other buck but he did not present a shot so I shot the one who had roared. By the way I have hunted whitetails for 40 plus years in at least 15 states and that was the only roar I have heard. Shawn
Heard it a couple times. I was maybe 20 years old when I heard it for the first time. Thought for sure it was another hunter. No way would a deer be that loud and grunt that long. The buck was over 300 yards away when I heard him. When he entered the field I couldn't believe he was only a 1.5 yr old buck.
I heard it once. It was right around Halloween. I was in a stand on the corner of a field. There was a 6 point, an 8 point and a couple of does in the field. I grunted and the 8 came trotting towards me. He circled behind me and I had no shot. The 6 started chasing the doe and pushed her into the woods. He let out a roar and the 8 went tearing off after them.
Shug.....Is it possible that it was the same buck every time?
MNRazorhead.....I would describe it as somewhat similar to your red stag reference only a lot shorter.
I’ve heard several different bucks “roar” over the past 30 years or so. The first time I heard it was back in the late 80s.
I was late driving down a lane to my hunting area one morning, and saw the biggest buck I’ve ever seen, run across the lane in front of me. I hunted all day until late in the afternoon, when a cold front came through and froze me out. As I was sneaking back to my truck, I spotted a really nice 10 pointer nosing a doe around in the brush. I crawled down the brushy fence line towards them. I peeked up over the brush just in time to see the nice 10 come busting past me, hauling a$$ at 15 yards with that huge buck on his tail, bellowing a lot like a bull. There was no doubt who the boss was. Never knew they could sound like that till I saw him do it.
I’ve heard it a couple of other times in the following years, though not nearly as loud as that first buck. I’m not sure that I would have known what it was, had I not seen that first buck actually doing it. A few years ago, we had a young buck running around near the house all fall that was very vocal. My wife heard him regularly and she called him “Grunty”. He would “roar” quite often. Similar to Grunter’s observeration, this guy was a 100” two yr old 8 pointer. I saw him and heard him several times that fall. You could hear him from a couple hundred yards away. He either died, moved on, or changed his ways, because after that fall, we never heard him again.
As far as the snort-wheeze, I’ve seen and heard them do that quite often. Sometimes it is pretty hard to hear, other times it is easy to distinguish. It is amazing all the different sounds they make. I have some cell phone video I took of a buck tending a doe 20 yds in front of me, and he is letting out one long continuous low grunt that lasts for at least 10-15 seconds. He did that 2-3 times before they both left. Sometimes they will make a clicking sound too.
Like apauls, I'm no expert ,but I have spent a bunch of time around whitetails. I have heard that vocalization two times . I called it a real loud blat before the TV guys coined it a roar. One was from one of three 11/2 yr old bucks dogging a lone hot doe all around me in a hardwood river bottom. The other was just this season from an adult buck with a bunch of does n fawns and a small buck . Both times it seemed like it was done out of irritation and like " that's the last straw buddy". Pretty much like a snort wheeze , but when they were on the move. Every time I've seen a buck snort wheeze he stopped walking or running to do it. The loud blat thing was when they were moving along with other deer.just what I have seen . Pretty awesome stuff to see anyhow!! Probly does have something to do with buck to doe ratio and of course a deers individual personality. I equated it to a hound face barking another hound at the tree.
I've only heard a buck Roar one time, this was after I arrowed a big 8 point and he was running away, very loud and kind of startled me when he did it. Other than that, never and I've been deer hunting 30 + years.
I heard a roar 3 times....never more than 1 time per hunt. If I heard it more I would assume some other hunter had a new toy. It was louder than I thought it would. The times I heard it, it was like a buck telling other bucks "back off". One call I have never heard is a Snort Wheeze in the wild nor a "doe in the can" estrous call.
This video has the sound recorded but unfortunately it was too dark to shoot. I have heard it a few times over the years. Mostly the more dominate bucks while chasing or tending a doe. If other bucks are in the area they tend to do it even louder and snort wheeze if they get too close to him or if the doe is not responding to him like he would have her to. Frustration / Challenge ( I think in heavy hunted areas you may not hear it as much because they are more nocturnal.)
I used to hunt heavily populated areas in the east and deer do not exhibit normal behavior due to hunter pressure. In the Midwest and less populated areas deer do normal things.
I have heard a particular buck grunt with a roar in the same 100 acre area in Illinois for three straight years but it was likely the same deer.
