Do you ever cold call grunt?
Whitetail Deer
Think it's a good idea? Or not? How come? What dates/times do you do it? How bout with or without a decoy? Have you had success and have you blown encounters that you might not have if he'd come in on his own?
Done it, pulled in a few bucks that way. Got a doe doing that a couple years ago, she came to a grunt, stopped on a loping run, then turned toward me and came right in.
Yes, with both positive and negative results. One suggestion when you do get a deer to respond, Ike. Don’t grunt at him if he’s looking in your direction. They are amazing at pinpointing your location. Wait till he looks away, then grunt to him. You’re less apt to get picked off that way, IMO.
What I mean by "cold call" is calling when you have no idea if deer are around or not.
Yes, but only during what I think are peak movement times (closer to dawn and dusk).
This time of year, I do a grunt series every 30-40 minutes. Usually non-aggressive grunts.
Did it last night....went into a stand and saw the place was tore up with rubs, I knew an aggressive buck was working the area. I did a grunt sequence with a few doe bleats and not 2 minutes later a nice 10 pt walked right in and a spike from another direction came in.
I might regret not shooting that buck.
Absolutely! Especially during the middle of the day if the action is slow.
t-roy makes a good point. Before calling or rattling look around 360*.........................................I made the mistake of rattling once before looking around. When I got done the rattling sequence I looked behind me and there at 26y stood the biggest non-typical I have ever seen in the wild!(looking RIGHT AT me) By the time I grabbed the bow, he was goooooooooooooooooooooooone! : (
I've tried to stay away from it. Seems like instead of deer just walking through the woods, now you've got alert deer, actively looking for something they heard. And the bigger ones usually wind up down wind.
Usually I would get picked off when I call, like T-Roy says.
After reading some of the other responses, I may start trying again. People seem to be doing alright with it.
How do you know if the deer wasnt coming in anyway? Regardless of grunting?
cnelk, most the time body language. The deer will show signs they're looking for the other deer that made the call.
I have done it some but find I have better luck grunting after I see a buck. Rattling seems to work better on a cold situation for me.
I do like grunting in the opposite direction of the deer as well. Volume depends on how far away they are.
I called in a very mature buck in early Oct with an series of estrus bleats. Couldn't believe it! He was probably at least a 140" buck. Unfortunately he winded me and now I will probably never see him again. I still cold call though.
Come pre rut I will cold call, chase and rut I will grunt and use a can. When I rattle, I grunt at the same time. Deer are vocal animals more so that a lot would believe.
Absolutely! Has worked very well over the years. Certainly can't hurt.
Often. Mature bucks may show up but virtually never come in to any calls - to cautious. 20 years of hard core Ohio trophy buck hunting and man many big buck sightings and almost no success calling or rattling - even in unhunted parks.
To smart.
Yes. Pre rut grunting and rattling. Works!
Keep in mind if it does not work you might be educating a deer...................
I hear the grunting in the woods all the time....during the rut the woods are full of it....along with doe bleats and fawn bawls.
You`re just replicating what is already there.
Killed my biggest buck cold grunting.
It was the last day of the season, had 20 minutes of shooting light left, I had been in the stand for 4 1/2 hours. I had nothing to lose and was fairly certain a different buck I was hunting was within hearing distance due to trail cam photos. It was also a great set up to keep deer from getting downwind of me.
I would much rather call to a buck I can see so I can gauge reaction, either grunting or rattling, but cold calling works-some of the time. Just like all things in the whitetail woods!
It does not matter if they were coming or not regardless of your grunt. They are there now and that is all that matters.
The better question is how many were coming and did not show themselves (balked and retreated) when you started grunting. You will never know but it’s a net positive I firmly believe. Be aggressive and assume you'll attract more than you will scare off.
LMAO....good one Bou. It`s just like guys that swear by rattling....they rattled and a buck showed up. Can`t argue with success.
I’ve grunted ,snort wheezed and bleated shooters up but I enjoy not being smelled and don’t give a buck a reason to try to do that if I’m not sure of his location.The only way to do that is to hear him grunt,chase,fight,etc or to see him beforehand to determine the probability of him getting downwind before I play my hand
I cold called tonight about s half hour before last light. About 15 minutes later, i hear a branch break and look to my right and see a nice buck coming towards me. He gets to about 12 yards and I start to draw my recurve waiting for his leg to go forward. He saw the movement and whirled away without me getting a shot. I have him looking up at me whe I started my draw and whirling away on my trail camera. Pretty cool. I am not sure if he would have came in or not (I doubt it), however as has been stated they can pinpoint exactly where the grunt came from and are on alert. So there are pros and cons. I will continue to cold call and hope I get a shot next time. Will post the 20 second video when I get home. Ken
Never, but if you saw the areas I hunt you’d understand. You’d need to blow into a PA system. Picture antelope country.
I grunted this one in. Never knew he was around. Planned to get down from the stand in the next 30 minutes. Decided to hit the grunt call first. Came right in.
Gave him a pass. A little too small.
Stayed on stand. Shot this one about 15 minutes later. He may have been close enough to hear me call once more.
On Oct 26 cold called a decent buck in at 1:16PM. I’m sold on it this time of year. But I don’t know much.
I've done it a few times with mixed results. I think some factors come into play such as private vs public, wind, location, etc. I've had more luck cold calling with a doe-in-da-can. Of course I knew the deer were not too far away. Other times I was sitting on a corn field edge and had several does off to my right walking away from me. I flipped the can and they came right in for the shot. I'd give a X3 on doing a 360 degree looksee before doing any calls or rattles. I've been picked off a few times because of that mistake.
Yes I do. Guys who hunt thick cover are crazy if they don't in my opinion. It works and works very well. As others have pointed out though, they come in on edge so be ready and, be cautious with your moves when you see him coming. And, never grunt at him if he is looking at you or standing close to you looking for the other deer he heard. He will bust you ever time if you do.
I use bleats, grunts and rattle from Mid-Oct on thru Nov but I have yet to use the snort wheeze and have only heard or seen it a handful of times any one else?
Been chasing them in many states for many decades.I do it but rarely can honestly attribute any success to it.Must be doing something wrong.Have shot and killed many bucks when calling after seeing them.Rarely is that a simple 'gimme' process either.Time and again it takes multiple calls.Start coming,stop or turn away,call again,etc.A process that often wouldn't work if one weren't watching them.Makes me wonder how many started coming to my blind calls but drifted off.
Not unless a potential buck cannot come in to me from the downwind side. If downwind is a cliff, body of water, nasty blackberry patch, etc then yes. Otherwise you are probably educating a lot more deer than you will ever know.
I do... nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Yes works quite well especially pre rut mixing grunts with can call bleats. If you don’t try you are missing out.
Let me add a couple thoughts after reviewing records of a few years encounters.
Do you really want most bucks to come?90% of them I don't want to come and mess up my set.(during the rut,makes more sense to me to call does)
If they can possibly get downwind,or you aren't at least in a pinch of some sort where an approach is very predictable,consider not doing it.
Is that a predator recurve you are shooting Joey? Nice buck.
I'll be out there doing all three this weekend, rattling, bleating and grunting...sparingly. Too much is usually counter-productive. I always get results of some kind, either hear them or see them.
Mint, thanks.
No sir, Black Widow one piece. Only bow I've hunted with since '89. 62" and 65#@28". I killed that buck with a Grizzly Stik arrow and 160 grain Snuffer. He went about 40 yards.
But, regarding cold grunting, I've had enough success to give it a try. Especially when movement is slow and seems not much is going on. I feel confident in at least giving it a try, whether I've seen a buck out of range or just cold calling.
Absolutely it works !
I do it from "chase phase" till the end of the rut. I call approximately every 30 minutes.
I do a lot more hot doe bleats than I do buck grunts. If I were a buck I would like to hear a hot doe calling for me.
