Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Deer Hunting => Topic started by: shorthair-on-point on September 29, 2008, 03:00:35 PM

Title: whitetail calling
Post by: shorthair-on-point on September 29, 2008, 03:00:35 PM: What do you consider the most effective way to call whitetail around and during the rut? I have known people that swear by rattling, others like using doe estrus calls. Some just grunt. What combo works for you?
Title: Re: whitetail calling
Post by: DeKuma on September 29, 2008, 03:26:00 PM: If I wanted to shoot them, I could just stand on the back porch and call, "Hey you!" But that would be no fun.
I have only been able to call one in with a grunt tube, and then only one time.....
Title: Re: whitetail calling
Post by: boneaddict on September 29, 2008, 03:31:36 PM: combo of all of them
Title: Re: whitetail calling
Post by: bow4elk on September 29, 2008, 08:03:07 PM: A grunt call can work wonders, but other times it gets flat out ignored. Rattling works well, but my experience has been younger bucks that are more curious than ready for battle. I've rattled in a few nice blacktails in my early years bowhunting but haven't had much luck in recent years. Dang season dates don't help any.

I've had luck using a fawn bawl (3 to 6 in a series) to get a buck's attention. One year in Iowa while filming the production, Wily Whitetails (Wilderness Sound Productions), I had a fawn come through bleating loudly. He was calling for him mama and milling around for about 30 minutes. Moments later a nice 9 pt (125" class) buck came in on a string and we put a clean arrow into him. After reviewing the footage and hashing over the events that evening Larry and I decided to try to recreate this situation on new turf. We set a stand near a nasty thicket and waited till morning to hunt it.

The next morning was frustrating as we got a late start, had gusty winds, and some other stuff I just don't remember. I just remember we were late getting in the stand and given the added complexity of filming, it was not looking like a good morning at all.

After settling in for a couple hours we started with the fawn bleating/bawling. It wasn't 15 seconds later I spotted a heavy buck running our way. He was an old 8 pt with long heavy brow tines and he was under our stands in less than 30 seconds looking for anothe deer.

The logic is that a doe has left her fawn to breed, causing the fawn to call out for mama. The buck heard this and just appeared at about 120 yards, then just bee-lined to our stand. Larry was able to put a lethal arrow in him and we recovered the brute a short distance later. Then we found on of his sheds from the year prior, a solid massive 5 pt not 100 yards from our stand, to make the hunt that much better. He regressed to an 8 pt in his final year but was still a shooter, making P&Y.

So the moral of the story is try working some fawn bleats into your calling sequences. Who knows it might be the ticket to pulling in a reluctant buck from a nearby thicket.
Title: Re: whitetail calling
Post by: bamalefty on September 29, 2008, 08:05:52 PM: I have called up several bucks. One thing I love to use is my doe-in-estrus can. Its a small 2-3 inch can that you put your finger on the hole on the bottom and turn it upside down. I combine that with a grunt call and it works pretty well. But I have called some up just using a grunt call as well. But then again...all of this was done in the south.
Title: Re: whitetail calling
Post by: jackelope on September 29, 2008, 09:03:56 PM: Quote from: boneaddict on September 29, 2008, 03:31:36 PM
combo of all of them
x2

used to use all of them back in the northeast part of the country with good success...don't get too crazy with the horns though.
Title: Re: whitetail calling
Post by: miah on September 29, 2008, 09:44:14 PM: I may just be lucky but every year I get a pretty nice whitetail, my best being a 150 but I swear by rattling very light you don't want to sound like to monster bucks killing eachother, or nothing wants to come in, last year I grunted in a 4 by 4 like 5 times, he would walk away and I would grunt a few times and he would circle and come back every time. so that proved to me that the tactic does work, I'ts all about being in the right place and the right time.I found the first week of late season the only good time