What are your guys thoughts on calls and rattling? If it is something you use how early do you start? What about drips and scents? My deer hunting experience has always been with a rifle and getting them close has never been a priority. Ground blind or climber for public land? I have two ground blinds but keep looking at climbers but can’t make up my mind if the money is worth having another option.
I for one carry probably more gear into the field than most guys…Even for rifle hunting I use the same tactics as with my bow, only difference being with a rifle everything is easier because you don’t have to get them to close the distance all the way for a shot. All you have to do is perk their interest a little bit.
I never hit the woods with out a grunt call. To me it would be like ice fishing with out a flasher. The ability to reach out and redirect a deer is the reason for calling. Instead of solely waiting for the deer to walk a trail 40 yds or closer.
90% of the time if a can lay eyes on a buck, I can get him to redirect towards me with calling.
Also blind calling can be very effective too. Rattling/grunt sequence. Getting a buck to come investigate in your area when he might have been out of sight several hundred yards away.
I use a decoy and scent at the very end of October though first part of December.
Here is my reasoning.. and its firmly based on my success compared to when I did nothing but sit quietly.
A buck has 3 criteria for commitment..
SIGHT
SMELL
HEAR
The more of those that I can provide a buck the greater the chance he will commit to my set up.
If a buck… hears a buck…smells a buck… sees a buck…. GAME OVER
Decoys are incredible at taking the attention off you, allowing you to move for the shot and draw your bow with out being detected. They focus in on the decoy so much. Whitetails are incredible about pinpointing the source of a sound, so having a decoy out in front of you when your calling gives them a logical source for the sound, instead of searching the tree tops for the source of the sound.
Now if you elect to not lug a decoy into your stand set up.. If you just provide the hearing and scent, you are covering 2 of the criteria and will be better off than 1 or none. You get my point. Any combination of the 3 criteria will yield better results than nothing.
I will rattle right away in October or when I am getting pics without velvet, nothing extreme just a little sparing. I had a little 6 point come into it on Sunday. Everything else I usually wait till mid October.
I wish I would of tried using a grunt years ago now. Right before last light tonight I heard a buck grunting off in the distance so I grunted back. I could hear him working closer at a pretty good pace so I stood up and grabbed my bow. At the same time I did that I had a buck snort and take off from 20 yards away along with another deer from the same spot. After all the commotion stopped I could still hear the original buck moving towards me but ran out of light.
I’ve never used rattle’s previously. I decided to give it a try this year, because my spot is usually full of does/fawns and I’ve only seen 2 bucks in 10 years of hunting it pretty regularly. Saturday morning at about 7 am I gave a rattle, and 10 minutes later had a fork come jogging right up to my stand. It presented the perfect opportunity, so I took it and was home for noon kickoff lol. I won’t be going in the field without my rattle bag again!
WERM wheres the picture? Congrats!
Thanks! Here ya go.
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Nice shot!
Thanks! He ran right under my stand, and I had to wait for him to walk away. Thankfully he walked to about 15 yards, turned broadside and then met the Muzzy Broadhead.
I carry everything. Two types of Primos cans, 3 grunt calls, snort wheeze device, nose jammer, doe in heat drip systems, buck bombs etc…. Be sure to ziplock the stinky stuff prior to putting in your back pack. Just a little something I learned the hard way. 
How late in the season do you guys use your calls and rattles?
On November 14th I called in a buck from over 400 yards across a hay field with a Primos Can and grunt tube. He ran all the way in to 25 yards. Unfortunately he wasn’t big enough for me to shoot. I’m not sure why I didn’t use it earlier in the week.
DT
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