Deer Hunting Tips - Grunting While Whitetail Deer Hunting

There is no better time to crank up your whitetail deer calls than when whitetail bucks are actively chasing does. From late pre-rut to the post-rut, bucks are ready to do battle for the chance to prove themselves worthy of every pretty doe in the county.

In many cases, deer calling actually positions the deer downwind of the sound. They wind the deer hunter and leave without the hunter ever knowing it, then these hunters cuss their deer calls as a gimmick. Deer calling is not a gimmick; it's an effective tool for bringing bucks into range, but the hunter must do his part.

When deer hunting with no buck visible, grunt three or four times every 20 or so minutes. Keep the grunts about two seconds in duration. Don't overcall. Watch downwind as many whitetail bucks will get downwind to confirm with their noses what their ears are telling them. This is a good reason to place some buck urine near the stand and to be as scent-free as possible.

Watching your buck's reaction is the key to grunting a buck you can see. Begin with a single grunt of medium volume. No reaction? Pump up the volume and give it another grunt. If the buck looks your way but continues on its way, give it another grunt, then leave it alone. You don't want to overcall, even to a buck you can see. That buck will catalog the fact that "there's a buck over there" and may return later to check it out.

If you don't get a reaction to any of your grunt calls, the buck may simply not have heard. If the buck begins walking your way or even heads in at a trot, put the deer call away and get ready. Never call to an incoming deer. It will pinpoint your position and, not seeing a deer, may head the other direction. Besides, you've already got it headed in, so there's no more reason to call.

Sometimes the buck will begin its approach then cover blocks your vision. Just wait. Bucks, especially mature bucks that have seen a few seasons come and go, take a very long time to approach. If the buck appeared to be coming in, then disappeared, don't do anything for at least 20 minutes. At that time, produce a single, quiet grunt. After five more minutes, resume your normal calling routine.

Add some variety to your deer calling. Deer calls such as Knight & Hale's Rack Blaster make two different sounds with no adjustment, one by exhaling into the mouthpiece and another by inhaling. Inhaling into the deer call produces a grunt higher in pitch than exhaling, allowing a hunter to set up the scenario of two bucks. Add deer rattling to the sequence and it's a sound few bucks can resist investigating.