let's be real about grunting and rattling...

[Mossy Bloke]

I want to start an honest, no-dorking-around, discussion about grunting and rattling.

I was raised still hunting. Early into the woods, sit there all day long til dark, don't make a sound or any sudden movements. That's how we killed deer and that's how I still do it for the most part. But I read on other forums, and to some extent here, about people grunting in bucks and rattling them to within bow range, etc.

I have a real hard time with that. It's probably becuase I've never in my life heard or seen two bucks banging heads together and only heard them grunt a few times.

I would love to go out and try to grunt or rattle in the buck I'm hunting but I can't get past the notion that making noise in the woods is counterproductive to getting deer to walk by you.

I've yet to this day even try to rattle and I've hunted most of my life. I see it on the shows, but can't get the idea out of my head that just off screen they've got some guy holding an 8 pointer in a cage and hearing over the radio, "Okay! Cue the deer!" as he lets him out to run right into camera range as the guy puts one through his lungs.

I guess I'm in the "got to see it with my own eyes in real life" crowd when it comes to this stuff.

I sure wish somebody on here could convince me to try it out. I wouldn't know how often to rattle, how often or how hard to grunt etc, though. Help me out here guys.

 

[Fire1]

I'm in the same boat as you. I would love to have some success rattling or calling, but I just don't know what I'm doing. I have only tried rattling twice now and with no success. I bought a video in hopes of gaining some knowledge about details like how hard to bang the antlers together and stuff, but they were only mildly useful. I'm still looking for better sources of info. I know even less about grunting. So, for now I will continue to hunt from stands, and just keep experiementing with the noise makers. Hopefully someone will jump in here and educate us.

 

[keano44]

IMO being a deer hunter is a never ending learning experience. Keeping an open mind to new methods and techniques is important to me to become a better hunter. I have tried rattling only a few times, and haven't been sucessful with this method, yet. However, I have two bucks mounted on the wall of my home, which I credit my grunt call for the kills. One of them, a small 8-pointer, was with a group of other deer, on a public WMA. Another hunter 100 yds away from me, just out of my sight, shot at the buck, and missed. I heard the (many) deer running away, and saw the buck sneaking off in a different direction, AWAY from me. He quickly was in cover, over 100 yds away, and I couldn't see him anymore. I blew three short grunts, and five minutes later he came walking quickly straight to me.
The second one was a large ten-point, same WMA. My buddy and I had found his scrapes and rubs along an old abandoned oil location road through the woods. I set up a stand along the road, and made a mock scrape next to one of his scrapes, and put scent in it. That next morning I blew my grunt call, three short grunts, every half hour. At 8:30 that morning, he appeared out of nowhere, right under my treestand, with the hair all bristled up on his back, "looking" for the buck which had intruded on his turf.
Just because its not the way you've always have done it, or the way you were brought up, or the way everyone else does it, dosen't mean it will not work. Give it a try, maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't.

 

[critter]

I have had limited experience with both and limited success. It seems to me that IF conditions of the rut are just right and IF the deer is in the correct mood, it MAY work!

I have used grunts and horn ratteling with deer I could see that I did not intend to shoot to study their reactions. In most cases, the reaction ranged from absoultely none whatsoever to some sort of a curiosity interest or reaction. Hardly ever are they scared and run off by my feeble attempts.

And yet, I HAVE seen a FEW deer come to the grunt or the horn rattle-again, it seems, IF all the stars are aligned correctly or some such.

Give it a try-it is a diversion with some chance of success and a fun study project. Your milage may vary!

 

[TallPine]

My guess is that you would probably end up calling in a half dozen other hunters looking to shoot the bucks in the middle of their "discussion"

 

[ACP230]

When I started deer hunting there was a small plastic call with a rubber band as a reed. It was supposed to call deer. I tried it a few times and got nothing. Then I had a deer cross through the area I was watching. I couldn't get the gun on it in time. I pulled out the call, after calming down a bit, and the deer popped back out of the brush. It was a "now you see me now you don't" deal, and the rifle was still in my lap. I was startled
that it worked.

I got away from calls and scents for a while and killed deer by watching from blinds and still hunting. Years later, while bow hunting, I tried calling again with a grunt tube. A doe and fawn walked up right behind my son and I. They were within 20 yards when we figured out they were in the area. They saw us moving and got away. One stopped at the top of the little hill across from us. I could have killed it with a rifle, but not with the bow.

My oldest son and I tried rattling a few times with a pair of synthetic antlers I bought from Jay's Sporting Goods in Clare, MI.
We got what I'd call a "possible." Loud brush busting noise from a clearing in front of us where we knew there were rubs and a large scrape. We didn't see what made the racket, but it followed the rattling by just a few minutes.

I also coughed deep in my scratchy thoat (having the start of a cold helped for once) at a couple deer running across a field and stopped them in their tracks. Didn't get the deer though. If I remember right there was some confusion about whether my son or I was supposed to shoot.

I got my most recent deer back in September in an early antlerless season. I stalked it to within 30 yards and shot it with my Ruger 77RL in .250 Savage. No calls, no antlers, no scents. I like to hunt that way, but health problems make it difficult. This November I'll be taking both rattling antlers and calls into the woods.

 

[Byron Quick]

I've tried both rattling and grunting. Haven't had any luck with either. Haven't had any luck with scents either.

I have seen two bucks banging heads. Early one morning before legal shooting hours.

I've been seeing several bucks this year that are too small to shoot. Four and six points. I've been whistling at them. They stop and look around. They can't seem to locate the direction. One was twenty yards away and facing almost directly away from me. He kept looking ahead of where he was. Never looked back once. After a few minutes, he said to heck with this and ran...straight where he'd been looking the entire time I whistled.

 

[knzn]

tree stand rattle!

I don't doubt that it works but I personally have not had any luck with it~~~~EXCEPT one evening at dusk I had given up hope for the day and decided to climb down out of my tree. I have a small home made "crotch" stand that I like to use from time to time. While I was lowering it to the ground the parachute cord slipped through my cold gloved hands and the stand banged and rattled off every branch and tree step on the way to the ground. On a quite evening the noise was deafening. My first thought was to hold still and see if I could hear any deer that may have been nearby crashing through the trees to excape my blunder. But instead I was litterally charged by a small six point. He came in looking for a fight just as I had read about in so many magazines.

 

[zahc]

IF conditions of the rut are just right and IF the deer is in the correct mood, it MAY work!


Key word RUT.

It's probably becuase I've never in my life heard or seen two bucks banging heads together and only heard them grunt a few times.

wierd. I'm young and have seen and heard it a lot. Dang bucks, when they are crazy with the rut are almost errily bold. Kind of scary having one snort and wheeze at you from about 30 yards away when you are on the ground armed with a BOW...

 

[Newt]

I'd have to agree with critter, at least for our neck of the woods. I personally know two people who have rattled them in. Both were good bucks. I also know people who scared off little bucks by rattling. I also know people who have grunted them in, and like critter said, if everything is just right, they'll come to you. I have used a bleet several times to stop deer long enough to get off a shot. It almost always works.

Newt

 

[hps1]

Have had success with both horns and the grunt call. The grunt will almost always stop a deer in its tracks, have used on many occasions to get a clear shot. Late in December (peak of the rut), I called an 8 point buck out of the brush and across a 300 yard clearing with a grunt call. We were sitting in a white pickup truck and the buck came within 25 ft. of the truck and circled it looking for the "other deer". There were quite a few deer feeding in the vecinity and noticed a couple of lesser bucks began sparring while this played out. The next evening we returned to the same spot and the eight pointer repeated his performance of the previous day almost to the letter. The third evening, he came out of the brush, spotted the white truck and went back into the brush; he had figured it out. These deer were not hunted, so made an excellent "audience" to test the effect of the call. Have seen quite a few bucks fighting, most were pre-rut and not too serious, but a couple were getting it on.

Have rattled up several bucks but have not yet tried to use the horns and grunt together. Want to try that on the herd that is not hunted first to watch their reaction to variations.

I think that the success of rattling is greatly dependant upon the buck to doe ration of the property. Hunted a ranch that had a terrible ratio, probably 15 does to the buck. I never was successful in rattling up a buck! on this ranch and we hunted it for 22 years. Currently hunting a ranch with a buck/doe ratio of 1.4 does/ea. buck. Looking forward to the beginning of the rut to see what the horns will produce.

As previously stated, if the conditions are right, the horns will work and the grunt is a useful tool, at the very least. Give them a try.

Regards,
hps

 

[OH25shooter]

Seems like it's a 50-50 deal. My experience rattling (with real horns, not plastic) has been negative and positive. Well, almost positive. A buddy and I set up about 10 yards away from one another. I was sitting up against a fallen tree stump. He was standing next to a tree ready to take a shot. My shotgun was on my lap. I rattled and suddenly, within a couple minutes, out pops a huge 10 pt buck. About 25 yards away. I immediatedly stopped and froze waiting to hear a shot. No shot...what the h*** is he waiting for? I slowly make a movement to grab my shotgun and off he goes. DAMN! My buddy spotted the deer the same time I did, but the way the deer popped his head out between some trees he didn't have a clear shot. I learned two things that morning. Rattling can work. And, now I wonder how close deer actually come to you and you are totally unaware. The other thing, is how difficult it is to carry horns in the woods without them clanging against one another. Just kind of awkward.

 

[Art Eatman]

Rattling used to be mostly a south-Texas or southern-Texas thing. Works best on a really cold and still morning. It's also best tohave two guys, since you can spook your buck if you have to put down the horns and pick up your rifle.

But I'll tell you for sure, it's almost scary when a big old buck comes snorting in, hair stuck out in all directions and looking for a fight.

I watched two big bucks in a pretty good fight, one morning. They were across a valley and in some trees and brush, so I never had a chance for a clear shot. The "war" must have gone on for five minutes or more. I never knew deer could run backwards so fast! One would get the edge and push the other maybe a hundred yards, and then it would reverse. The clack and clash was quite loud. Finally, one buck wore down the other and the loser trotted away. The Hero then went playing with his lady that started the whole darned thing...

, Art

 

[nygunguy]

Some Success

But never rattling.

I've called one small doe in with a grunt call; she came in at a dead run. I've had a six-point run away. Most of the time they just ignore my grunting. I've just bought one of those doe bleaters but the deer ignore it too.

I did get a buck one time by snorting at him. I don't think he came to the snort but rather I just turned him around. I was hunting in a stand on the edge of a cut corn field. The deer came out to the right of me, walked out into the field a ways and turned away. I started blowing at him (trying to blow like a deer). Every time I did he'd pick his head up and turn his body a bit more toward me. After a while I had him turned completely around and he just wandered in my direction. I nailed him with an XX75 about 30 yards straight out from my stand. It was the second darndest thing I've ever seen in the deer woods.

 

[Bodeen]

I've had limited success with grunt tubes,rattling and scents. I think at times they'll sneak around down wind and you never know they were there. For me, low light conditions have created better results, with grunt tubes being better than rattling antlers.With that said, I still feel kind of silly sitting in the woods banging antlers together.

 

[ACP230]

I just got back from deer hunting tonight.

I sat in a stand watching an alfalfa field. I have seen deer cross more than 200 yards of hay field and climb a hill to get to the alfalfa. The last two days, nothing.

My son and I used rattling antlers, a grunt tube and a doe bleat call. Nada, nada, nada.

The deer just wouldn't cooperate this weekend.

 

[Guyon]

Grunting worked for me Saturday.

I was hunting a cutover with a logging road just under my climbing stand. Saw a doe to my left filtering through the cutover. Just as she began to get out of sight, I decided to try and grunt her back. Blew a couple of short grunts, and durned if a buck didn't snort from my right side. When I turned to look, he was about thirty yards over my right shoulder just on the edge of the logging road. Turned out to be a decent eight point (though not a trophy) with a nice sized body. I plugged him with my .308, and he jumped back into some thick brambles. We had a time getting him out of there.

If I hadn't grunted, he probably wouldn't have snorted. And if he had trotted on into the woods behind me, I would have likely missed him.

 

[Joe Demko]

Deer have a pretty high level of curiosity. Never tried grunting or rattling, I'm in the "noise is bad" camp. However, I knew a few older hunters who whistled at deer. Not really to call them in, but just to attract their attention and get them to pause long enough for a good shot. The whistling noise those guys made was sort of like noises I've heard the deer themselves make, though.

 

[hps1]

The horns and grunt calls do work, but, like anything else, not 100 %.

Last week I took my grandson on his first successful deer hunt. A spike buck circled our blind at a range of about 100 yards, traversing a distance of approximately 200 to 250 yards. Each time the deer stopped, he had a bush or tree right in front of his shoulder. I tried repeatedly to stop him in the open with a grunt call and he totally ignored the call. In desperation, I bleated like a lamb, also to no avail. The deer acted as if he was deaf. He did make the mistake of stopping just before entering the brush and the grandson made a nice one shot kill.

Yesterday, a friend and I were walking down a ranch road trying to get within camera range of several bucks who were obviously chasing does. I had my rattling horns in one hand, a camera and grunt call in the other. We both had on full camo, face masks, etc.

A young 8 point (tall but narrow rack) came into view in the edge of the brush about 175 yards away. We both knelt in the center of the rut and I used the grunt call. The buck came to attention and ran out into the road, trotting toward us. Each time he stopped, I would grunt and take a picture. My truck was parked in the middle of the road about 300 yards behind us and I think the buck spotted it when he was about 40 yards from us. He froze and I couldn't coax him any further. He finally had enough and trotted off. Got some pretty nice pictures before he left, though. Would post the picture, but can't figure out how to do so.

The bucks are just starting to show an interest in the does, so look forward to more of the same in the week to come.

Regards,
hps

 

[MeekandMild]

Never had any luck calling, but then again I've never tried. I come from the old school of silence and stillness. So my big question is how long does one grunt and whether the tone should be rising or falling? Is the grunt loud at first then soft or vice versa?

 

[hps1]

M&M: No expert on the subject, but have called a few bucks in and stopped both bucks and does pretty much at will (until that little spike last week ) using the grunt call. I usually blow a very short (about 1 second) steady tone grunt. I have never heard a buck grunt as I am rather hard of hearing, so feel like the lower the tone and shorter the grunt, the less likely the deer will be to realize it is not actually a deer. Probably not correct, but it works for me. I like to experiment with the grunt when I have a deer in sight so I can see the reaction. So far more are curious than are scared by the call.

The ranch foreman where I hunt showed me how he uses the grunt call and he uses some steady tones and once in a while lets it trail off slightly. He promised to go out and rattle up some bucks next week or so when rut is in full swing and I look forward to learning more on the subject.

Regards,
hps

 

[OH25shooter]

I got my 8 pt. buck last week and with no help from my antlers or grunt caller. Just plain and simple hunting, down wind and no movement. I threw my grunt call away and hung up my antlers for good. The old...old timers never used that commercial stuff and got deer to feed the family or they starved. Find the right spot, be quite and don't move!

 

[Art Eatman]

OH25, I realize that grunt calls are a relatively new thing in deer hunting, but using last year's antlers for rattling goes back before my time--and that's a good number of decades.

On a really cold, still morning in southern Texas, rattling can bring in a bigger buck. Little guys tend to stay away from the big boys when they fight--which is a smart thing for people, as well as deer...Rattling is a limited-time fun alternative to just sitting in a stand, or walking a fair number of miles in a day. It's just another part of the Bambi game.

, Art

 

[TerryBob]

My only success with grunt calls goes as follows,

It was cold, I was bored. I decided to try out my new grunt call that I purchased recently. I used a bleet call that is supposed to mimick a fawn in destress which will send a doe to the rescue. Shortly after, my buddy that was about 150 yards away from me, shot a doe that was headed my way.

I'm still a little peeved over it.

TerryBob a.k.a. new guy