grunting or other calls while hunting buck bedding areas?

[Bowhunting Brian]

Do you guys use calls at all, or just wait them out? If your setting up in a bedding area, are you too close for using calls as they may circle downwind and find you out?

[BigHunt]

Do you guys use calls at all, or just wait them out? If your setting up in a bedding area, are you too close for using calls as they may circle downwind and find you out?

yes i wouldnt use calls in buck bedding areas there shouldnt be any other buck in that area so calling to them would spook them ...ive been there and have spooked them when i was younger and im staring to relize i was amking a mistake by calling to them that close to there area

[BCam]

i quit using them completely the last 3 or 4 years and it has made a big difference on my hunts. I have had a lot more encounters with bigger bucks since.

[BigHunt]

i quit using them completely the last 3 or 4 years and it has made a big difference on my hunts. I have had a lot more encounters with bigger bucks since.

me too

[Zap]

I have no confidance in blind calling, however I have called to bucks when I could see em and they were not coming my way.

[BigHunt]

I have no confidance in blind calling, however I have called to bucks when I could see em and they were not coming my way.

i mean dont get me wrong i do call to deer but not in the bedding areas ...i pulled a good buck torwards me one year he would react to the grunting but when he went behind the ridge i slamed the horns together and he came barreling around the hill to see what all the nise was and was looking hard but didnt see nothing and left agin

[BCam]

everybody and their brother uses them around here, i think it just educates the deer.

[BigHunt]

everybody and their brother uses them around here, i think it just educates the deer.

same here

[Dewey]

i quit using them completely the last 3 or 4 years and it has made a big difference on my hunts. I have had a lot more encounters with bigger bucks since.

Same here........The only time I use my grunt call now is on a buck that will obviously not be coming within shooting range and I have nothing to lose. If I spook him it doesn't really matter because I won't be back at that spot anytime soon unless it is during the rut.

[Arrowbender]

Ya all are missing out.

[Dewey]

Ya all are missing out.

Yeah, I'm missing out on calling in a bunch of 1 1/2- 2 1/2 year old bucks. Been there done that for many years. When I quit blind calling my mature buck sightings skyrocketed. I believe that they were still around but were not going to be fooled by a grunt call. Mature bucks are much smarter than that. Don't get me wrong you can call them in but mostly during a very small window during the rut.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Stanley]

I don't call very much. Hunters overuse the calls and that is why they don't work very well. I have been very successful with a grunt or a bleat, not so much rattling. I like to blind call once during the hunt if there is no action. I use the bleat or grunt mostly to give deer a direction to head. If you can see a buck at 75 yards a light grunt or bleat sometimes lures them towards you. I would say 90% of the time it won't. From my experiences calling does not spook deer. It merely does nothing. During the chase bucks grunt continuously, why would other deer think it was a human making the noise? I think it is a good tool when used properly and moderately.

[muddy]

This is an area and timing dependant type of question. I've had tremendous success over the years blind calling on both public and private ground.

I only do the blind calling during the rut though because bucks are moving around so much.

[Arrowbender]

Dewey said

Yeah, I'm missing out on calling in a bunch of 1 1/2- 2 1/2 year old bucks

If that's what you set up by. Beast style hunts use bedding knowledge to get close to mature buck beds. Calling allows you to not be so dependant on "just off" wind and bring the buck to you. And the best part is; you do not bump them out of the county if they don't because you don't need to go into thier security zone.

Stan wrote

why would other deer think it was a human making the noise?

And that is really the beauty of it. MOST of the time they won't bother using the wind to check out the call, they LOOK to see who is so close to them.

[dan]

Do you guys use calls at all, or just wait them out? If your setting up in a bedding area, are you too close for using calls as they may circle downwind and find you out?

I usually just call if I see a buck that is not coming to me that I would like to shoot... Calling has not worked well for me. It seems to occasionally work when all the stars are aliened.
Spometimes it spooks them, sometimes it makes them know right where your at with all there attention on where the call came from... Try and get an arrow in a deer coming in on pins and needles. Also I noticed that if they are looking in your direction they can pinpoint the sound so accuratly they know exactly where it came from and sometimes can pin you right in the tree...
I have noticed you can fool young bucks on a regular basis, but mature bucks tend to have much more caution. I have a real nice buck on film from a few years ago that was coming thru a funnel I was hunting. He was just out of range at about 50 yards and I grunted to him. He looked my way but then ignored it, so I let out a little doe bleat and that really caught his attention and he spun around and started coming in. But he did a wide circle and came in from the complete opisate side and winded me... Thats just one example... But often I seen bucks circle to wind whatever is making the noise...
Calling has its time and place, and can work if set up so bucks can't or won't circle and your hunting in a spot where they don't expect to run into a person...
I have called in bucks successfully, but most often I fail to kill them cause they come in trying very hard to see or smell what made the noise... If your set up beast style on a bedding area, 90% of the time if the buck is bedded where you expect him he comes in anyway without coaxing.. But the buck turns to leave and you do call, now the gigs up, you need to either kill him or give up, because now he knows you where there...