Calling to a bedded buck

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brancher147
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Calling to a bedded buck

Unread postby brancher147 » Wed Dec 13, 2017 12:57 am

I was able to sneak in on a mature buck bedded yesterday. I was actually going in to take a camera down from a bedding area, but I was sneaking in and when I got close a big buck was laying 80 yards away. I was able to sit down and get setup with my bow without him noticing due to a couple large trees between me and him and wet leaves. I had good shooting lanes out to 50 yards, and he was bedded on a logging road, that if he decided to walk out on I would have a 40 yard shot. I got setup at 2:30 with a wind that was off just enough to keep him from winding me, unless he got up and crossed the ridge I was on. I had not planned to hunt this spot because the wind was not right for it on an afternoon hunt. But I figured I was there and he was there, may as well give it a try. I was hoping the light breeze would continue and blow my scent over him, as I was probably 60 feet above him. I tried a couple light grunts with no reaction. I did not want to spook him so kept the calling to a couple grunts. As I was afraid of, when the thermals began to drop and the breeze died at 4pm, he stood up very quickly and was gone, as if he had been shot at. I knew this was the probable outcome, but this late in the season, I figured it was worth a try. And I figured I had just a good of a chance of spooking him if I tried to sneak away than if I sat and hunted him.

I know in a perfect setup with the right wind I would have waited silently, but I did not have the perfect setup, and it is late season and one of my last days to hunt this year.

My question to those of you that do more bed buck hunting is, in this situation, would any of you have tried some more aggressive calling to try and get the buck up and in range before the thermals dropped? This was on private land that gets average gun pressure (mostly first 3 days of season), and not much pressure otherwise, and I hunted this exact area one day during gun season Nov.22 (shot a buck) and it has not been hunted since. I had the bedded buck on camera 4 days ago 8:30am chasing does and posturing up to a smaller buck also in this area.


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Re: Calling to a bedded buck

Unread postby Bedbug » Wed Dec 13, 2017 3:29 am

I think you did the right thing with light grunts.
Id say if you're calling did get him on his feet before the thermals started hitting him. He would have hooked for a wind advantage before he came to investigate. Especially if you were only 50 yards away and he couldn't see what was making the calls.
Of course I wasn't there I don't know the exact scenario but anytime I'm hunting a slightly off wind like that I end up regretting calling.
Sounds like an awesome encounter this late in the season!
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headgear
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Re: Calling to a bedded buck

Unread postby headgear » Wed Dec 13, 2017 4:00 am

It's one of those things where if you do it and it works you look like a genius and if it doesn't you feel like a complete fool and wish you had done something else. With that said I know Arrowbender loves to call and has called bucks out of beds, my first ever beast buck I saw a tamerack tree getting worked over 100 yards away and called him in. This year late season I slipped into a bedding area and called in a nice buck with half a rack so yes it for sure can be done. I think you did the right thing by trying something knowing the thermals might get you, I might have even been a little more aggressive and made some louder grunts. Another option which is even more tricky would be to try and stalk him and shoot him right in his bed if possible, again one of those genius/fool situations but you might have been able to pull it off because you saw him first and had the upper hand for the time being. Hindsight is always 20/20 so whatever you do don't worry about making the wrong move, just try and think of the best way to get it done and give it your best, that is all we can ask for.
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Re: Calling to a bedded buck

Unread postby Kraftd » Wed Dec 13, 2017 4:54 am

I've had some success calling to bedding as well. If I'm in a situation where I am pretty sure nothing will happen positively without making it happen, I'll call, and commit to it. Kind of sounds like the case here, where you were pretty certain the thermals would eventually get you.

Did it look like he heard the grunt? My experience has been, whether they come in or not, they will almost always at least look up and acknowledge a grunt. I start light and increase tone until I get visual evidence he heard the call, then hold on any more calling to assess the situation. Did you have anything to doe bleat? That may have worked well too.

That all said, it sounds like things were pretty open if you could see him in a logging road from 80 yards. I think because their sense of smell is so keen their hearing gets underrated sometimes. Its amazing how easy they can hone in on the exact location of a call. Getting a shot off would have been tough either way. I agree he probably would have tried to get downwind and would have been on edge if he couldn't see deer. I've had a few opportunities blown where I got a positive response to calling, but not seeing the deer put them on edge and never presented a shot.
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Re: Calling to a bedded buck

Unread postby Stanley » Wed Dec 13, 2017 5:59 am

I do very little calling. I did some grunting this year. It seems I usually get some deer come my way when I do. I think it gives the buck a direction to head for.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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brancher147
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Re: Calling to a bedded buck

Unread postby brancher147 » Wed Dec 13, 2017 7:28 am

Kraftd wrote:I've had some success calling to bedding as well. If I'm in a situation where I am pretty sure nothing will happen positively without making it happen, I'll call, and commit to it. Kind of sounds like the case here, where you were pretty certain the thermals would eventually get you.

Did it look like he heard the grunt? My experience has been, whether they come in or not, they will almost always at least look up and acknowledge a grunt. I start light and increase tone until I get visual evidence he heard the call, then hold on any more calling to assess the situation. Did you have anything to doe bleat? That may have worked well too.

That all said, it sounds like things were pretty open if you could see him in a logging road from 80 yards. I think because their sense of smell is so keen their hearing gets underrated sometimes. Its amazing how easy they can hone in on the exact location of a call. Getting a shot off would have been tough either way. I agree he probably would have tried to get downwind and would have been on edge if he couldn't see deer. I've had a few opportunities blown where I got a positive response to calling, but not seeing the deer put them on edge and never presented a shot.


It really did not look like he heard the grunt. It was a pretty soft grunt and I only tried it when squirrels were running around or the wind was blowing because I did not want him to pinpoint my location, as I was on the ground but up on a bluff above him. In hindsight I probably should have committed to the calling and tried some louder grunts. Especially knowing he was moving in daylight and still showing rut behavior a few days earlier. I would have tried doe bleat, but all I had was the grunt call. It is pretty open in there and a ground stalk would not have worked with a bow, would have worked fine with a gun. I do think the more aggressive calling may have worked as there are a bunch of small and medium size pine trees below me a deer could easily be concealed in, so he may have come to investigate even if he didn't see anything. Getting a shot would have been tough though. All in all it was a cool encounter, and I was not disappointed that he got away. I had 3 does come in an hour later and almost got one but she ducked my shot at 25 yards. Hopefully he sticks around for next year.
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