Doe Bleat or buck grunt

[erikwells]

Is there one that is more effective during the early season than late season? I have never used one before so as a newbie that will be bow hunting mid september is there one I should start with? I'm not a trophy hunter rather a guy who wants to harvest a mature big bodied deer, fyi. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

[mrklean]

Personally i dont even bring them out anymore only time i ever had success was during the rut

[Lunker]

early season don't bother. Once into October when the bucks start fighting (pre-rut) the grunt becomes effective. I've never had much luck with bleat calls regardless of season.

[MUSKY18]

Same as above. Never had any success using a doe bleat, it stays at home. I only use my buck grunt during the prerut/rut in conjunction with rattling or if I have a deer spotted. One time I grunted at a buck and had him come charging in. Other times they seem to ignore it.

[engfish]

The property where I hunt is private, and I'm the only one that hunts it. Wooded and agricultural land. The Primos doe in estrus has been good for the past three seasons. The first time I used it about five years ago, which was the first time I hunted the property, I had a young 8-point barrel out of the woods from across the road and stand out in front of me in a bean field for 20 minutes. That was late October. I was pretty well convinced it worked at that point.

Last year alone, I had six different bucks of various size, come into sight and two of them were in shooting range. Opening morning of slug season, I had a spike show up within 10 minutes of rolling the can.

For me, grunting and rattling have been a waste of time. Those green cans have been awesome in late October through November. I've used a few fawn bleats early season but I tend to see does and fawns most nights even without them.

My .

[Bear55]

I've called in bucks opening weekend, deer are vocal creatures and they grunt year round. I don't go into an extravagant calling sequence but a couple of short/social grunts can work. I have also bleated in does before but I usually don't bring a doe call with any more.

[gtfourmn]

If you are only hunting for meat, a fawn bleat early season can be very effective, especially on public land where you may not necessarily have the deers patterned.

[surewood]

I use a bleat can and grunt call, but not before October 20th or so. My brother and I call in bucks every year. Most effective times have been October 28th to November 10th. Tips that work for me. I'll blind call about every half hour. If I see a buck, but he's out of range and not coming my way I'll wait til his view of me is obstructed before I call. Part so he can't see movement, other part is if the view is open I think they except to see a deer just by looking over and will just stop and look. When they can't see where the source of the noise is they seem curious and more likely to check it out.

[hunter322]

Ive had success with both. Way more with the bleat can. Last year during regualr firearms season, everytime i used the can i had deer come in. The grunt call can scare some younger bucks off where as the bleat can wont. I used to use the bleet can only when i got bored and what not but i was talkin with a buddy and he said someone told him to get down right annoying with it! So when i do use it now, i bleat 3, 4 or 5 times every 15 minutes or so. Works every time! Ive had does and bucks come to it.

[muskiemanAD]

I have killed bucks the last 3 years using grunts. Two of them from public land in SE MN and pulled them out of the exact same bed on Monday after the orange army left. I plan on hopefully doing it again this year.

If you have know buck bed that you have identified ahead of time you can sneak up on them and hit the grunt call. If there is a buck in it a lot of time they will stand up and see what is there. IMO this can be a deadly tactic during the rut. Below are the 2 beds about 10 feet apart one for a north wind the other for a west wind. If it was a south or east wind I don't think they used the bed, I killed them on north and west winds.

So to answer your question yes grunts do work and if used properly can be deadly...

[RangerJack]

That's pretty cool muskieman! nice tactic!

[muskiemanAD]

Ranger, I learned of this style of hunting bucks about 4 years ago. It works great early season bow hunting, but also works when there is a lot of pressure and bucks go to their safe haven. I have about 10-12 known buck beds and depending on the wind will hunt multiple ones and set up just out of nose and eye range...

[erikwells]

Muskiemanad, you taught me something today, thanks. I guess I always thought of sitting in a tree stand when I bowhunt. I've never thought of hunting that way. I'm going to give it a try.

[Bear55]

Good tip miskie! As a wise man once said, hunt wear the bucks ARE, not where YOU want them to be.