Deer Behavior - Grunt Call

[JMKro]

Both instances are with the same deer:

October 12th - Deer was working a scrape and started heading the other direction. Grunted once, and he stopped and looked towards me. Started walking off again, I grunted again, and he stopped and looked towards me. Ended up walking off. Didn't seem spooked.

October 22nd - Deer was fast walking/trotting. On the third grunt he stopped and looked towards me. Started fast walking/trotting again until I lost sight of him. Didn't seem spooked.

Do y'all think this is just one of those deer that isn't receptive to calling, or could it be something else? I'm assuming the deer isn't pressured. The first time I saw him was at 6:45. The second time was at 6:40. Plenty of shooting light left.

[TX_Hoghunter]

Success or failure when calling deer is on par with the success of a rain dance.....it is all about the timing. If you hit it at the right time the deer might leave dust running to you....the wrong time and he may leave to avoid that area for the next several months.

-john

[jstamps50]

In my own experience deer seem to not really care much about calling until the rut.

[flywise]

He knows there are no bucks tending does yet so he ain't real interested in your grunts. In a few weeks he will likely be very interested

[GarGuy]

He is no where near the dominate deer in the area. Classic reaction.

[JMKro]

Since it seems like he isn't getting spooked, I guess it won't hurt to try it again if I see him again and he's out of shooting range? On the one hand I'm not a huge fan of calling, but I also like to try and make things happen if I see a shooter and he's out of range.

[C.Read]

I had a buck try to give me the Mohican sneakin last Friday. I hit the grunt call one time and he turned around and started easing back toward me.....he done his part, I screwed up mine and shot under him

[Stuck]

I’ve never called much. Years ago I had a large 8 I was hunting. After not coming in range the first day I took a grunt tube with me the second day. Again he came by out of range, I grunted a couple of times, he stopped, looked right at me, kept going on his route. 30min later he’s in the thick woods almost directly below me. I have no way of knowing if he was slowly circling or just happened to be there.

Have had more luck with decoys, don’t know why I quit using them.

[Hills of Texas]

It’s pre rut activity for the most part. Usually after about October 20th I start rattling and grunting a bit. The bucks are ready to breed, just waiting on the does to be receptive. They will spar and size each other up this time of year.

[tex4k]

I agree with the timing I've called and rattled with mixed success, example, had been having some luck with the calling, driving back to town one night we came up on several bucks all staying within eyesight of this one doe that had a buck as her shadow, whooped out the grunt tube and let a grunt series, all the bachelor bucks stiffened up, got ready to fight. The doe and her shadow buck got real nervous and started making their way away from the commotion into some brush. Then I decided to tickle the rattling horns together, the doe and her partner left and every other buck there followed them!

[gonehuntin68]

I found that calling at feeder locations just doesn't work very good. Get away from your feeder and it works much better. Timing is also very important.

[RattlesnakeDan]

I have a 9 that is always under my tree stand, he snort wheezes all the time, grunts alot, makes scrapes and is pretty fun to watch but the other bucks around pretty much ignore him. They see it and hear it and if they are curious at that moment they may come to see what is happening. This morning he got rascally with the girls and he and a few other bucks took off practicing their dogging techniques, sniffing the ground and chasing does around.

[JMKro]

Thanks for the info, guys. Hopefully I'll see him again. Third time's a charm... or something like that