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Best method to bring in a buck

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ArcheryIA44

PMA Member
So I'm sitting yesterday (Monday) at sunrise. My place is mostly timber and generally has pretty good deer traffic. Although I'd seen about 10 deer in this spot on Saturday morning, yesterday was pretty slow. Next thing I know, there was a VERY nice buck was coming down the draw (wind was perfect for my stand). He didn't look like he was trailing a doe or had gotten scent of any ladies on the wind. He was about 60 yards up the hill.

I notice that he was angling across the hill rather than following a trail down the hill to my stand. I have one of those Primose Doe bleat cans that I used to bleat twice. He stops grabbed a couple of leaves and continues on his merry way, away from me, out of sight. I then pulled out my rattle sticks and gave him a light 10 second serenade. A minute later he reappeared and I was oh so hopeful. But he turned and walked directly away back up the hill. Since he was obviously not interested in what I'm selling, I sat and watched him go.

I'm asking for your collective wisdom. What would you have done differently? What are your techniques to get him to change his track in your favor?

I'm going to move my stand up the hill because, although I have quite a few mature bucks on the trail cam set up at my stand, I've noticed in my sits that a LOT more deer use the hillside rather than coming all the way down to where my stand is currently located.

Thanks

ArcheryIA44
 
Doesn't always work, but I have had good success with strong dominant grunts if buck is acting like the king of the area. If I see he's pushing smaller bucks around or dominant posture I'll usually try an aggressive grunt. If he reacts like looking for a fight I have finished the last 60 yds or so with a snort wheeze.
 
I've not had much luck with doe bleats. Rattling success has been marginal for me. I've had the best luck getting bucks really interested using a snort wheeze. Also, i truly believe a decoy can make all the difference in the world. I've been using one for a couple years now and having that visual to accompany the sounds can be all thats needed.
 
LYON said:
I've not had much luck with doe bleats. Rattling success has been marginal for me. I've had the best luck getting bucks really interested using a snort wheeze. Also, i truly believe a decoy can make all the difference in the world. I've been using one for a couple years now and having that visual to accompany the sounds can be all thats needed.
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In the situation that the OP described...my best guess is the snort wheeze too.
 
Initially I would have tried a couple soft contact grunts. Otherwise I would say snort wheeze is my favorite in that situation as well, but it has to be a dominant mature buck in my opinion. I've seen 3.5 olds and younger leave the area when they hear a snort wheeze.
 
Snort wheeze is something I've been trying to utilize more. For me this year, a lot of the mature bucks seem to just be in a zone and show no reaction at all to grunts, rattling or bleats. I watched two bucks duke it out this year and the loser had the bigger rack. No amount of calling was ever gonna bring him in after he got his butt kicked. I tried! He acted big when dinks and button bucks were around, but he was clearly not the dominant buck around. It can be tough to call deer that aren't aggressive.
 
Some people might scoff at this but I finally bought into the 'extinguisher' call this year.

I'm definitely not pushing this thing.....but this scenario has played out for me 8 times already this year. Most of the time it has been smaller bucks that I just wanted to see if I could pull them over. One was a nice 150's 10 that ducked my arrow at 35 yards :(

Basically I will see a buck cruising...much like the scenario from the OP. I will hit him with a doe bleat...he will then look my way for a few seconds. I don't hunt with a decoy so when he doesn't see anything he starts back on his path as he was before.

Then I hit him with a few short grunts. At this point most of the smaller (2 y/o) bucks are already hooked and headed my way. The 3 year olds and the 4 year old 150 needed a little more. When they put their head back down is when you give them another bleat followed by the long tending or breeding grunt. The 3 year olds would then come on a string. The older guy didn't come right to the tree...but at that point he was PISSED.

He proceeded to find the closest small tree and destroy it. He even broke off a limb and it was stuck in his antlers. He then made a few scrapes...all the while looking for those two deer. I think if I had a decoy he would have come closer than he did . He just hung up out there because he couldn't see anything.

Most likely you can replicate this scenario with another call or calls...but it was very easy to do with this call. I got it at Bass Pro for like $22 bucks. Best investment I made this year :)

Now if I could only remember to aim a little low when they are past 30 yards and on alert :(

This obviously isn't fool proof as I have had a few bucks that were just not interested no matter what I did....but the ratio of deer that HAVE come to this have been 2 to 1. Maybe I'm just lucky...but there has to be something to that calling sequence that gets bucks going.

This has all been in the last 10 days.
 
Each buck will react differently depending on the mood he's in I guess. I've grunted mature buck in but not very often, I also used the growl successfully a few times and I also snort wheezed a few mature buck in. I had one stroll by me and I tried grunting and got no response as he started to disappear but when I threw a snort wheeze at him he spun around on a dime and came right back for the kill.
 
I have had that same scenario. I have found that deer, especially mature bucks, want some additional confirmation of what they heard. I had a decent buck respond to a grunt call but hang up about 70 yards out, he looked around then turned to leave, I grunted him back. At that moment a couple squirrels jumped into the leaves behind me and started to chase each other - when the buck heard the commotion he came on a run! I have dropped pieces of bark in the leaves and brought in deer that hesitated to commit. I have also heard of guys hanging something heavy from their bow rope (rattling antlers) then bouncing them in the leaves at the base of the tree to simulate running / chasing deer. Good luck.
 
Kind of off topic but anyone notice that some bucks just can't figure out where you when you call them in? I've rattled bucks right to my tree from 300 yards away but some others I've called in make a giant circle all around me as I keep calling to get them close. Lol.
 
arm said:
Kind of off topic but anyone notice that some bucks just can't figure out where you when you call them in? I've rattled bucks right to my tree from 300 yards away but some others I've called in make a giant circle all around me as I keep calling to get them close. Lol.
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It's not that they can't figure out where the sound is coming from.....these crafty critters are the smart ones. They are circling to try and wind you....to make sure what they hear is authentic. They will positively identify before going in. These are the most difficult bucks to take.
 
arm said:
Kind of off topic but anyone notice that some bucks just can't figure out where you when you call them in? I've rattled bucks right to my tree from 300 yards away but some others I've called in make a giant circle all around me as I keep calling to get them close. Lol.
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Part of that circling is likely them trying to get wind of what's making the ruckus. That's one reason many people don't like to blind call. Most mature deer will circle downwind before heading in.
 
I get the winding part now doubt. But in some cases, like just a couple days ago, two deer circled upwind of me...they came in almost downwind. And the way they were looking around make them look lost. I'm sticking with them being not very intelligent or each deer thought the other was making the calls and were queuing off each other
 
I have had more luck with a doe grunt and bleat combination than anything else. Just enuff to get their attention, than shutt up!! Less is more!!
 
In my experience 60 yards is pretty close to call to a buck and expect him to come closer unless you have very thick cover. If he can just look over and see no deer then he will likely just walk away. Same with your rattling sequence, If you hit the horns and he gets to a spot that he can see well enough to expect to see what he just heard, he will likely walk away.

A decoy could work but I have had them spook more to a decoy in a timber setting when they can't see them from a distance, just my experience. If it is open timber it could work well.

I think you nailed it with the need to move to the side hill if you can beat the wind.

On a side note. I have carried the Primos Can for years but can't honestly say I have ever had a deer come in to it. And I have never heard the a wild deer do it.

Good luck!
 
I agree with 60 yards being difficult if they can see that distance. I had a buck at about 55 yds one year, just on the other side of some short corn, and was checking some does. Not sure if he would have seen a decoy if I had had one out due to the corn, but I thought at the time it may have helped. I grunted at him several times as he just stood there listening. He definitely heard me, and finally turned and went down into a draw away from the does. I'm pretty sure I saw the light above his head turn on while I was grunting, and then he was outta there. I didn't try rattling as I figured he was too close. Wish I would have thought about having something to rustle the brush below me to add to the grunts.
 
Until this season, my attempts with calls have been met with very marginal results. This season, I called 3 bucks into range at least 3 yrs old, with the last one being the buck I shot this past Saturday. The difference this season I believe was the location I was sitting each time I had success with the grunt tube. I was in a narrow funnel but perched on the edge of a deep ravine behind me. Even though the bucks could see across the timber funnel, I believe the ravine behind me made them want to come over to investigate what might be down in the ravine as a source of the grunt. Without the ravine, I agree with Bowman, the bucks would have easily been able to view the area and know that no buck was present. My lesson this year was that the location (as much as each buck's personality) is very important to whether calls will work or not.
 
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