Five Grunt Call Tricks that Work
By: Joe Byers
A grunt call can turn an ordinary day into a big buck celebration. It’s easy to use, inexpensive, and can bring the deer of your dreams right to you.
Over 30 years of chasing whitetails, I’ve learned that a grunt tube can be a hunter’s best friend and often creates hunting opportunities from seemingly non-existent situations. Furthermore, it can reverse a negative situation. If you don’t carry a grunt tube and use it regularly, you are missing important hunting opportunities. Here are five scenarios where you’ll at least double your chances to score.
1. Primary Calling Strategy
Wind or heavy rain can anchor deer in their beds and make stand hunting unproductive. I was faced with this situation on a day with winds blowing from 25-35 mph, howling consistently from the Northwest. I knew of a thick creek bottom that meandered perpendicular to that wind flow. Since deer in the pre-rut respond to grunting, I planned to sneak to the lee side of the creek, move carefully, and grunt every 75-100 yards depending on visibility.
My first “set” was unproductive. I grunted numerous times, watching carefully after each ovation as I would when rattling. While moving to the next spot, I heard a deer snort and immediately knelt by a cedar tree and began grunting. The snorting stopped, yet I saw a distinct pair of legs moving steadily toward me. The cover was thick, but a tall G2 caught my attention, and I switched off the safety. A few more steps and my buck went down.
This bad weather situation allowed me to sneak much closer to deer than I could have on a dry, calm day. Calling any game seems to work better the closer you approach, and inclement weather allows a hunter to stalk undetected. Don’t sit out a bad weather day. Get out there, and get gruntin’.
2. Random Calling
Sitting on a stand for long periods of time can be difficult, and a grunt tube helps pass the time and stay focused. This works best when bucks are searching for does as they travel miles in a day. You will rarely do harm by grunting, and a buck may walk right into your vocal range.
When a buck appears, it’s difficult to document that the grunt calls lured it within sight, yet you can often tell by the buck’s action if it is walking or looking for a rival. If the buck seems to be searching, stop grunting and let the deer seek you out. Rifle hunters can take the first optimum shot, but archers need the deer to close and offer the right angle.
3. Bring Them in Close
Last fall I was invited to hunt in suburban Maryland on a 100-acre creek bottom surrounded by houses and bordered by a state park. My friends had seen big deer there in previous years, but I had no idea where to hunt and planned to use my grunt tube for maximum advantage.
Shortly after daylight, I found the intersection of two well used trails and picked a spot on the ground with good concealment. Setting my crossbow against a tree, I began to randomly grunt every 20 minutes or so. About an hour into the morning, I saw a deer 300 yards away on the opposite side of a ravine. I grunted, and the 6-point changed directions and turned toward me. Another grunt or two had it squarely on course. Eventually, it came within 10 steps and never recognized my camouflaged clad form among the leaves.
Later that afternoon, I shot a doe at 32 yards from a tree stand on the request of my host who wanted a deer for a friend. Although the mature doe went right down, it left an incredible blood trail.. Half an hour later, I was routinely grunting when I heard a walking animal come increasingly closer and then stop. Unfortunately, the buck came to the blood trail and turned up the hill. One glimpse of its antlers said it was a bruiser. The buck was responding to my grunt calls until the blood trail spooked it.
4. A Calming Effect
Last fall I hunted another windy day in heavy cover. The rut was in full swing, and bucks were both chasing and actively breeding does. I planned to watch a deer crossing and still hunt as daylight arrived. Facing a southeast wind this time, I had to hunt my favorite spots in reverse and had a doe travel directly downwind of my first location. This old doe seemed to have a nose a foot long and the instant she smelled “human” she bolted 50 yards into dense cover and began to snort. Having experienced this situation many times over the years, I expected her to stand and snort repeatedly and chase every deer within earshot. Sure enough, she snorted, but I quickly responded with aggressive grunts. She vanished without another sound.
Realizing that the wind was my nemesis, I chose to stalk into it and sneak along the edge of cedar patches. I had walked less than 100 yards, when I saw a whitetail bound away 50 yards ahead of me. Aside from chastising myself for not being more vigilant, I blew the grunt call aggressively to cover the mistake. Incredibly, within a minute the mature doe walked back from the cover as calm as could be. Suddenly, I heard a buck grunt and immediately noticed antlers approaching above the brush.
Switching off the safety, I leaned around a small tree just as the buck saw me. My scope centered on its chest and the CZ rifle in 6.5 Grendel barked. The bucked wheeled and crashed just 50 yards farther.
5. Mixed Bag of Lures
Because of its versatility, a grunt tube around your neck is always a wise move, yet it also works well with other calls and hunting strategies. Doe bleats like the Primos Can and the Woods Wise Super-Hot Ma-Mah can be dynamite.
Rattling can be incredibly effective in the pre-rut and provides the greatest range of calling. On a clear, still morning a buck can hear deer antlers clash a mile away. Plus, rattling antlers can get under the skin of the most dominant buck in the area, precisely the animal you are looking for.
In my hunting career, I’ve rattled for whitetails at least 1,000 times, probably many more. It’s worked on two mature bucks, a 160-class animal from Alberta (my best) and a big Maryland deer that I missed, primarily due to buck fever. From a statistical standpoint, this is a terrible success ratio, but it only has to work once. Additionally, by rattling and grunting together, you can challenge every buck within a square mile.
Finally, if you are not using a grunt tube while deer hunting, you are wasting an opportunity. Grunt calls don’t always work, but they rarely repel deer and as these five situations have shown, can turn tag soup into a backstrap delight.
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