Calling deer in the early season is difficult. Patience and discipline will be your armor, and deer calls will serve as your guide. There are a variety of calls that you can use while hunting.
Each call has its own efficiency, which you can use in different situations. This will allow you to grow and be better as a deer hunter.
How to Call Deer in Early Season
Here are some tips on how you should call a deer in the early season through different kinds.
The Grunt Call
You need to buy a grunt tube for this calling technique. Grunt tubes are available in archery shops. With a grunt tube, you can copy the sound of a buck and bait them to your site. There are many calls that you can do using a grunt tube.
Here is a short video on how to easily use a Grunt call to reproduce sounds of the Whitetail.
First, the social grunt call. You can do this call by blowing the grunt tube in a soft manner. This is a very common way of attracting deer as they respond to it most of the time. It is very effective during the early seasons because this is the time when deer are active.
Next, if you are looking to catch a mature one, then the buck roar is what you need. With this call, you will be using a huge amount of your voice. It requires a loud and deep roar as you will be copying a mature buck. This can frighten the small ones. But the sound that you will make can lure the raging, mature deer into your place.
Last is the tending grunt used by deer in their intimacy period. You can recreate the sound by making a sequence of single notes. Each sound must have a gap of two to three seconds to make it more real. This will make the bucks wander in the area where the sound is coming from with the hope of finding a lover.
Snort Wheeze Call
Another effective call, if you are hunting for big bucks, is the snort wheeze. The bucks make this sound to show their strength and dominance. But it is not ideal for those in the mating time because you may scare them away.
If you want to try this call, you will be using a tube where you can blow. The sequence for this call is making two brief blows and then creating a longer one.
Rattling Call
This call involves a lot of practice if you are not familiar with deer fighting. It is a loud call that can lure deer to your hunting spot even if you are calling on large public lands.
To do this call, you are going to reenact how bucks fight each other. Besides the sounds of the antlers, it will be realistic if you can mimic the hooves rampaging and bushes swaying. You must put effort and emotions into the process, or else the call will fail.
In grinding the pair of antlers, you should keep in mind to rattle it, like how bucks do it. The sound must be firm and strong enough. To make it more realistic, combine the sound of a grunting deer every thirty to forty-five seconds. This can elevate and bring suspense to the buck.
After the call, you can prepare yourself for the battle. You have to be aware of the surroundings as the deer could be rampaging towards your location.
Keen eyes are a must in this situation. But if you think that the first call does fail to succeed, you can always opt for another try. You can watch this video for some tips on calling and rattling deer during different phases of the rut.
The Bleats Call
The bleating technique is a kind of call where you will be copying the sound of a fawn. Unlike the other calls, you must focus on using the sounds of a female deer. This is because the entire year, they produce bleats to attract the male deer. It will capture bucks that are ready to mate—a favorable call in the early season.
Estrous bleat can attract bucks that are in love. To mimic this kind of sound, you can use a bleat call for an effective and realistic sound. This is also to prevent any mistakes when you try to call.
Another one is the fawn beat. This will let you mimic a fawn who is looking for its mother. It is a sad call to lure other deer, especially does. This is an ideal call during the early season as fawns are beside their mothers. Unlike the estrous bleat, this call requires you to produce high-pitched but brief sounds.
You watch this video on how to use doe bleats and fawn bawls to call in deer.
Deer Calling Tips for Beginners
- Begin in A Soft Manner: As a hunter, you must not rush. Do not get too excited while calling as it may scare the deer. You must use the deer calls properly. Take it one step at a time and then continue with the desired range of sound. This will let you create a good pace and not startle your catch.
- Try Different Calls: When you go to the field, do not rely on a single call. You need to try different calls. Adjust to the situation you are in so that you can lure the deer to your location.
- Prepare Yourself: To copy the right sound of the call, it is best if you practice them before hunting.
Deer calls are very important to start in the early season. It is an efficient technique to attract the deer, but you should know how to call deer in the early season. It requires patience and practice. You never know, it might bring you to a successful hunting experience this early season.
References and Further Reading
- 5 Early Season Deer Hunting Tips
- Early-Season Calling Strategies
- 7 Biggest Myths of Hunting Early-Season Deer
Last Updated on January 4, 2024 by Marty Prokop
