Tips & Tactics

Real-World Calling is Less Aggressive

Real-World Calling is Less Aggressive

By Ken Piper

As fun as it is to watch on TV, mashing antlers together like thunder and playing a grunt call like a flute are not the best tactics for most hunters after a trophy buck.

The reason it works so well on the shows is that the hunters on film often hunt private land with well-managed deer herds, lower hunting pressure and better buck-to-doe ratios. In the real world, most of us don't get to hunt those kinds of properties, at least not on a regular basis.

Calling -- both rattling and grunting -- can still work, but you are better off to try to arouse a buck's curiosity than to try to bring out the bully in him. Try gentle tickling with your antlers, and make more social, friendly sounding grunt calls. You can always get more aggressive later if you simply have to try it, but it is usually best to start off on a more gentle note.

Read Recent Tip of the Week:

Don't Despair after the Rut! We all want to hunt bucks around the rut. It's just plain... fun!

Copyright 2024 by Buckmasters, Ltd.

Copyright 2020 by Buckmasters, Ltd