Deer Hunting Basics

When the velvet is off the antlers, and the buck is horn harden, it's time to mate. As the doe comes into estrus, she begins most of the rut activity.

It's at this time that most of the grunting is done by the buck that is looking for doe with intent to jump the doe's bones. Try grunting every few minutes, three to five times. This tells nearby bucks that another buck is after a doe to rut with. The nearby buck will probably come to see what's going on.

There are a variety of deer grunt-calls on the market, some hunters choose to grunt without the product, either way be prepare for some odd looks from others when you practice your grunt. And you will need to practice before trying it while hunting.

Venison is not a very vocal animal, but when they do voice their opinions, the basic sounds are the grunt, snort, and bleat.
~The grunt is often done by the buck during rutting season. A grunt can bring a buck to you because they do not want other rutting bucks in their territory mating with their does. The productivity of a grunt call is if'ie at best, as buck might be frightened if your grunt is too strong and sounding too much like a larger bigger buck. Or your call my simply not sound at all like a deer grunt to your quarry, and they are not willing to fall for your attempt to fool them. (I hate it when that happens)
~A snort sound is made most often by doe or fawns that are in distress. A hunter, or huntress can often take advantage of the snort because it is likely to bring assistance from other doe and fawns and, if you are lucky, a trailing buck.
~The bleat is made by venison that are alarmed, and used to warn each other of danger. Not much use to a hunter as it tends to make the venison skin out, and away from the hunter/huntress.

The pre-rut is prime time for using deer calls to get the attention of whitetail because the bucks are more active during this period of time. Try calls and rattles down wind of bedding areas. Use the snorts to mimic the doe more than grunts during the early part of the season. These tactics are likely to draw a trophy buck out during the pre rut. Rattling may also bring a few venison closer during the pre-rut as well. When the rut is in full swing though, the more mature buck are likely to have plenty of doe with them and are not likely to respond to your rattle.

Hunt the scrapes and rub lines during the early part of hunting season in the pre-rut. However the bucks tend to scrape and rub less as the actual rut is in full swing. Hunt the food sources if you find no scrapes and rubs. A run and gun tactic is great for the pre rut, go into an area and make a series of grunts and rattling, if there is no response after a few minutes of waiting, move on to another hunting area. Follow parallel to scrape and rub trails to find bedding areas, careful not to cross the trail and not too get too close to the bedding area, and hunt between bedding area and food source.