grunt call needed ??

[johnboy]

made my first grunt call yesterday and took it to an acquaintance, a crusty guy of maybe 70. he has currently 3 ranches in the area, hunting deer and hogs are his passion and he walks the walk. has at last count 42 mounted heads in his living room, gave away over 100 when he moved last year. anyway.........i took the call to him and asked him to try it out and give me his opinion on if it was a good sound or not. he said that he wouldn't own one of any kind (for deer) as he as heard a deer "grunt" exactly twice in his life and he only uses em to call in hogs. i said thanks a lot, finished my drink and left feeling like an idiot. so....i ask, and only out of ignorance, do these things work? all the deer i have shot i have had to climb mountains to get to (west texas mule deer) so never had a use for a call. but he hunts out of stands.   thanks

[Braz]

Johnboy, read this post and draw your own conclusions.

http://thogamecalls.com/forums/index.php/topic,1572.0.html

[VECtor Calls]

   I see Braz beat me to the punch.

John, the problem is your friend is 'old school'.  I can't even get my own dad to use one, so I feel your pain. 

Pre rut, rut, and second rut......they work.  And some days, you would not BELIEVE how well they work.  Can they scare off a less than dominant buck?  Sure can!  Does that bother very many of the people that hunt the pre rut for what it is......a chance to kill a buck of a lifetime?  NOPE! 

If there is a hunting season in your state during the pre-rut or later in the breeding process, and you do not try a grunter every now and then, you are missing out on opportunities that could put LOTS of mounts on your own walls.

If there's a person that doesn't want to use one, move on to the next person.  The proof is in the puddin'!

Parker 

[johnboy]

wish he even HAD  a computer so he could see all those pics!!

[dogcatcher]

Parker, hate to tell you this but the grunt calls do not have the same affect down here as in the northern states.  I don't know why and never really questioned why, but it seems the farther south you go the less affect the grunt calls have.  In my area I can get results, not so much in them coming to the sound but getting them to stop to give you a shot opportunity.  Another issue is the distances that we can see the deer, from my window on the hill place I can see deer that are in excess of a mile away, you can call all you want they cannot hear it.  You have to either stalk or wait for them to decide where they head next.  

Based on my limited experience in hunting in South Texas, the grunt call won't be that affective, but you can bet that I would have one with me.  The rancher has his methods and you nor anyone else will convince him that he needs a call.  And from the description of his mounts on the wall I doubt if he does.  He probably spends enough time in the pasture that he knows more about the deer herd on his ranches than the deer know themselves.

Marvin

[VECtor Calls]

Parker, hate to tell you this but the grunt calls do not have the same affect down here as in the northern states.  I don't know why and never really questioned why, but it seems the farther south you go the less affect the grunt calls have.

Marvin

Well......I can answer this for you Marvin, and I suppose it is a good point to be made.

With a longer warm season (if not all year), does come in to estrous during a longer period of time in warmer climates than cooler ones.  This means there is less immediate competition between bucks, which I suppose means a buck would not get as fired up to hear another buck encroaching on his territory.  The 'prerut' and 'rut' in southern TX may last for months.  I'm not sure.  I do know in southern FL whitetail deer breed year-round......just whenever the specific doe comes in to cycle. 

To say a deer hardly ever grunts......like what was stated in the first post though.....is a pretty extreme statement.  Deer have ALL KINDS of vocalizations they communicate with.  A person may not be close enough to the deer to hear them vocally communicating, but they are.

And in comparision from there to here......I heard 4 different bucks grunt this year from my treestand while I was watching them.  Three of those four grunted several times trying to pinpoint my location because I had initiated the 'conversation' with my tube.

Have I ever said this?  I LOVE LIVING IN THE MIDWEST.   

Parker

[Blackfalcon]

I have hunted with grunt tubes for many years. On some occasions, I have had bucks come running right in looking for a fight,hair standing up on their backs and all,that is an exciting event. Early morning after a rain,near a fresh scrape,a grunt call will work better than you might think,and I am a believer!
I have also grunted from a stand, and thought nothing is coming, only to hear a deer get up from it's bed less than 100 yds away just before dark and come angling over to see who the other buck is in his neighborhood. I have jumped deer,grunted at them and had them stand there stamping their feet,trying to determine what I was. I use whatever I feel will give me an edge when hunting, and a grunt tube is usually on my lanyard when I'm deer hunting. I like grunt tubes that will play a single note too,using it almost like a turkey tube call. It can work as well as clucking to a turkey. I'm no expert,just sharing my observations,
Dave

[Heirloom]

Joh, Grunts DO work but it's depends on the deer in your area. in Central nd south florida where the deer are smaller and even around here near Shreveport, La. if you tune your grunt too low, it might run even the dominant buck off.
Look at it like this...
I weigh in at a whooping 175 lbs if my shoes are wet, Which direction (other than the gun cabinet) do you figure i'll head if someone with a voice like HULK HOGAN"S hollars at me to come fight??? Even older, dominant bucks have had butt whoopin's and it' a pretty fair bet they don't want another. The "general consensus" (du to the TV shows) is to have the deepest sounding grunt you can s you cahllenge the dominnt buck. BUT if the deer in your area run around 150 lbs, then sounding like 300 lber may not be the answer. I hve my best success when i sound off like a rowdy teenager, waiting for his voice to change. Those old bucks really hate when a kid is after their girlfriends.
That doesn't mean taht the deep grunt is usless, just the opposite. Use it to close the deal, or get the boss of the woods to get a move on before te bigger buck gets HIS girl. Mix them up a bit seems to be the key.

[LawCoBowhunter]

I'm a firm beleiver in grunt calls.They seem to have their time and place though.I called in a couple nice bucks this year but I couldn't get a clean bow shot on them.I had several other guys that use my calls say they had pretty good luck with them.Here is a pic of the biggest buck taken using one of my grunt calls during the 2007 Indiana ML season( it also happened to be his birthday).The hunter is a great guy and a hunting buddy of mine.I think he told me the buck scored 180+ B&C and was taken around 40 miles from here in southern Indiana...

[johnboy]

thanks for all the replies. guess i will try and make a few more then. LAW- whats that whits stuff all around that guy w/the big deer?

[dogcatcher]

John

They will sell, but you will find that the guys from East Texas will buy more than the ones from West Texas and South Texas.  Do they work, yes, but with clarification you will get better response in wooded areas than in the wide open spaces of West Texas.  I sell a lot more to the guys in East Texas than West Texas, and the younger hunters will be more likely to buy than one of the senior citizens. 

Think about around Marfa, Pecos or Ft Davis, your grunt call would have to have an amplifier to get the deer"s attention.  Would I use one, depends on the terrain, if the area is not flat I might, but most of the time when you are sitting on one of the hills you can see for miles and see what is around you.  Would I carry one, yes, but the use would probably be very sparingly, not like I would if I were in East Texas.

Marvin

[johnboy]

that was my hunting grounds for 30 years, the marfa, shafter, ft davis area. around marfa you don't need a caller, you need a heat seeking 3 mile range bullet! was nothing to walk 10-12 miles uo and down the mountains. good old days?

[dogcatcher]

John,
 
You still can sell them, some of the younger hunters are what I call "gadget" collectors, some will buy a block of wood with a hole in it if you market it correctly. 

Marvin

[Luckesc4vett]

Hows this for a northeast Pa. deer .I got this deer using my very own grunt tube.I have called many big and small buck in using a tube.I think its all timing and the rut.

[VECtor Calls]

   Nice rack!  Skinny body on that dude for a PA deer though, isn't it?   

Parker