Can a grunt call spook a buck?

[Pinusbanksiana]

Today I had a nice racked buck show up, back from my shooting lane some. I grunted and he snorted and ran off. I think I am better leaving the grunt call in the truck, think it screwed me over this morning. Do I dare go back to that stand this evening?

[WIMN]

Any noise can spook a buck, whether it is your clothes rustling, a grunt call, or a doe call. I have a doe-in-a-can call and a grunt tube but when the action is slow I end up playing with them too much (every 20 mins or so). I did call in a big buck with my doe call yesterday, but it was too dark to see/shoot it. He was 15 yds away from me, spooked when I moved in my tree stand. Just saw his silhouette as he took off into the swamp.

[Musky Buck]

Almost sounds like he winded you or your scent on the ground more so than anything but I'm not playing with those calls, I'm waiting him out if I see a mature buck I'm not going anywhere until shooting light ends, I always have a lunch packed so I can dictate how long or short I stay. I do though use my grunt call in the dark mornings when I'm walking to my stand if I spook a deer or can hear 1, hoping to put it at ease some or trying to sound like a deer anyway, they tend to not bolt out there anyway and I keep walking I want the deer to know I'm headed away and that's not the time to create silence, silence makes them jumpy when they can't really see you and now they can't hear you either or scent you.

[paceman]

Yes a grunt can spook a buck, Have seen it and done it.

[DonBo]

In the 20 years or so that I've been using a grunt call the worst response I've ever gotten was being totally ignored.

The can call has scared a few bucks away, but after learning a few thimgs about calling, those few times were well before the rut. While using a can call this time of year, it works often enough that I won't be without it. It has never scared a deer (at least for me) during the rut.

I would hunt that spot again, but as always, don't overhunt it.

[Pinusbanksiana]

The reason I grunted was the buck was headed away from me into some blowdown that I couldn't see through. He did turn and come back the way he was headed, head down and I could see his long main beam, he was a big mature woodland buck, not getting any bigger thats for sure. He then turned and snorted three times real quick, took a few jumps and that is the last I saw him. I am not hunting tomorrow, but may be back there on Thursday morning.

I should add that I saw a wolf on the ground about 2 hours earlier, and yesterday I found a wolf killed buck within a 1000 feet of where I was today.

[tracker x-2]

teach yourself the snort weez by just using your mouth and hand. i did last year and called in two bucks this way and shot one of them. Its pretty cool to see it work.

[Pinusbanksiana]

I think these wolf hunted deer are different, they don't mess around much. If you spook one, they will run for a long ways. And it doesn't take much to spook them.

Another theory I have is they don't lay down much for scrapes because I think the wolves can target them better. I'm probably wrong, but I see less and less scrapes lately when wolves are present. Of course they do east some so there are less deer......