Grunt Bleet or wheeze

[erikwells]

I'm sorry in advance for asking some really simple stuff but thats where my knowledge base is at right now. I bought a call that has a wheeze, grunt and bleet. I'm not a trophy hunter rather a guy that would like to get his first deer. That said I have started to see some rut signs in the woods I hunt. Should I use the grunt or bleet? How often should I use it? Should you only use when you see a deer too far away hoping to pull it into range? Do you just randomly blow it every few minutes? I'm sure there are a few different thoughts on this and would love to hear you veteran hunters experience with the call. Again my goal is to get my feet wet so trophy hunting is something down the road for me. Thanks, Erik

[surewood]

All of the above. I blind call every half hour with my bleat call, then do some tending grunts right after. Sometimes I'll just do one or the other, I like to mix it up. If I see a buck, but he isn't coming my way I'll grunt or bleat at him. If those don't work then my last effort is a snort wheeze.

[mainbutter]

I sit still and quiet, but if I spy a deer out of range I use my calls to try to lure it close enough for an arrow.

In terms of aggressiveness:

bleat < grunt < snort-wheeze

I'll start with the bleat, if it gets ignored I'll try the others.

[harvey lee]

I do as surewood does but I use my rattlin bag also.

I will rattle every half hour or so as I hate to over rattle. I rattlede a buck in last Friday for my grandaughter during the youth hunt. It is time and one can call and rattle them in.

Not a guarantee at all but it does help if a deer is whitin hearing distance.

[Fever]

I think it depends on where you are hunting and what you can / can't see. For example, I hunt in huge stretch of thick oaky ravines and really can't see any further than 80-100 yds max. Because of this I will do grunt,bleat, rattling sequences about every 30-40 min. I always start with light rattling, and softer bleats, along with some softer tending grunts. After about a 1 min sequence of rattling and calling, I'll sit quiet and basically try to listen for leaves moving (if not too windy). I've rattled / called in 4 bucks to within range in the past 3 years and one 6 pointer walked right under my stand.

Last year, shortly after a short tending grunt sequence (5-7 short blows - intended to imitate a buck grunting as he slowly trots after a hot doe) - a doe followed by a buck came in, she got nervous at about 40 yds up wind, and trotted up ravine across from me, the buck flipped a 180 as she did this. I grunted loudly at him and snort wheezed twice. He turned right around, ears down and stiff legged. But... he slowly followed her path up the ravine rather than continue toward me. I took a clear shot through a small window at his neck at about 70-80 yds but to no avail... he was an absolute stud of a deer too... hope to see him again.

Grunts, bleats, and rattling combined with scent elimination / scent awareness, wind direction awareness and some estrus attractant - can really up your odds in a situation like I described.

In farm country where your visibility is much much greater, you could be a bit more reserved and only call when you want to slightly redirect a buck / doe that you see coming from a ways out.

There is plenty of information out there on the web about nonverbal as well as verbal communication of whitetails. Their body language (tail position and movement, posturing, ears, body hair, etc) can tell you when and when it's not appropriate to call. A general rule of thumb though is if you have a deer obviously coming in toward you - don't call or rattle, as the movement, and direct source of sound can give you away.

Good luck to you!

[Bear55]

I generally subscribe to the less is more theory, especially on public land. By the time the rut rolls around those deer have generally had everything but the kitchen sink thrown at them. Sometimes a couple of grunts will go much further than an all out battle. It also depends on where you hunt and the buck population in the area, if there are a lot of older deer they might be more willing to investigate.

If you are just after any old deer I have called in dozens of one and two year olds. Older bucks are a little harder to fool, I did grunt in my largest buck into bow range a few year back but I was in his core area. Blind calling will be a little more difficult but can still work.

[CANOPY SAM]

erik, you're way too hard on yourself about asking questions. That's what this site is for. And it's cool when so many folks will offer such great advice on a subject. Thanks guys. This is good stuff.

If I could, I'd like to ask/talk a little bit about the wheeze call. This is one that I've always witnessed as a warning or distress call between deer. I'm sure we've all seen it. Some pesky doe catches our wind just a bit, and lets out a loud Cha Cha Sshhhhhhh. All tails are up, her legs are straight stiff, she's stamping the ground, and seconds later everybody takes off running away.

That's the only situation I've ever seen any deer do this "wheez" verbalization. And I've seen and heard it many times. I suppose one could make this sound with a call to get a deer's attention, but I find it difficult to believe it would bring them in for a closer look. I'd think it would way more likely put everything in the vicinity on high alert, and most likely push any smart old buck away from your area.

How, when, why would you ever use this "wheez" call to attract deer?

[erikwells]

CanopySam, thanks for the encouragement. The wheeze kind of surprised me

as being helpful pulling deer closer. The only time I hear the wheeze is when its dark and I get busted going into or out of my stand. It scares me every single time I hear it. The last time I got wheezed at was coming out of a sit after dark. I got wheezed at but the deer was so lazy it only moved maybe 30-50 yards (from what I could tell by the sound) wheezed at me again and this time I believe it was a couple different deer. I guess they didnt want to go to far from the sweet corn I pushed them out of. I don't know for sure but I'm guessing they were back in the sweet corn before I made it to my car. Thanks for all the good info I hope to use it this weekend. I'm optimistic this weekend in Kandiyohi county will have some deer come into the woods I hunt being my reports have been farmers are harvesting corn now. Fingers crossed.

[Bear55]

Conopy, you are thinking of a general snort or blow when deer smells or sees danger. The snort-weeze is a dominance call only used by bucks. Hopefully this vid sounds ok, my speakers are not working.

[InTheNorthwoods]

I think people over think a lot of things in deer hunting. Calling being one of them. Calling only fails 100% of the time that you don't call. At the same time, you might fail calling on 50% or more of the deer you actually call to (i.e., in sight, and they hear you). It all depends on the mood of deer!

With that in mind, you can increase/decrease your calling success by keeping a few things in mind:

1. Where are you hunting? Is is pressured? Is it a food source?

If you are hunting pressured deer, they are more susceptible to spooking due to noises they can't attribute. If you are hunting a food source, deer might be coming in to the field anyways, so why call? If a deer is out of range, or skirting your position, in a field, give a call a try. Etc.

2. When are you hunting? Pre-rut? Rut? Post-rut? I.e., what is the "mood" of the deer you are "talking" to?

Pre-rut deer and Rutting deer are the most susceptible to calling. Social calling in pre-rut stages, and calls of "aggression" in the rut phase. Post-rut can be tricky, as many bucks are worn down from the rut and may shy away from other bucks if aggression is sensed.

In the end, practice in different situations will be your only answer. Everyone learns to do things a bit differently, and none of them are exactly correct. If you're just starting out, the tips I'd give are to stick with a grunt call. If I see deer, I'd call softly and judge the deers' reaction, and increase from there if you're not getting a response. Quit calling once they commit, as they'll try identify the source of the noise. I would only blind call after the first hour of daylight and before the last couple hours of daylight, unless you are prepared to spook animals that might be coming in to your position.

Good luck and have fun.

[MUSKY18]

Bear hit it right on the head. Blows sound danger to other deer. The snort wheeze is used by bucks to either say "I'm the badest man on the block stay away" or "hey old timer, bout time I took over as top dog". More apt to hear the snort wheeze during pre rut and rut as the does come into esterous and the bucks are seeking them out. Usually signals the dominant buck in the area that there is another big buck around that wants all his girlfriends!

[surewood]

More times then not when I have a visual on a buck I don't intend on shooting I'll try bleats and grunts. They either ignore it, look my way for a minute, or come straight to me. I've never had a deer run away. After testing multiple bucks reactions to calling I'd say you can't go wrong. May not bring them in, but it doesn't scare them away in my experience anyway.

[CANOPY SAM]

That's cool! I could definitely hear the snort wheez with the first deer in the vid, but couldn't hear anything else. Was I missing something?

It's really a much quieter, more subtle vocalization then the warning wheez, or is it just sounding that way on the video? Seemed like that big buck was saying exactly what you guys said, but at pretty close range to the smaller buck.

I often wonder how far away a deer can actually hear a call? I know they have phenomenal hearing capability, with those big pivoting ears, but so often you see a buck not making any response to a call what-so-ever. I mean absolutely nothing...not even a twitch, or head turn. I just wonder if they can hear it?

I've called in a few young bucks with a grunt call. Never anything big. Pretty much do the same kind of cadence every 15-30 minutes, and try to broadcast the call in every direction around my stand site. But I honestly don't think the sound of a grunt call carries very far in a thick forest. Maybe a 100 yards or a little more?

Never done anything other than a grunt. Interestingly, while watching a nature series many years ago, the camera was following a big dominant white-tail buck and his breeding pattern. He would sustain a grunt for a long time while walking along behind a doe he was interested in. I mean something like 10-15 maybe even 20 seconds of sustained grunt. But I always see and hear guys just making short little grunts.

I've tried the long grunt in the woods during rut, but my success with grunting is so limited I can't say if it worked or not?

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[Bear55]

Probably the vid, I think the snort-wheeze is pretty loud.

The long vs short grunt might depend on the deer. Most of the bucks I see chasing does use a series of short grunts so that is what I try and use. I'm sure there are bucks out there that grunt long as well.

[Sorgy]

In unpressured woods Can Calls work! Mix in some grunts and such.

First off the deer need to be able to hear the call. A deer walking thru dry leaves a long distance away will not hear bleats or grunts. If you can get them to stop they stand a beter chance of hearing the calls. Many times they will respond or cary on. If they look in your direction they have heard you. I like to give one more call and then put the calls down.

The deer coming to calls seem to come on a line to where they think the call came from.

Good Luck

Steve

[Iceboy]

Rattling is the only thing I do when I don't see any deer, and have had decent luck getting bucks to come in within 10 mins of finishing a sequence.

Bleats have worked well for me to get bucks a long distance away to come check me out, but they often hang up if they don't see anything. You don't need a can or any call for bleats - just watch some videos and practice with your voice. It's easy to make the sound, and it will be louder with your voice than it would be with a can.

Grunts have never done anything for me.

[bigbucks]

I've pulled in deer with all of them. Sometimes they work & sometimes they don't. Estrous cans will pull in just as many does as bucks, but the bucks are sometimes following those does...

[96trigger]

I was watching a lot of videos on the snort wheeze. I had the perfect opportunity to try it last weekend but was too chicken because I thought he was coming in to the grunt tube. I could only hear him grunt, I could not see him, I heard him walking and I thought he was coming but I never saw him. I should have tried it.

[Wanderer]

You never what's working till it's over!

[Fever]

Snort wheeze's absolutely work when used at the right time or in right scenario. Last year I had a buck following (about 20-30 yds behind a doe that came as close as 25yds, she got nervous even before she got down wind of me, and smartly trotted up a ravine across from me, meanwhile - he just turned around and began walking slowly back to where he came from. I grunted loudly at him 3-4 times (like a challenging grunt) then gave him two loud snort wheeze's and he turned right around, ears down and got all stiff legged and came back toward me (looking for the challenger) but then decided to follow her up the ravine all the while somehow not offering me a humane kill shot... Lucky s.o.b.

Bottom line - A Real doe that is in or close to her cycle is the best attractant of all - and it's not close.

Nice to have a grunt call (I use the extinguisher), a can, and some rattling antlers in the bag of tricks though. When I do my sequences, I'll grunt several times in all directions thinking that if a deer is walking at that moment, maybe one or two out of several calls will get attention as deer frequently walk short distances and then pause to gather information / scent check. Also the reason to do a sequence about every 20-30 min and to always start quieter and slowly increase your volume if you don't pick up any movement or hear anything near by that might have snuck up. Hunting in the North woods, there isn't much hunting pressure per square mile so if the deer are in the right mood - I do think calls work better than say in open / highly pressured farm land area.