John's Journal...

Make It Happen In a Tree Stand with Will Primos, Eddie Salter, Wayne Carlton and David Hale

Wayne Carlton Makes it Happen in a Tree Stand by Throwing His Call

Click to enlargeEditor’s Note: Until about 20-years ago, you had almost no control over the deer you hunted.Click to enlarge You only could take a stand in an area where your research and scouting had led you to believe a deer might show up and pray the deer would appear. Sitting in a tree stand all day and waiting for a deer to appear was about as exciting as watching maple syrup pour out of a bucket in zero-degree weather. However, today, with the new and exciting deer calls on the market, you have the ability to make a deer come to where you are, cause the deer to hunt you and make bucks show-up that ordinarily may not have walked into your sights.
 
Calling more frequently and being more aggressive with your calling will produce more bucks than calling less and calling slower will. But a problem associated with calling deer is when they begin to come to within range, they may spot the hunter. "If you're going to make something happen in a tree stand, you've got to be totally camouflaged," Wayne Carlton, another of Hunter’s Specialties’ Pros and the creator of Carlton Calls of Montrose, Colorado, emphasizes. "To get a buck to within bow range, I wear full camouflage, a matching headnet and gloves. Another mistake you may make when using the grunt call is to hold the call straight out from your stand. Since deer have the ability to pinpoint where a sound comes from, make a cupout of your hand. Put it against the end of the call to direct the sound being produced by the call either to the left or the right – much like a ventriloquist throws his voice into a box or a dummy. If you use this throwing-the-call tactic with deer, the deer will think the call's coming from a position on theground near your stand - instead of from your tree stand. Then the Click to enlargebuck should come in to your left or your right and present a broadside shot rather than coming straight to you, presenting a poor shot. Always aim the barrel of your call at the ground. Start calling by pointing the barrel of the call to the left of your tree stand. Then as you give a long series of 10- to 20-short, fast, snappy grunts, point the barrel of the call at different locations on the ground all the way around the tree. Make the sound of the call movClick to enlargee from left to right or right to left and from close to the tree out away from the tree.” If you've observed deer before, you probably have noticed that very rarely will either a buck or a doe stand in one place and continue to grunt. Most of the time when deer grunt, they're walking. By throwing the call and making the call move around the tree, you present a more-realistic picture to the deer you're trying to lure in of a buck and a doe walking around your tree rather than standing in one spot.

A problem you may encounter when hunting for deer and using the grunt call is when the deer comes in close, he may hang-up and be unwilling to move in that last 10 to 20 yards that will put him within range. Wayne Carlton says, "When a buck comes-in and hangs-up just out of range, instead of blowing through the call, I inhale through the call. I give short, muffled grunts and try to make the sound spread-out. Then it doesn't sound like it's coming from any one spot. Using this technique when a deer is in close often means I can pull the animal to within bow range."

Tomorrow: David Hale and Wayne Carlton Go Get Them with a Grunt Call

Check back each day this week for more about "Make It Happen In a Tree Stand with Will Primos, Eddie Salter, Wayne Carlton and David Hale"

Day 1: Will Primos - New and Exciting Deer Calls
Day 2: Eddie Salter Hunts Aggressively Using a Bleat Call for Success
Day 3: Wayne Carlton Makes it Happen in a Tree Stand by Throwing His Call
Day 4: David Hale and Wayne Carlton Go Get Them with a Grunt Call
Day 5: Wildlife Biologist Steve Warner Knows Where and When to Rattle Bucks





 

Entry 536, Day 3