SECRETS FOR CALLING BUCKS

Secrets For Calling Bucks

EDITOR'S NOTE: Jerry Peterson is the founder and product designer of Woods Wise Products, the makers of quality game calls in Franklin, Tennessee.

QUESTION: How do you call bucks during the prerut?
PETERSON: During the prerut, use only social sounds. To remember which calls to use, think of ABC -- (A) attention grunt, (B) bleat and (C) contact call. The attention grunt is a simple, short, soft, little grunt. The bleat is not the long, drawn-out estrous bleat but is short. The contact call starts low and rises in pitch then falls off. It is a form of a bleat.

You can use these calls year-round, and they work effectively on both bucks and does. You can make prerut calls on a variety of products. I would use the Bullseye Buck (for all ABC sounds) from our product line. To make the attention grunt, use the tube at its shortest length. To get the highest-pitch grunt out of it, don't cover the holes. Again, just blow short and brief. Make the bleat with a short inhale on the tube. Make the contact call by starting the plain bleat, inhaling, covering the hole midpoint, and letting it up. You also can use the Blue Doe to make the bleat and the contact call using the same hole in the tube feature.

One other favorite call of mine, especially during bow season, is what we call the Bite Me Buck/Doe. It has soft-rubber, removable cartridges so they are very comfortable to use inside your mouth.

QUESTION: When doing a calling sequence with a grunt call, how many calls do you make, how often do you make them, and what sequence do you give?
PETERSON: That depends on how much the wind is blowing, how open the woods are, and how well the sound will carry. As a rule, I usually call blindly on a three-call sequence. The first call is to get their attention and hopefully to stop the deer. The second call gives the deer the general direction. Then, I usually wait perhaps 30 seconds to a minute and give the third call to reinforce the direction to a deer that has heard the first two calls. In the early season, I make short calls without much volume to them. I call more often and softly because when you up the volume, you change its meaning. The louder the call, the more aggressive the call you're making. In the early season, you want to be as sociable and unaggressive as you can. And don't underestimate how far a deer can hear.

QUESTION: What about rattling for deer in the early season?
PETERSON: Rattling is probably one of the best-kept secrets of the early season. Most people wait until the prerut or the rut to begin to rattle. Around 60 percent to 65 percent of the bucks I rattle up every year are rattled up while the bucks are still in bachelor groups well ahead of the season. Bucks spar first. The key to effective sparring sounds is to keep the activity in short little clinks, stopping and starting. I once decided to spar until the first buck came in. I sparred for over an hour before he made a beeline over to the tree. As soon as the bucks come out of velvet, they start sparring with each other. Sparring as opposed to all-out fighting is a sport among the bucks that has its social purpose. Each buck learns a little bit about the other bucks and where they fit in the pecking order. This behavior is like kids wrestling in a school yard. Even though they are best friends, after a little sparring match, they come away with an understanding. John says he can whip Bill, and Bill secretly hopes he never has to fight John.

QUESTION: What about the bleat call (the cow-in-the-can call)?
PETERSON: You should use bleat calls in the prerut. The can call is more of a longer bleat and more appropriate to the type of estrus bleating the does are doing during the rut itself. There is one call, or form of bleat, which bucks make. It is a bawling sound. It sounds very much like a calf as opposed to the nasally bleat of a doe. This is great buck-to-buck communication when the bucks are still in a bachelor group. In fact, I like to use the bawling sound with my sparring as opposed to the grunting, because the bawling is a louder call than a grunt. And I know I get a little more distance with it when I'm using that call. To get the bawl sound, you have to have a call tuned specifically to make this sound. It is a grunt, not the rumbling sound you would get when you blow a grunt call. If you blew a grunt call for a longer amount of time, then you'd have an aggravated grunt call, which has an entirely different, negative meaning.

For more information on Woods Wise Products, call 1-800-735-8182, or visit their website at www.woodswise.com.

TOMORROW: PRERUT CALLING