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John's Journal... Entry 173, Day 5

SECRETS FOR CALLING BUCKS

The Importance Of Calling

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: When do you use clicking?
PETERSON: The clicking is really more during the peak of the rut. With bucks I've videoed over the years, the click is really an extreme aggravation sound and usually rolls into the classic aggravated grunt. You get that tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, grrrrruuuuunnnnnnttt, and usually at that time, he makes a stiff-legged rush at the doe. He makes the aggravated grunt as he bounces forward. He is very frustrated at that point and displays his aggravation and frustration in the form of the clicking and rolling grunt.

QUESTION: Everybody who has ever tried to call in deer, regardless of the technique, has seen deer turn and walk away from it. Why is that?
PETERSON: That is probably the No. 1 question people have asked me since the mid 1980s when I first started talking to people about deer calling. "I made the call, and the deer did absolutely nothing," they'll say. Usually the deer will respond to a call with body language. For example, it may tuck its tail tight up against its rump. The deer is telling you that the call is making it very nervous. If you grunt at it again, it will leave pretty fast. You need to learn to read the deer's body language. A buck will raise its tail in a sexually stimulated position if he likes the sound he's heard. If he throws his head up very erect, you have to be careful because it may mean he's interested or he may feel threatened.

Generally, when I see a deer with a tail in a sexually stimulated position or a head in a very high position I'll revert to a call that's less aggressive. If I grunt at a buck, and he throws his head up in a head-high position, indicating he feels threatened, I may keep threatening him if it's during the prerut. If it is post-rut or prerut, I'll revert to a bleat instead because it is less aggressive. Remember that sometimes deer just don't want to be around other deer. We have all had a neighbor or someone we work with whom we pretend not to hear. Well, deer do this too.

QUESTION: What percentage of the time is deer calling effective in your opinion?
PETERSON: Early on, people used to ask me if some kind of magic was going to happen when they called. I always remind them that when you blow a turkey call, the turkey doesn't always come. When you blow a duck call, the duck doesn't always set its wings and come down and land for you? It is the same thing with deer calling. The call will work, depending on the buck's frame of mind and the time of the year. Nothing works all the time. If it did, the calling would be illegal. Years ago, people asked me, "How long do you think hunters will depend on deer calls? Is it just a passing fad?" At that time, I said, "No. Turkey callers get better and better every year. I think in the years to come, deer hunters will get better and better at calling." Here we are 17 years later, and that is absolutely the truth. The guys who are good at calling are more effective than guys that just stab at it. But everybody can do it.

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

 

 

Check back each day this week for more about SECRETS FOR CALLING BUCKS ...

Day 1 - Understanding The Rut Phases
Day 2 - Secrets For Calling Bucks
Day 3 - Prerut Calling
Day 4 - The Rut and Post-Rut
Day 5 - The Importance Of Calling


John's Journal