Bow Hunting: Whitetail Tactics by Andrew Saari

Author:Andrew Saari
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781479171866
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2012-08-30T06:00:00+00:00

Using Deer Antlers and Other Deer Calls

For most of the year, big, dominant bucks will travel alone though the woods, while younger bucks will travel in smaller groups. They are generally hyper-cautious, avoiding contact with other groups of deer and certainly with people and other predators. Male and female deer generally don't travel together, except during mating season.

But, once mating season begins, bucks become much more aggressive towards each other, as they compete to impress the females, and fight to become the dominant male, with exclusive breeding rights. They fight by locking horns, and trying to throw each other to the ground, or even into trees. This type of fighting causes a clicking sound that notifies dominant bucks that other bucks are in the area. This causes them to find the other bucks, and rush in to defend their dominance.

For hunters, rattling antlers together can be a highly effective way of luring big bucks in for a shot. Occasionally, you may come across some shed antlers in the woods. If so, it's a great idea to grab them and save them. Artificial antlers, along with rattling bags, can be purchased at most sporting goods stores or online, but natural antlers are better. The clicking of antlers will sound more natural, if you soak your antlers in water the night before your hunt.

The noise caused by rattling the antlers together carries over long distances, and will get the attention of any buck within a radius of up to a mile, depending on the wind's speed and direction. This is usually enough to cause them to move toward the sound to find out what's going on. It's better to rattle the antlers gently, rather than clanging them together. It tells the dominant buck that the fighting is between younger, immature bucks, which may be more easily defeated. If you rattle the antlers too loudly, it could scare the bucks away.

During the rut, bucks will also respond to buck decoys. The sight of a competing buck, when fully aggressive, can drive them mad. They will sometimes charge into an area, in order to challenge them. When they are preparing for mating, bucks are far less cautious. They could fall for a decoy that wouldn't normally fool them any other time of year.

Deer calls are another great way to lure bucks into the open. Bucks will grunt as a means of communication. So, when you perfect the buck grunt, you can fool a dominant buck into believing you're a subordinate buck trying to call him out. If that's the case, he will usually come running to protect his territory and assert his authority.

Bucks make a different kind of grunt, sort of like a series of short grunts, when they are pursuing a doe that is in heat. It's a signal for the doe to stop running away, so that he can mount her. This can attract big bucks who want to knock breeding bucks out of the way, and take the mount themselves.

Finally, females that are in heat will make the sort of bleating noise similar to the bleat that fawns make.

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