Especially with all of the hunting shows that are on TV and the Internet nowadays, there has become quite a craze with deer calling. It’s understandable. You see someone blow through a grunt call or hit some rattle antlers together on TV and then a few seconds later he or she shoots a giant buck.
Sadly, many rookie hunters go out and buy the same exact brand and model of calls thinking it will automatically bring them the same success. They then go to the woods rattling and grunting expecting to see a big buck show up just as it happened on their favorite hunting show. When the success doesn’t happen, the person begins to wonder why he or she isn’t seeing any deer or having any success. Or even worse, the person does get lucky, and so doesn’t learn all of the intricate reasons that make it clear why he or she got pretty lucky. In other words, he or she didn’t take time to find answers to the questions the unsuccessful hunter is now asking: why didn’t it work? What did I do wrong? The point is, don’t get discouraged if you don’t have great success on every hunt. Instead, view every hunt as an opportunity to learn valuable lessons, lessons that will make you that much better the next time you go out hunting.
So, as far as calling goes, the firs problem for most newbies (and even some experienced hunters) is that they don’t pay close enough attention to the wind, and I’m not just referring to what the weatherman predicts. In fact, if you live around mountainous or hilly terrain like I do, you can almost throw the predicted wind direction right out the window. The reason is that the wind constantly swirls off of and around hills, making it unpredictable and unreliable. Adding to the problem is the thermals that are created by the temperature gradients at the bottom as apposed to the tops of hills, and the impact that the sun and nightfall have on them. (Just writing the last two sentences makes me realize I should write an article on that topic too!)
Anyway, when you get to your stand, just get set up and sit still. DON’T CALL! Spend time paying attention to the wind over time. Is it constantly changing? Is it blowing steady in one direction? Will this wind direction be likely to stay in this direction over the remainder of this hunt?
As for me, if the wind swirls even one time in the direction I think the deer might be, I DON’T call at all during that hunt at all unless I see the deer first and it is upwind of me. I also don’t call unless it is a deer I definitely want to shoot. Some people want to call at every deer they see just to see if they can bring it in. This is a bad idea, DON’T DO THAT! The reason is that the deer will come and smell all around your tree and will very likely pick up your scent. This means they are already analyzing you and patterning you. The more they sense your presence and disturbance in that area, the more likely they are to avoid it during daylight.
If you are planning to do any blind calling, meaning, calling even if you don’t see deer anywhere, DON’T DO IT unless the wind is perfect and the deer can’t wind you if they get on the downwind side of you. A long-term reason why this is so crucial is that if you call in your favorite hunting spot, and the deer wind you (which can easily happen without you knowing it) then the deer will most likely avoid your stand location altogether from that day forward. That is why some guys will have all of their best bucks disappear as soon as the season starts, or they will only see them on trail cameras in the middle of the night. It is because the deer know that if they want to continue to live in that area, they have to wait until you (the hunter) are gone for the day. Related to this, I often get emails from new hunters who saw a nice buck or even just a doe at their hunting spot. They tried calling to it and didn’t get it to come in. They want to know if the deer will come back. While there is a chance the deer will come through that area again, I typically don’t hold out much hope for such a thing, especially if the deer looked in your direction.
Another don’t to deer calling is, DON’T get in the habit of calling every time you get bored. If you do, you will constantly ruin your spots. Instead, if you are bored, think about where the deer are and what they are doing since they clearly aren’t at your spot. Constantly push yourself to come up with even better plans for getting to your spot or of finding new and better spots. If I get bored, I often pull out my Smartphone or handheld GPS and begin studying topographic maps and aerial photos. In fact, it was partly through years of doing this that I eventually developed the skill set of map reading for finding good hunting spots.
In conclusion, a few take-home points are – don’t call unless the conditions are absolutely perfect (sure you can get lucky sometimes, but you will ruin your good hunting spots more often than you will harvest a deer). Secondly, if you are not seeing any deer, strive to push yourself and your skills by pondering what the deer are doing and why they are not in your area. The result is that you will be growing and improving as a hunter and will also be less likely to ruin your current spots, meaning, you will still have a good chance of harvesting something there in the future if you don’t tip the deer off to your presence now due to ill-advised calling. Thanks for reading this article, and God bless you.