Calling to wildlife is definitely an active way to entice game into close range. The animal’s nature and mood will determine how intense the response is.
For deer, a rattling and calling scenario simulates aggression among males at a time when hormones are flowing at maximum capacity. A seemingly boring hunt can quickly go from zero to 60 in the blink of an eye. Hunters need to be on their toes and expect deer to show up at any moment from a few seconds after calling up to 30 minutes later.
During the rut, bucks and does become ultra-sensitive to the sights, sounds and smells filtering through their backyards. While bucks are hard-pressed to find an available mate, does are on high alert, looking out for hormone-crazed bucks on the prowl. As soon as the sounds of antlers crashing and grunting reverberate through the forest, bucks susceptible to confrontation will forget what they were once thinking and detour off their present course. They won’t all respond the same way, however. Some will erupt into a full sprint, taking a direct route towards the commotion. Others will redirect their travel path, circling downwind to ensure all is well. Regardless, hunters need to be ready, with their eyes and ears wide open and weapons locked and loaded.
Beyond being prepared for approaching game, hunters need to be ready to shoot a deer that falls in their harvest parameters. Not only will dominant bucks respond to calling, younger, subordinate bucks will come just as quickly, if not more quickly.
Sometimes, bucks with smaller racks that lack the ability to fight others for mates will be more responsive to active calling than bucks carrying around a full head of horns. Remember, when bucks are actively fighting, there is always a pretty lady close by, and bucks of any size and age will come to get a chance to breed. It can be a good time to take older and/or inferior bucks out of the gene pool as they arrive downrange and in the crosshairs.
Be the first to comment