October 19, 2021
By Game & Fish Staff
Whitetails don't have super hearing, but they can zero in on sound with the turn of an ear.
How you "speak" with bucks using a deer call can determine your hunting success (or failure), especially during the rut season through November.
In "Calling Strategies During the Rut," Crash Course host Mark Kayser covers the three main deer vocalizations (grunts, bleats and snort wheezes) and when to use them effectively.
Grunts
It's the deer sound that whitetail hunters have heard the most. "It’s a sound of contentment," Kayser says in the hunting-instruction video (above). "When a buck is just walking through the woods, feeling kind of rutty. Maybe he's following the scent of a doe or he's following a doe or a buck that's following a doe. … They grunt."
Pay attention to those grunts, and try to match them. Typically, a few soft grunts will work to bring that buck.
Rut Crash Course: Watch All 6 Episodes
Bleats
Does use bleats to communicate to their fawns, and you can use it during the rut. Buck listen for that sound when they are rutting and looking for does nearby.
The estrus bleat is a longer drawn-out bleat that a buck wants to hear. Add a few grunts, and you could bring in a buck from a long distance away on a quiet day.
Snort Wheezes
An aggressive buck will use this call to tell other bucks, "Stay away from me."
You can use cupped hands or even an old duck call tube to make this call. Don't use this call when a buck is real close to you.
Watch the video above for demos on how to make these call during the rut.
