How To Call Deer

Knowing how to call deer means knowing that there's not one correct way to do it. There are a variety of calls you can muster, and each is appropriate for certain situations. Utilizing pheromones can be an effective technique for attracting deer, but mastering a few calls, grunts and bleats will truly round out your hunting experience. The following guide will explain a variety of calls and their most effective uses, depending on the situation and time of year.

1. Use a contact call to simulate the sound of a doe. This call can be used year-round, and it is especially effective because a contact call is the sound used by a doe when it becomes separated from its family or group. Additionally, contact calls are non-aggressive, so you can belt this one out a few times with half-minute pauses. Then wait at least fifteen minutes and try again until you stir something up. If you're trying to keep things quiet, try a doe bleat instead. But don't confuse this with the estrus bleat, which will be explained later.
2. Try a grunt to beckon surrounding deer. Grunting like a deer is the equivalent of motioning for someone to "come over here." Your pitch will depend on what you're trying to attract—obviously a higher-pitched grunt will better resemble a doe calling her fawns. Volume is crucial with these calls, as a loud grunt will be interpreted as hostility. As always, split your calls with fifteen-minute intervals.
3. Simulate a buck's bawl to attract company. Also known as the buck's bleat, this call resembles the bawl of a baby calf. The bawl is an expression of the buck's craving for attention, but the call is typically most effective only during the late season.
4. Call an estrus bleat to simulate a doe who is ready to mate. This is a loud call used to attract aggressive bucks during mating season. A similar, yet more intense version of this call is known as the breeding bellow. The breeding bellow signals that a doe is ready to mate right this very instant and, while not exactly aggressive, does convey an urgent message. So be ready for the response.
5. Use aggressive sniffs and wheezes. These calls can intimidate and even scare off nearby non-dominant, less aggressive males.
6. If you're tracking a doe, use a series of soft tending grunts. This call simulates the sound a buck makes when tailing a doe—in loose translation, he's saying, "Baby, don't go..." Particularly effective when on foot, the tending grunt should only be used during or near the rut phase.