In the USA deer calling is a big subject, far so more than here in the UK. Why is that? Other than their Whitetail, Elk and moose might respond more readily to calls.

We all know that you can call Roe and Muntjac using the Buttolo call. I started using that call on Muntjac 15 years ago. I have used the Screery Elk call and the Acme Preditor call on Sika stags for years too.

The only one I've found that is intended for use on Fallow is the Primos Fallow Grunter call. Has anyone used one? Does anyone know of any others?

Other than the numerous Roe calls(Faulhaber & Prior etc.)that are available. What other calls do you use and on what species of deer?

I think it's mostly the bowhunters who started experimenting with the calling idea. We need to get the animals a lot closer and there is no doubt that calling works. As well after awhile sitting in a treestand watching the non trophy animals walking a few yards below you start to listen for vocalizations. No offense but blasting an animal at 100 yards is no way to really learn their habits, you've got to get close to do that. While walking around the parks near my house I've called or at least stopped roe deer from running away and I've closed the distance to 20 yards several times.

I'd bet a pile of gold that if bowhunting had been legalized 10 years ago that by now hunters would have come up with all sorts of ways to call and lure more animal species in the UK. Not because bowhunters are superior because that's not true but by the simple necessity created by the shorter shots.

Before I went to Africa I asked a lot of people about calling and other techniques to draw animals closer without resorting to "waterholing." The consensus was you can't call African Animals like North American animals. That didn't make sense to me and I timed my trip for the rut. I called and lured impala with no problem at all. I also called and lured my kudu within 30 yards.

I suppose the answer to "what works" is to get out, get close and start listening and trying new things.

The techniques I use involve sight, smell and hearing.

sounds-vocalizations, fighting sounds, animal walking sounds.

-I've used scents a bit and had good sucess but I've also had some colossal failures so I've quit that idea.

-Decoying also works for big game of all sorts. The most dramatic thing is a large black blanket for bringing moose in, I've seen them come in like on a string to very close ranges. I've decoyed deer, elk, moose, coyotes etc.

quote:

Originally posted by calgarychef1:
The techniques I use involve sight, smell and hearing.

sounds-vocalizations, fighting sounds, animal walking sounds.

-Decoying also works for big game of all sorts. The most dramatic thing is a large black blanket for bringing moose in, I've seen them come in like on a string to very close ranges. I've decoyed deer, elk, moose, coyotes etc.

Wow! What an interesting post. Thanks.

I had been told by several of my american friends that it was the bow hunters and shotgun slug hunters who had lead the way with the development deer calling techniques. Several off them are mad keen turkey hunters and calling turkeys is a whole art by itsself.
I'm intrigued by how you've used animal walking sounds. Was this on deer or another quarry species?

The animal walking sounds? I use it on deer a lot. It would be best to show you in person how to do it but basically if you walk through dry leaves with your two human legs you sound like "swish swish" or "crunch crunch" and nothing in the animal world makes that sound except a sasquach.

If you stamp your feet hard onto the balls of your feet then snap your heels down you sound like a four hooved animal. When stalking if the deer get nervous I do this a bit and it really calms them down, especially if I combine it with a soft deer bleat. Try it yourself and you'll soon get the hang of sounding like you have four feet- I can't say enough about this technique it works that well.

In North America if a deer is alarmed but hasn't scented you it will often stamp its front hoof in an effort to make you move and be identified. I don't know if that's the case with European deer. If you use the butt of a heavy stick (3"-4" in diameter) and hit it on the ground you're communicating to the deer the same thing right back to it and it works well too. Again a deer bleat or buck grunt combines well with this one.

The fighting sounds I mentioned can be horns crashing together, two rocks smashed together for sheep butting horns, combined with some stirring of the leaves to sound like hooves sliding around during a fight it gets more realistic. We use a shoulder blade from a cow to rub on trees and it sounds a lot like moose horns rubbing trees, probably the most realistic sound we can make to call moose.

The other thing to consider when calling is that if an animal comes in to see what the sound is but doesn't see anything it won't stay around long. Also they come in on high alert and usually downwind so are looking, and smelling for the thing they hear. If you combine a decoy with the calling it gives the target animals something to focus on and it's pure magic to see it working. The decoy cam be set up to draw the animal upwind from the shooter to minimilize the chance of being "scented" It's also comical as heck to see the animals trying to get the decoy to move....very entertaining even if you don't shoot something out of it.

One thing that's not mentioned much is that once an animal is called or decoyed or fooled by you in any of a number of ways it gets "educated" and is not likely to fall for the trick again. I did have one nice buck come in and I shot at it and missed he circled around and came back to the decoy in exactly the same spot and sniffed the arrow, the next arrow missed in the same way! I took a picture of the two arrows 3 inches apart with no blood on them, a good lesson but better story.

I love calling animals and it's a hoot to fool something enough to come in for a close encounter even if I don't always shoot it.

We don't suffer from the same amount of autumn/fall leaf litter here as you know so stalking once the leaves have started to drop is more a case of a weeks crunch, crunch, crunch if at all whilst we wait for the rain to soak in. and start the rotting process.

I shall certainly try the heavy stick thumping trick. I'm sure the shoulder blade on a tree combined with the Primos Fallow grunter call i mentioned in my OP worthy of a try.

I think I'll skip the hauling a blanket out into the woods to act as a visual reference point trick. The wife might think I'm finally leaving home.

Thanks for taking the time to explain your technique.

If any one has used the Fallow grunter. I'd still like to read your views.

I have not used the grunter but have been intruiged by it and will give it a try. Reputable sources tell me that it works only at the peak of the rut and when you are very close to another grunting buck, rather than bringing them in from a distance. It could be useful as we have some rhodedendron bushes where the big boys hole up in October, grunting until it is pitch black.

It seems that we have been following the same lines of inquery.

I too have been informed by a very experienced stalker of fallow deer that its a height of the rut only call.That will help move a rutting buck a short distance only. The big problem I have always found with fallow buck on their stand is they are usually accompanied by several does and possibly have a lesser buck or two milling around the periphery. So you have a host of eyes, ears, and noses to contend with.

I have ordered one from StalkerUK along with one of their bottles of wind checker powder. Roll on Oct.

Has anyone tried roaring at stags in the rut? I understand it is common in New Zealand but haven't seen it in Europe before. The stalkers I've questioned in Scotland gave mixed reviews, saying it was likely to scare off the target as often as bringing it in.

Hey Bog,

A friend in Norfolk roars at stags in the rut to good effect.

I've called Fallow in with a length of plastic waste pipe fro the kitchen sink. If you use it in conjunction with the rattled antlers or just thrashing a bit of branch around you can have a lot of fun.

A couple of years ago, I was grunting to a Fallow buck while gralloching the three I had on the ground. He started getting a bit heated and given I was out of ammo I quickly decided to put a lid on it and resorted to English which shut him up!!

Rgds,
K

quote:

Has anyone tried roaring at stags in the rut? I understand it is common in New Zealand but haven't seen it in Europe before. The stalkers I've questioned in Scotland gave mixed reviews, saying it was likely to scare off the target as often as bringing it in.

The kiwis I have spoken to about roaring at red stags have all said they do it to try and locate stags rather than actually call them into a different location.They then decide which stags or stags they are going to try and hunt.
You need to match the call to the stag. Which makes sense really. Apparently all you need is a length of vaccum cleaner hose and a bit of vocal dexterity

quote:

I've called Fallow in with a length of plastic waste pipe fro the kitchen sink. If you use it in conjunction with the rattled antlers or just thrashing a bit of branch around you can have a lot of fun.

This I would like to see. Any chance of a demonstration?

quote:

Originally posted by calgarychef1:
I think it's mostly the bowhunters who started experimenting with the calling idea. We need to get the animals a lot closer and there is no doubt that calling works. As well after awhile sitting in a treestand watching the non trophy animals walking a few yards below you start to listen for vocalizations. No offense but blasting an animal at 100 yards is no way to really learn their habits, you've got to get close to do that. While walking around the parks near my house I've called or at least stopped roe deer from running away and I've closed the distance to 20 yards several times.

I'd bet a pile of gold that if bowhunting had been legalized 10 years ago that by now hunters would have come up with all sorts of ways to call and lure more animal species in the UK. Not because bowhunters are superior because that's not true but by the simple necessity created by the shorter shots.

Before I went to Africa I asked a lot of people about calling and other techniques to draw animals closer without resorting to "waterholing." The consensus was you can't call African Animals like North American animals. That didn't make sense to me and I timed my trip for the rut. I called and lured impala with no problem at all. I also called and lured my kudu within 30 yards.

I suppose the answer to "what works" is to get out, get close and start listening and trying new things.

The techniques I use involve sight, smell and hearing.

sounds-vocalizations, fighting sounds, animal walking sounds.

-I've used scents a bit and had good sucess but I've also had some colossal failures so I've quit that idea.

-Decoying also works for big game of all sorts. The most dramatic thing is a large black blanket for bringing moose in, I've seen them come in like on a string to very close ranges. I've decoyed deer, elk, moose, coyotes etc.

Please help me out, how did you call a kudu?

quote:

Originally posted by Boghossian:
Has anyone tried roaring at stags in the rut? I understand it is common in New Zealand but haven't seen it in Europe before. The stalkers I've questioned in Scotland gave mixed reviews, saying it was likely to scare off the target as often as bringing it in.

Some Red deer hunters roar at stags during the rut in Norway.
I have even used it with success outside the rut to call in younger stags(1.5-3.5 years).

I call in all sorts of Roe deer. Mostly during the rut, but it can also be efficient outside the rut.

Moose bulls are usually rather easy to call in during the rut if you get close to or inside the bulls rutting area.
I have also called in Moose cows and young bulls outside the rut.

I often use animal sounds when I stalk and the conditions make it difficult to be totally silent.

Most of the time I hunt, I don't call.
I just do it when I feel it is the right situation to do it, or it might be my only option to maybe get a small chance for a shot.

quote:

Originally posted by Norwegianwoods:
I often use animal sounds when I stalk and the conditions make it difficult to be totally silent.

Please explain futher. What animal and what sounds?

If Moose live in the area I hunt, I usually make soft and low Cow Moose sounds.

If no Moose in the area, I use low Roe deer contact sounds.

Once I even used a sheep bell to stalk and shoot a Red hind

Well I heard the kudu sparring and I picked up a couple of good sized sticks/logs and made similar sounds. They came to me and I shot one with my trusty longbow.

Another thing you can do is called the "impossible stalk." You locate a group of feeding deer and while wearing brown clothes start to crawl towards them. You don't go directly to them you kind of dink around and pretend to be another animal feeding, slowly getting closer and closer. I've done this with limited sucess and not killed a deer doing it. I don't have the patience and it's also difficult because the deer come out close to dusk and by the time I get close enough it's past legal shooting time. I did get close enough to a warthog doing this to shoot it but it was a female and I let her walk.

Another thing done with antelope is to wask toward then at an angle so it looks to the antelope like you are walking across their patch and for some reason they don't figure out that you're getting closer and closer. Never done that one but some folks make it work.

With white tailed deer I've tied a white rag on a tree and when it blows in the wind it looks like a tail "flagging." Coupled with some doe calls I've brought in bucks but not shot one. It doesn't work nearly as well as a rag tied on the butt of a decoy though and I have shot bucks with that set up.

I've called muntjac and roe with a buttalo (as have most others I imagine)

I've tried calls on fallow but not had any success. The only way I've attracted fallow is smashing branches with another branch. That's worked a couple of times in the rut.

I've tried antlers in a bag for fallow in the rut but that's not worked for me.

I don't like shooting fallow bucks on stand until the very end of the rut. I'd rather catch lesser bucks on the edge or bucks moving between.

The impossible stalk can be taken a step further. If you've watched a group of deer and not been able to get a shot by conventional means then as the light goes you are faced with a choice - definately no shot or take a chance. The chance is to (wind allowing) walk doubled over straight towards them at last light. Works about 10-20% of the time.

quote:

Originally posted by 1894mk2:
I've tried antlers in a bag for fallow in the rut but that's not worked for me.

How is this supposed to work?

What fallow calls have you tried, unsuccessfully or otherwise?

I have used the "impossible stalk" trick a few times. It works best if the ground has a bit of contour to it and you don't skyline yourself. You'll not close the distance to any great extent. But it will get you into a spot where a shot is possible.

quote:

Originally posted by Jools:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by 1894mk2:
How is this supposed to work?

Mimicks the sound of two bucks going at it. In the same way as antler rattling for whitetail deer is so popular in the US.

quote:

Originally posted by Boghossian:

quote:

Originally posted by Jools:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by 1894mk2:
How is this supposed to work?

Mimicks the sound of two bucks going at it. In the same way as antler rattling for whitetail deer is so popular in the US.

LOL
I had sussed that part out already Boggy.

I was more interested in the technical aspects.

Like do you only use fallow antlers, do you use the whole antler or just the palmated part?
I have a number of plain cotton promotional tote bags that perhaps might work if you only use the tops.

quote:

Originally posted by Jools:

quote:

Originally posted by Boghossian:

quote:

Originally posted by Jools:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by 1894mk2:
How is this supposed to work?

Mimicks the sound of two bucks going at it. In the same way as antler rattling for whitetail deer is so popular in the US.

LOL
I had sussed that part out already Boggy.

I was more interested in the technical aspects.

Like do you only use fallow antlers, do you use the whole antler or just the palmated part?
I have a number of plain cotton promotional tote bags that perhaps might work if you only use the tops.

Not sure they are so discerning actually. I've seen this being accomplished with a smallish set of sorrel antlers being clattered together with gusto.

Gotcha!

I have a few fishtaled fallow antlers laying about the place. Friends have been using them for making knife scales, dog whistles, coat buttons etc. I'll chuck a pair of tops in one of those cotton tote bags and hang it up out of the way until Oct.