Talk to Them

It’s been a tough season thus far. Most of it was spent guiding disabled veterans, but now it’s my turn again. I arrowed a fat little boar hog opening weekend, and finally, last Monday, I was able to put some venison in my own freezer.

I was sitting in a brush blind along a well-used trail between a bedding area and a cluster of persimmon trees with fruit. I have seen a lot of activity on the persimmons, but nothing passed within range. So, I offered a few soft for bleats, and a young doe soon began to wander my way.
Now, I rarely use any sort of deer calls this early in the season, but after having seen several reports of others using them with success, I had slipped a call in my pocket and I’m mighty glad I did. I didn’t blast out any breeding bleats but rather some soft, social talk as if to say, “Hey guys, I’m over here.”

The differences between the calls are the length and volume. You see, deer aren’t mute little critters roaming the forest. They have a wide range of vocalizations. During the rut, does will emit long, four to five seconds bleats as loud as they can make them. That’s the sound most hunters are familiar with. It’s a call to any bucks in the area to let them know she’s ready to be bred. During the rut, I’ve used those bleats to my advantage many times to bring a love-sick, head full of antlers my way.

But, by shortening the call to about a two-second burst repeated a few times and with less volume, that’s the sound they make when they’re alone in the woods and just searching for a little company. A casual, not very urgent sort of call I’ve heard them make during most seasons of the year.

I use a three-way grunt tube, nothing fancy, made by Hunters Specialty I picked it up for under twenty dollars at Bass Pro Shop, but I’ve used several brand name callers over the years and I can’t say as anyone works any better than the next. But, this one adjusts to replicate the sound of a fawn, a doe and a buck by adjusting pressure on the reed inside the tube.

As I’ve said, I haven’t used a call so early in the season before, but apparently this old dog can still learn new tricks. I tried it and it worked beautifully. As the doe wandered in close, looking for the other doe she thought she’d heard, she paused briefly in my shooting lane at only twelve steps and I drew back the string on my Black Hunter recurve and watched my all-white fletchings disappear into her rib cage.

Just a note, a point of pride really, the broadhead performed flawlessly and upon recovery, was every bit as sharp as before the shot. It’s one of my own designs and I get an extra sense of satisfaction from that.

I sure do welcome any comments or questions and welcome y’all to reach out to me at any time, at [email protected]. God Bless, and good hunting!

Toby Benoit is a best selling novelist and professional outdoors-man with thirty-five years of experience guiding and outfitting for big game all across America. Toby is a renowned archer and turkey hunting expert who manufactures custom game calls and is a regular judge at NWTF sanctioned turkey calling events across the Southeast.