It seems like no matter how quietly hunters try to get set up in our stands, we always make at least a little unwanted noise in the process.
Between walking on dry leaves, breaking sticks, huffing, puffing, shaking limbs as we scale trees, and the dinging of metal on metal, it’s impossible not to make some sort of racket.
And it doesn’t take much racket to put all deer in the vicinity on high alert.
My trick is to immediately use my grunt call once I climb into my stand and get comfortably situated.
The sound of the grunting will hopefully make any buck in the area think what he has been hearing is another buck shuffling around in the woods.
Even when I arrive in pitch-black darkness, I still use my grunt call. Bucks grunt all night long during the rut, so it is a natural sound. This makes morning my favorite time to use this trick.
This tactic has worked well for me as a noise camouflage, and I like it particularly well during the rut and pre-rut.
Many times, after I’ve used my grunt call in the darkness, I’ve had bucks come in surprisingly fast, sometimes right after there’s just enough daylight to see.
I recommend that when you try this, be locked, loaded and ready for a quick shot. A buck that is already worked up will often start heading your way after the first subtle “Urrrrrrp.”
It does not have to be the rut for the use of a grunt call to be effective. Deer vocalizations have a calming effect on other deer any time of year.
Give it a shot sometime, especially if you have stepped on a lot of branches or made unexpected noise when you were getting into your stand.
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