Deer hunters are constantly looking for an edge, some way to tilt the odds every so slightly in our favor. We use elevated stands, camo clothing, and scent-suppressing sprays and washes to better conceal ourselves should a deer come our way, but there’s still no guarantee. We also seek ways to make deer come our way, like calling. Yet a lot of hunters are unsure how to go about that task.

Admittedly I am biased, but I tend to give more credence to someone who spends their every working day with whitetails over someone who may spend as little as four days or as much as four weeks pursuing them. There have only been a couple in-depth studies on deer vocalization. One was conducted by Dr. Karl Miller, who is now a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Georgia’s D.B. Warnell School of Forest Resources and who oversees research at the UGA deer lab. And it is there that Miller and his graduate students have identified several distinct deer vocalizations, some of which can be useful to a hunter.

First on the list is the basic grunt. Deer are social animals, and when a member of a social group finds itself out of sight of the others it may utter a contact call or grunt. According to Miller, “It’s a low, gutteral call, nondescript and difficult to identify the location of.” This is a good call to use when trying to coax a deer into coming your way, and can be imitated with any of the commercial deer calls designed for that purpose.

Bear in mind, however, that the reaction may not be as quick or direct as you might like, or expect. I liken it to meeting someone at a social gathering. Imagine you enter a large room full of people and notice a friend across the room engaged in conversation. You wave or nod and they acknowledge your presence but don’t come right over. Still, they’re aware of you and will eventually make their way to you. If you’re hunting in thick cover, this might be a good call to utter periodically, regardless of whether you see a deer.

A deer’s reaction to more aggressive calls may be more immediate, though not always what you want. A deep aggressive grunt, according to Miller, is one deer’s way of telling another, “You’re doing something I don’t like.” Perhaps a buck that is with a hot doe is warning an interloper to back off. You may attract a more dominant buck, but could frighten off a subordinate one.

As the intensity of the interaction increases, the grunt becomes a grunt-snort, and possibly a grunt-snort-wheeze. “This is the most aggressive sound a buck makes,” says Miller. It’s a threat that similarly may attract an older, more confident buck but will discourage one not so secure in its social status.

Another more useful call to the hunters is the tending grunt, issued by a buck that is pursuing a hot doe. Higher pitched and more emphatic than the aggressive grunt, it can vary from one or two short grunts to a longer repetition. I’ve witnessed randy bucks chasing hot does that seemed to grunt with every exhalation.

This call is a signal to all deer in the area that there’s a hot doe in the vicinity, and is liable to attract any other buck within hearing distance. According to Miller, you needn’t be too concerned about achieving the right tone. “Individual deer have variation in their voices, just like humans,” he says.

There’s a couple more calls that Miller considers of limited utility to the hunter, despite the marketing hype. One is the buck roar. He and I have only heard this call twice. Miller suggests that, “It is probably not that important as a communicative mechanism, may be passive, and the deer is likely expressing frustration more than anything else.”

An example he provided was, “Maybe a buck was tending a doe, the doe ran off, and he got really frustrated.”

It’s probably not a strong attractant, but you never know. Sometimes you just have to roll the dice and see what comes up.

The other questionable call is the estrus bleat, typically imitated by one of the so-called can calls. “I have done research with estrus does for 30 years now and have never heard a doe make a sound indicative that she was in estrus,” says Miller.

While he acknowledges that estrus bleats may occur, he doesn’t think there’s a lot of scientific basis at this point. Still, there are plenty of successful hunters who claim they’ve used it to call in a buck. I can’t make that claim, but I wouldn’t dispute it.

Then there’s rattling. It’s not a vocalization, but the sound of clashing antlers will sometimes attract a buck or bucks. There are no hard and fast rules as to how loud, how long or how often to rattle. The best advice I can offer is not to give up. It may take several rattling bouts over an extended period before you get a response. But when you do, the results can be exciting.

Bob Humphrey is a freelance writer and registered Maine guide who lives in Pownal. He can be reached at:

bhunt@maine.rr.com