I had an older doe around me for about a half hour this morning. I heard her coming, and thought a very young buck was with her. But she was alone. She consistently made this very subtle grunting noise...no not even a grunt...more of a soft clicking/croaking. Like a cross between a small frog and an insect. It lasts a second or two.
She was very relaxed, feeding, scratching, not really looking around much. Just hanging out chewing a bit.
She did it while feeding, while walking, every couple of minutes or so.
I've seen a lot of does in my day at close range, but never heard this.
Those who are more savvy than I....what the heck is this noise? :dunno:
Haven't heard does make that sound, but have heard bucks more than once. Seems like the more excited they are, the more distinct the "popping". I believe there is a thread on here somewhere that shows a homemade deer call consisting of part of a shed with notches taken out along its length and another tine that you can rake across the notches to produce that clicking you've described.
I've had does grunt twice this year. Both times I thought it was a buck. First was alone, but later saw two fawns. Second was with a fawn. I think she was just talking to a fawn, whether you saw it or not.
I've heard it, although not often, and I have no idea what it means. Somewhere around here I have a call that is made to produce it. Didn't ever have success using it, so haven't tried it in a long time.
I had that happen to me earlier this year for the first time. Had a doe with a fawn come in and grunt the entire time. Strangest thing.
Ive heard doe and bucks make that sound. Observed a doe do it this year. She was running and stopped to look back once. Was never joined by another deer and she calmed and fed away. I think its just a way of keeping tabs on each other. Ive made calls from antler that mimic that sound to a tee.
On Sunday, had a spike and a doe fawn come in and hung out under my stand for about 20 minutes. A branch fell and they both took off. Then the doe came back and was a bit nervous, and started making a purring noise. Sounded almost like a cat. I had never heard a deer make this noise. I decided to see what would happen. So i made tbe noise back and it seemed to calm it down. We did this back and forth for about 20 minutes.. then it calmly walked away. Pretty cool experience.
It did sound like a kind of purr.
Strange those whitetails!
I have an old doe that comes by my yard that has done that. She has be here for years. She has a broken ear that hangs down. She does it keeping contact with the group. She is the matriarch but has had no fawns for the last two years. I will probably let my 14 year old use a doe tag on her this year.
Chris
I hear them do that quite often but it is usually when they are feeding around some fawns. I figure it is some kind of social contact grunt. It is so faint i doubt I could hear it over 35 yds or so.
i agree with trick. i think its a soft grunt to fawns. kinda sounds like a wet tennis shoe squeak
Yup, that's it.
That's what we have always called a social grunt. I have heard both does and bucks do it.
I've seen a doe in estrous grunt or croak like that.
Heard it quite a few times when they have yougins with them...Amazing creatures that's for sure..
One farm I hunted a long long time ago every deer there seemed to do that non stop! Very focal group. Grunting for bucks worked great there then too! Never ran into that since though.
I had a younger doe doing the same thing right under my tree a few years ago. There were no other deer with her and she was quietly grunting, like she was talking to herself.