I've had success one time with a bleat call. I called a doe. She came in slowly. When she would stop, I would hit it again, and she would start my way like on a string. She didn't make it to me, because a six point ran in and ran her off. He came straight to me and I missed.

That is the only time I know it worked. The rest of the time my calls and rattling horns are just ignored, at least the deer that I see ignore my calls.

How about you, had any success that you know was for sure your calling?  

I called a big 7 pt. in last week with a snort whease call. I really believe in calling. Almost all calls work sometimes,not any call will work at other times. But if you see a deer going by you out of range it never hurts to try.I`ve never run one off by calling,that I know of,and I`ve had some wonderfull results by rattling and calling.

I called in a couple bucks Saturday with a fawn bleet.Never gave me a shot.

I called in a four point today with a bleat call. He  came in running, this is the second time i have called this buck in.He offered me a good shot but all i have left is doe tags.

Pre-rut is the best time. During the rut bucks are to busy chasing a hot doe or with a hot doe most times to respond to a call or the horns. Unless there is a extremely high buck to doe ratio in your area.

Last night I "contact" called in a nice buck to within 12 steps. About as perfect as you could hope for. I even drew my longbow on him; but of course the point restrictions in a select 29 counties in Missouri cost me yet another deer. What a great evening. That buck will be bigger (legal) next year I hope.
Calling works, rattling works. Keep at it, one of these times things will work out.

John III

This evening, about an hour before dark, I called in a fat spike buck with a low slow bleat.

I was in a tree stand and my twelve yr old son was in a different tree about ten yards away. We could see a deer moving through open timber, and he came in at a steady trot. At fifteen yards he stood for a minute or two but he was quartering towards my son and offered no shot. The deer got nervous because it was fairly open terrain and I think he knew he should be able to see the "deer" that made the bleat. He turned and trotted away, and continued on the way he was going.

His body size and actions make me think he was a 2 yr old, and not the usual 1.5 yr old spike.

I have called in deer before, but not very often.

I call deer in every year. Contact grunts work well. Closer to the rut I use the bleat calls in conjunction with a tending grunt. Last year that combo accounted for a six with the bow and a nice eight with the boomstick.
Learn the difference in the calls, ie. a contact grunt versus a tending grunt. Learn when to use them, and learn how often to use them. Calls can make a hunt.

I have great luck calling in deer, rattling has worked for me, but it must be the right deer for it too work. I kill at least 2-3 deer a year who have come to bleats, grunts, fawn calls and a host of others. Shawn

I've run off more deer by calling than those that come in (the ones that I knoew of).  I've used a dozen different brands, and have 5 or 6 good DVD's/videos specifically devoted to rattling/calling deer.  I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

The deer in my avatar was walking away from me when I got his attention with a grunt call. It took 4 tries getting progressive louder each time. After he stopped I made a bleat with my mouth, once directly toward him and again but with my head turned and hand cupped to the side of my mouth to make it sound like the "doe" was walking away. It was the end of Sept. in Kentucky. He came back toward "as if on a string".    

Last night I grunted and snort wheezed a big buck to my tree. He was walking away from me and the snort wheeze turned him on a dime and led him straight to me. Calling definitely works.

MD

I rattled in an 8 point last night with a rattling bag. No shot though. I was on the ground and rolled it back and forth in the leaves. Sound pretty good, try it some time. It worked for me.

My favorite is the tending grunt, pre-rut, during and after the rut.  Have had big deer travel hundreds of yards to check it out.

I've had ok luck with rattle bags, but I'm not so sure about my grunting and blatting (sounds like a bad after-chili thing, but I digress).

Saturday, I rattled in a doe to within five feet of my son - she came in on his right and he never got a shot at that one.  Last night, I got one to within about 20 yards of him (one of those rogue trees reached out and swatted his arrow out of the way :-D  ).

Now I need to figure how to call them to me rather than to him.  I must be a rattling ventriloquist or something.  :-p