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Be a ghost or try and lure the deer in?

I think it depends on many factors as to when during the season and how realistic you interact. It often times depends on individual deer's attitudes as well. Some deer just wont back down from a fight where others are just way more passive. Personally, I love to interact and i have got shots at a couple on my wall, I believe, only because i was interacting. My largest I rattled in. but that works well in Kansas. I would not have tried it in the same fashion in Pennsylvania because our deer do not tend to respond to it as well due to ratio's and pressure. One thing i wont do is rattle in a situation where the deer can get down wind. I.e. i have worked river edges rattling back into cover with my wind blowing to the river where they cant get my down wind. Most mature deer will try to get that down wind on what they are hearing first...I believe a lot of guys think rattling does not work for them but are getting winded before you even know it. Find one of those bullet proof set ups in an area with the right ratios and you will likely be more successful at it. Another call that has killed me two bucks on my wall is the Snort Wheeze and i have had a number of others come charging in to it...It has always been my last resort, and may scare a sub dominant buck off, but when it works...you better get ready! I have also had can calls and grunts pull many a deer my direction. I shot a nice Kansas 8 one morning around 8:30 just throwing out a blind grunt and bleat sequence. I do not think i would have even seen the buck and doe he was with if i had not called. Lastly, I really enjoy decoying late Oct-early Nov. That said i have had decoys be both a blessing and a curse for me, but it was all fun! One of my Ohio properties sets up extremely well for decoying and it has worked well for me there as well as in Kansas. All that said, when i hunt my highly pressured deer here in PA i take a more ghost like approach and hunt the thick stuff. Any calling i do is on the soft and less aggressive side usually...they have probably heard every hunter in the woods blowing a grunt call at them from the trees by the end of the first week here! The key is knowing your herd, Ratios/pressure etc. can have major effects on responses to calling, but i believe bottom line interacting can put some nice deer on your wall and so can being a Ghost. I think the key is trying to figure out which approach to take in your given situation. GOOD TOPIC!
 
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