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Turkey calls for deer

jonkytron

jonkytron

Active Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2022
Messages
129
Location
Rhode Island
For the last 4 seasons spring turkey hunting I have called in deer on accident with my turkey call. Last year I even shot a turkey with a buck trailing behind it. This year I was sitting with my back against a stone wall and a deer literally walked up 5 feet behind the wall I was sitting at.. I turned around to see what was walking behind me and a deer was there staring at me. My question is: has anyone ever used turkey calls in the fall to attract deer? I’m convinced that the deer feel safe around the turkey and if I used some light turkey calls mixed with grunts it could be the secret sauce… any thoughts? Experiences? (Photo attached of this years deer walking up to me)
 

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I plan to use a mouth call this fall both to cover my walking sounds and also to try some deer "calling". After several seasons, I finally got to where I can make halfway decent calls with a mouth call. I think deer are put at easy when they think turkeys are nearby or more specifically, at a location they are thinking about going too. This past turkey season I had several deer come by to check out my calling sequences. Sitting there thinking about that, I concluded that deer know turkeys have excellent eyesight and are very vigilant, but they don't know turkeys don't have an excellent sense of smell like they do. My thought is that to a deer, the presence of a turkey says the spot has already been vetted.
 
I've used mouth calls (on private land) when accessing stands during dry weather when leaf clutter makes walking noisy. I pull out a judo arrow and rake my way to the stand. Raking the dry, fluffy leaves is noisy, but it's definitely a "softer" noise than the sound of a hard "crunch" of stepping directly onto the leaves. There's been a lot of times that deer will come in to investigate. It's one reason why I prefer a fully preset tree and why I don't agree with the concept of carrying my saddle and prepping for the climb at the bottom of the tree. I want to get to the tree and get up and into shooting position asap. Fooling around with gear at the base of the tree is a recipe for being busted. The only worse time than being busted at the base of the tree is when you are actually in the tree.
Another benefit of raking my way during the final approach is that future approaches will be quieter. A couple of times raking a path to the stand can allow an almost silent approach.

Another use I have for turkey "calls" is that I made my phone's ringtone a recording of live turkeys. That allows me to leave my phone rigger "on" while I'm in the woods...just in case I were to lose my phone, I can come back and call it with another phone. Can't do that if the ringer is silenced.
Yeah, I know there are apps for phone locators.
I have had my phone yelping when deer were within ear-shot with no reaction.
I do get some strange looks when my phone "rings" when I'm in public. Guys that hunt understand immediately when I explain why it's my ringtone. And then there's the other people (non-outdoorsmen) that still don't understand...kind of like the saying "If I have to explain it, the you probably wouldn't understand anyway".

Funny story... I was running my tractor, brush-hogging the field next to my home. After I was finished, I realized my phone slipped out of my pocket while I was mowing. I felt certain that I must have smoked it to pieces with the mower. I got my wife's phone and dialed my number. The next sweet sound I heard was the sound of "turkeys" out in my field. How I didn't run that phone over I will never know!
 
I became interested about this topic a few years from watching a episode with Zack from the hunt public. He was stalking a deer and using a turkey call as cover noise. It does work I seen it keep in mind nothing works 100% in hunting.
You also can use turkey decoys when hunting whitetails it make deer feel safer.
I had post on on saddlehunter.com look it up I has a lot good responses from it was called ( Turkey calls and whitetails deer ).
 
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I have used mouth calls to hide noise I’m made walking in, hoping deer would think it’s just turkeys. It has seemed to work. I’ve had similar experiences in spring like you said with deer and that’s when I started using the call. You see the Hunting Public do it quite a bit.
 
I've seen a similar effect with the presence of squirrels and the sounds that they make, both calls and the (sometimes quite loud) rustling of leaves as they jump around and play. Seems to put deer at ease since if the squirrels are out, then the predators are not. I think it's also an indicator of a food source, both for turkeys and squirrels. They share common foods with deer, so if the deer see/hear them bustling about in a certain area, they want to come over and see if they are on some good food. Just been my observations.
 
Spartan said:
I've seen a similar effect with the presence of squirrels and the sounds that they make, both calls and the (sometimes quite loud) rustling of leaves as they jump around and play. Seems to put deer at ease since if the squirrels are out, then the predators are not. I think it's also an indicator of a food source, both for turkeys and squirrels. They share common foods with deer, so if the deer see/hear them bustling about in a certain area, they want to come over and see if they are on some good food. Just been my observations.
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I agree 100%. I also use the reverse to find deer. In the early season I listen and look for squirrels to indicate where the hot acorn activity is in an area, Where the squirrels are, the deer will likely be. A lot of the time the tree will not be dropping well on its own, but the squirrels will be up in the canopy throwing acorns out.
 
I've been using a mouth call and softly scratching leaves when still hunting/stalking. Works quite well IME, even on ground that hasn't seent a turkey in a decade.
 
I remember when grunt calls came out. They worked well even on public land. But some hunters used them improperly. I have seen hunter on their way back to the truck blow a grunt call every 10 steps. Every time a hunter gets picked with a grunt call the deer learn. Public land is more sensitive to this because of the pressue.
The same thing can happen with turkey calls.
I have this around my neck every time I hit the woods deer hunting.
If anyone asked you, turkey calls dont work.
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GeoFish said:
I remember when grunt calls came out. They worked well even on public land. But some hunters used them improperly. I have seen hunter on their way back to the truck blow a grunt call every 10 steps. Every time a hunter gets picked with a grunt call the deer learn. Public land is more sensitive to this because of the pressue.
The same thing can happen with turkey calls.
I have this around my neck every time I hit the woods deer hunting.
If anyone asked you, turkey calls dont work.
View attachment 66294
Click to expand...
100% agree. Grunt tubes are very hit or miss, and ratting is totally ineffective here, I have seen bucks tear the woods down trying to leave when they heard someone on a set of antlers. Turkey calls are very overused also. I have heard guys going at it and you would think Big Bird was over the hill. lol.

I probably call too little.
 
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