Calling Tactics for Deer and Elk

Calling lets you talk back to deer and elk instead of only waiting for them. This guide summarises what experienced hunters writing for Outdoor Life say about calling whitetail deer and elk, with background from Wikipedia. These are experienced hunters’ methods, not rules, and we have not tested them ourselves. Season dates, legal hours and any rules on electronic calls are set by your state; check them first.

Calling whitetail deer

Outdoor Life’s grunt-call guide draws on several of its whitetail writers. One notes a 1988 University of Georgia study identified about 400 whitetail vocalizations in a captive herd, grouped into 12 types. Four matter most to hunters.

The bleat

Fawns, does and bucks all bleat in fall, fawns most often. A buck hearing it often links it with a doe group and comes to look. The writer bleats two or three times, loudly, when nothing is moving, and before and after a rattling sequence; he calls the bleat one of the most versatile calls, usable from September through January.

The doe and yearling grunt

A short to medium, soft to moderate burp-like grunt that deer use mainly to locate each other. If you see a buck moving at a distance, grunt to get his attention; if he starts toward you, stay quiet unless he stops. If a buck grunts first, grunt back.

The dominant grunt

Deeper than the doe grunt. Useful on a dominant buck in the rut, but the writer warns it can scare off a yearling buck, because mature bucks harass young ones.

The tending grunt

A series of short grunts in rapid succession, made by a buck with a doe near estrus when other bucks are around. The writer calls it his first choice late in the breeding period: a buck hearing it expects an estrous doe nearby.

When to call and when not to (Outdoor Life)

• Grunt at bucks passing out of range, and if they keep going, grunt again louder.
• Around the peak of the rut, loud, choppy tending grunts every 30 minutes or so, in 5- to 10-second sequences; tone it down after the rut.
• Don’t blind-call over crops or acorns early in the pre-rut; deer are coming anyway, and a doe or young buck may spot you.
• Don’t grunt at a buck within about 75 yards that is looking for you, and don’t call to a buck walking steadily toward you.
• To stop a close buck, be ready to shoot first, then a soft voice grunt; don’t fumble with a call.
• Watch the wind: a buck that seems to leave may circle downwind of you.

Calling elk

Wikipedia describes the bull’s bugle as a loud, high-pitched, whistle-like call that advertises fitness over long distances during the rut; cows give an alarm bark, and calves a high-pitched scream when attacked. Outdoor Life’s veteran elk writer lays out the season:

• Pre-rut (late August to early September): bulls start gathering cows; bugling may not work yet in long, hot days when elk stay in cool timber. Watch water holes and wallows, consider the wind, and try an occasional bugle or cow call.
• Rut: vocalisation peaks, generally in the last two weeks of September, though timing varies with elevation and latitude. Be in the woods before first light and listen. Get away from roads and into the timber; bulls may ignore calls from far off but respond when you’re close. If a bull answers, set up immediately, because he may be closer than he sounds.
• Cow calls in the rut: a herd bull may avoid a bugle and move his cows away, but may come to look at a cow call; solo bulls are more likely to come to a cow call than a bugle. In pressured areas, try soft cow chirps for 15-20 minutes before bugling.
• Post-rut (usually October): bulls lose interest in breeding and the writer calls bugling futile; he uses an occasional cow call to cover noise when moving through thick cover.

For both species

• Wind first: both writers stress playing the wind when setting up.
• Be ready before you call: animals often come quickly and close.
• Calling won’t always work. The deer writer notes a buck that clearly knows where it’s going rarely turns, while one dawdling along often does.

See our big game pages for each species, and best game calls for the types of calls.

Sources

• Outdoor Life, When and how to use a grunt tube to call deer and Old-school elk hunting tips. Read 28 October 2026.
• Wikipedia, Elk. Read 28 October 2026.

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