I notice his success pictures are from over 20 years ago. 20 or 30 years ago grunt calls were fool proof. Bucks use to literally come running to them almost every time. Now they know and mature bucks will more often than not run from a grunt call, especially if the calling is poorly done. Rattling is the same thing. People educate young bucks by getting busted and by the time they are mature they know the routine.
If you do want to try these methods you have to understand how a deer uses his senses. Deer, especially mature deer, do not go over to see what is going on when they hear a call, rattle or grunt. They slide around to smell what is going on. IMO you should avoid these methods if it is possible for a deer to get down wind of you without a shot. If he can, he will and this is how they get educated.
Choose calling and rattling positions where the deer have to cross a cut line, road, cut block or open field to get down wind of you. Even better is to use a partner strategically positioned down wind to ambush deer trying to circle around. Many mature deer will simply move on if they first can't identify a sound with smell.
Having said that, they do work. The rut can make them crazy and I have taken several big bucks that I wouldn't have gotten a shot at without the grunt tube. I was sitting in the truck before daylight adjusting the reed on my grunt tube one morning and a big buck basically tapped on the window. He circled the truck a couple a times before trotting off.
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