Can calls

In my years of hunting I've heard deer make every imaginable noise. I've heard buck roars, snort wheezes, every sort of grunt and bleet, coughs and sneezes, ticks and what-have-ya. But I have never heard a deer do the noise that "The Can" makes. Nor have I ever had a deer respond to it.

I have killed the biggest bodied and oldest buck of my hunting career that was on the serious decline in points with the long range can call.

I'm like you IKILL, never heard that one or had any results with it. Snort Wheeze was a big thrill the first time i heard that one. I've heard many a buck grunting and after a few mins seen him following a doe. Or just walking and grunting with every step. Never have i heard anything that resembled the sound a can makes.

I can tell y'all for a fact a doe deer can make the sound the can call makes. I buck grunted in a doe one morning in Northern Missouri and she stayed around me for over an hour bleating just like the can. She was looking hard for that buck she heard grunting. I let her walk off and I grunted her up a second time and she did the same thing.

I have killed several good deer using a can call and there is no telling how many I have called in with it. I like to do a tending grunt while using the can to mimic a chase.

Squeaky, have you heard deer here in Bama do it?

Why would they not do it here?

We've been through this Clem. We have those high-ACT-scorin, edumacated type deer.

Why don't they react to antler rattling here like they do in the mid-West ? Why are they more vocal in some areas of the State period ? I dou7bt anyone knows these answers.

My 6 year old called in the only deer/buck I saw last year in the forest using a can call.

I don't use a can, but I do use a doe bleat. Same thing but I can make it louder if need be. I've had more success with a bleat than a grunt tube. And I've heard a doe do it in Alabama.

They do.

It's not that I don't / can't believe our does do it, just that I've never heard it. I would just think something that's supposedly that effective I would've heard before at least a time or two.

Now, I can think of a couple of times when I've had does very close to my tree on a super calm evening, and I've heard them ever so softly make a prolonged "mewing" sound to each other. it was similar to the can noise, but MUCH quieter and not as long of a note. Crap, the can sounds like a crazed, horny goat yelling out loud!

Quote of the day nominee.

I think you may have heard it, the can calls I've heard , like many other calls are louder than the real thing.

Heard it for the 2nd time in my life this year right after I killed her boyfriend. She stayed around for a while doing it and eventually came back still looking for him. When all was said and done, I saw 3 other bucks because of her running around doing that and obviously being hot as fire. It was really cool to watch and hear! This wasn't in Bama though; it was in northern TN. The only other time I have ever heard it was in Illinois from a doe that was trying her best to get an ignorant yearling buck to come along for the ride but he was obviously clueless.

Garbage Can, only place for a can call.....

That has typically been my opinion too. I hear stories all the time of folks who called in a buck using a can, but I never have. Heck, I don't even own a grunt call...quit carrying one years ago because it seemed to have a negative affect if anything at all.

I can't say I've heard a doe do it in Alabama. On my old Dallas Cty lease I heard a lot of deer vocalization over the 5 years I hunted there but don't recall ever hearing a doe estrous bleat. However the call worked very well on this property over the years.

I do not use the Primos Can. I think those are junk in my opinion. The can call I use is not loud and sounds identical to the doe I heard in Northern MO that morning. I can't find the call online any more. I was going to post a link to the one I use. They must not make it any longer.

I think any call in AL is like throwing a Hail Mary. I've hunted for over 20 yrs here and done everything from rattling, grunting, bleets, cans, snort wheezes. Done about it all. I personally have seen a buck do a snort wheeze and one do what they call a buck roar. Never heard one do a can sound, but I keep trying cuz you never know. I've got buddies that have called in deer using all those calls. AL deer are a different breed than those northern and Midwest ones.

I have only heard a doe estruous bleat once and it was in chambers co. I don't recall having any grown bucks respond to my can call but have had several young bucks

Killed a 144" 8 point in Jackson County that came right to a can call. Only deer I ever called in with one but I scared a monster off ( took off like he was shot when I called to him) with it a year later and never tried it again.

I gave the can a good try. I used one on every mature buck I saw one season. Seems like it was a dozen er so bucks total. About half ignored the sound, and the other half hauled azz the other way. Into the trash it went. Not the kind of odds I want to use when hunting mature bucks.

Same results with me. Doesn't work in Alabama. It DOES work in KY, but I guess those deer have seen the TV shows and know their supposed to respond to them!

My Hail Mary call. If nothing is happening I will give it a shot.

I've heard a few does make that same sound right after I dropped them and they didn't die immediately.

Never had any luck with in in Alabama. Had a blast Playing with some young bucks in Midwest several different hunts. Scared the crap out of some too. I carry one and only use it as a last resort if I can't get a shot on one I've already seen. Nothing to lose so what the heck? With that said I can't say I've ever called one in blindly and never killed a deer using one.

I actually heard a doe do that "bawl" in Dallas County 3 years ago. First time I heard it I thought I was hearing a bird or something. She did it four times over the course of 5min. It was about 10:00 in the morning on a cold cloudy day. She was in a pine thicket and I set up on a road maybe 100 yards away from where I had heard her. Not 10 min later a giant bodied buck with a tall dark rack crossed the road on me so fast I didn't have time to flip the safety off of my gun. He was making a bee line straight to her. Looked like he had a bush on his head. I ended up killing a good 10pt that afternoon on the other side of that pine thicket. It may or may not have been the same deer.

For the record....I've got a pal (his wall speaks for itself) that swears the can call is the best call for calling up a doe that has ever been made. He calls in slickheads for bow shots and has also bow-killed a few bucks that were tending does by calling the doe to him. I still haven't tried it much but he and I were covering a funnel in the swamps one morning (could see each other in the tree) and I watched him call up a big gang of slickheads (could barely see them way out in the open bottoms) right to the bottom of his tree. Damndest thing I have ever seen.

If it's better than a fawn bleat it's bad. Fawn bleat will flat reel the mommas in.

Y'all know there are three sizes of "The Can" from small to big, right? The biggest one is about the size of a soup can, I think. Deeper sound, etc.

Can Family

Squeaky,

What's the name of that can that like? I'd be interested in hearing about one that you like over the Primos can.

I have two that were given to me, a BIG one and a small one. These are a local brand made in Ohatchee, AL.

Brad it's a doe-in-heat bleat. Another company use to make them then wild game innovations bought them out. The last one I bought was through them. When I get home from offshore I'll take a picture of the call and text it to you. It a much better can than the primos can calls.

Thanks. Stay safe.

My brother-in-law here in north Alabama called in and killed several bucks 15 years ago when The Can was first popular. I hunted the same land and used two different sized Cans for variety and never once saw a deer respond to that particular noise.

I've called in a few deer with the can call. Usually its deer i see and want them to turn and come to me. It's very effective during bow season on young deer, looking for a buddy. I killed a milk sucker with it during bow season, came to me on a string. Good eating right there. I called in a 5 and 6 ptr on 2 different occasions. I use mine with a grunt tube, but use the grunt tube a lot more during gun season.

The buck I killed about a week and a half ago came in to a can call. I was bored so I tried it. He came in with his nose in the air less than a minute later. I'm using the original primos can that has I think the Beatty buck on the side of it. The only way it works is if you blow into it, just turning it over does nothing.

I've probably killed 7 or 8 mature deer coming to the original Primos Can during the pre rut / rut transition days. There seems to be a few days of the year when it really works for me, and like Squeaky, I use it in conjunction with a buck tending grunt sequence.

One morning I had just sat down to get settled in just as day was breaking. I was in central Ms in mid December. On that property it's the time of year when the bucks have the woods tore up and you are expecting to see the chasing start any day. I reached in my pocket for something as I was settling in, and accidentally bumped "the can" and immediately heard a deer get up and start my direction. I shot a nice mature 8 point at 10 steps that obviously was coming straight to what he thought was a doe.

It is hit or miss, i have killed a few bucks in mississippi with the grunt/can combo. I heard a doe sound just like the can in meridian a few weeks ago. Do not think it was rutting behavior but more a bleat. Who knows, but i do agree I also witnessed it spooking deer!

So far as I know, I've never even had a sniff from a deer when using the bleat call. Maybe I did and they saw me but I don't think so. I know they can be effective, but they've not worked for me yet.