sixth sense

Well honestly spiker, you probably did the wrong thing in this situation, in my opinion. If a buck is 25 yds away, I'll never grunt or call or anything. That's when I'm absolutely quiet. You're exactly right, he heard the grunt and calls but saw nothing. Right then he knew something was wrong. Deer hear just about as well as humans, but they hear higher pitches better than us. They can locate where the sound is coming from just like humans can too. If it was really thick where he was at, I MIGHT HAVE grunted really softly, a time or two, and made the sound go behind me. If you're using a can bleat, those things only tend to have one volume. LOUD. I hope you get another encounter with him soon! Try what I said, you may just bag a buck!

you could be right tator,the 1st time i grunted was soft when i seen he was going away,got no response grunted again and bleated and he stopped but that was it.he just sized up situation and knew it was bogus.i do think you make some good points.thanks

Sometimes nothing will work, other times they come in running. If he turned to leave I would have done the same as you, tied a couple of grunts, soft bleat with the can covered in my hands to muffle if there's rutting going on, or a few antler tics. Most likely other than a doe decoy he wasn't having anything to do with it. But that's hunting and the chess game. You still got a nice buck! Pre-rut can be frustrating times.