This spike buck was the first of three to respond to a call on opening day. Photo courtesy of Steve Sorensen

It was already 7:30 on the opening morning of the New York firearms season when I climbed the ladder to my tree stand. Other hunters had been in their perches for an hour, and the shooting had begun. I’ll blame my wiener dog for making me late. Would my late arrival reduce my odds of getting a shot at a buck? Not at all.

I usually spend firearms season still-hunting on the ground, except for this property. The landowner is a hunter and gives permission to a short list, so I hunt from a tree to avoid traipsing through other hunters’ stand sites.

As I climbed the ladder, a shot rang out. It wasn’t far away, and I worried that a nice buck had slipped by my stand and walked over there to get shot by a fellow hunter. A minute or two later I forgot that worry when I spotted a spike buck.

It was time for some fun. I had a brand-new grunt tube from Kluk Custom Calls. It’s so new I’m not sure it’s on the market yet. I’ll try a few toots on it so I can report to my friend, who is involved with the company. The little buck was about 50 yards past me when I sent a deep, fleshy grunt. I had his attention, but he continued on. Another grunt perked his ears up and he stopped, but he wouldn’t turn around.

Next, I made a doe bleat by inhaling through the call. The little buck immediately turned around. Another bleat prompted him to backtrack. He got to about 20 yards and started looking for the doe.

A spike buck is very responsive to a call. One reason is that he has been trusting his mother’s bleat several times a day, relying on her protection for almost all his short life. Now, a female voice is no longer just about safety. With a new and interesting female scent in the air, the sound gives him mixed messages. The excitement of the rut and the influx of rifle-toting two-leggers into the woods become a dangerous mix for any buck.

I let the little guy walk. If other hunters do the same and he gets lucky a couple of times, maybe I’ll see him in a year or two. For now, I’ll settle for the fun of calling him in.

Two other bucks came along and got a pass. The first was an 8-point with a tight little rack and points only an inch or two long. Then a nice 6-point came by on the trail the spike had taken. My grunt call stopped him and he looked back, but he stood his ground even when I bleated. He’ll be safe if he stays on this property.

Apparently, my lateness to the tree stand was no problem. By mid-morning I had seen 12 does come through in ones and twos, plus three bucks–each one bigger than the last.

For an hour or so on each side of noon, the woods were quiet except for a bunch of raccoons. An Internet search suggests calling them a gaze. You might say I gazed at a gaze of ‘coons as they waddled through the woods.

Shortly after 1, I noticed something roundish, brownish and motionless about 100 yards below me on the edge of the bench. My binoculars confirmed that it was the back end of a deer. I began looking at the trees that blocked its front end and spotted an antler tine. This one was a shooter.

He began moving along the edge of the bench. Every time he reached an opening in the trees, he passed through too quickly for a shot. As he disappeared, I grabbed the call and hoped to turn him around with a doe bleat.

About ten minutes later I spotted him again. He had dropped below the edge of the bench, backtracked, and came up in the same place as before. He gave me the deja vu–same path, same quickness, same disappearing act. I bleated again, but figured he was gone.

I watched the raccoons continue to paddle about below me and then, here he came zigzagging across the bench, scent-checking for the doe he thought he heard. He was about 75 yards from me and 25 yards from a raccoon when the 139 grain Hornady bullet from my 7mm-08 dropped him.

If you think a grunt tube is just for archery season, revise your thinking. Put it in your tool kit for firearms season and keep it handy. Having called bucks in from a tree and from the ground, I know a call will give you shot opportunities you won’t otherwise get.

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When “The Everyday Hunter” isn’t hunting, he’s thinking about hunting, talking about hunting, dreaming about hunting, writing about hunting, or wishing he were hunting. If you want to tell Steve exactly where your favorite hunting spot is, contact him through his website, www.EverydayHunter.com. He writes for top outdoor magazines, and won the 2015, 2018, and 2023 national “Pinnacle Award” for outdoor writing.