Editor’s Note: CVA Pro hunter Tony Smotherman discusses the value of using deer calls when hunting with your CVA muzzleloader rifle.

Question: Tony, let’s talk about deer calls. Do you use them or not?

Smotherman: I use deer calls quite frequently, but my experience has been that they only call in deer about 30 percent of the time.

Question: Tony, what’s your favorite deer call to use?

Smotherman: By using a deer call, you have a 30-percent-better chance of calling-in a buck than you have if you don’t use a deer call. If I was playing the lottery I’d be really excited if I had a 30-percent chance to win. But that 30-percent increase only applies if you’re using a grunt call. I believe that using the snort/wheeze is far-more effective then the grunt call. I’ll always have a snort/wheeze call in my pocket when I’m hunting. I consider the snort/wheeze a challenge call that says, “I am the toughest guy in the neighborhood. If you think you’re tougher than me, come over here, and prove it.” When a buck hears a snort/wheeze, he assumes that the buck that’s made that call will run him off, if he doesn’t leave. But if you use that call, and there’s a buck in the area that thinks he’s the dominant buck, then he’ll to come to that snort/wheeze call. To put it simply, Ibelieve that the snort/wheeze call works on any greedy buck that doesn’t mind banging his antlers on another buck. Therefore I think that the snort/wheeze call is more effective in the Midwest and West, where the buck-to-doe ratio is closer to 1:1, than it is in much of the East. Too, the bucks in the Midwest seem to enjoy fighting more then the bucks in the Southeast do.

For some reason, the bucks in the Midwest just seem to be tougher, perhaps due to age and size. In the Midwest, a 4-1/2-year-old buck will weigh around 250 pounds. Any deer that lives that long and gets that big will think he is dominant and tough enough to whip any deer that intrudes into his area. Remember that in a lot of instances, bucks are often like hunters. Some bucks are just a little-bit greedier than the other ones are. I took a buck in western Kentucky last year that was 3-1/2-years-old. He didn’t have terribly-big antlers – 120 range on the Boone and Crockett scale. But I have video-camera pictures of this buck pushing 4-1/2-and 5-1/2-year-old bucks out of the food plot that he thought belonged to him. This buck was fighting and whipping bucks that had 150- and 160-class antlers. This younger buck was just bad to the bone and more dominant than the older, bigger bucks he was running-off. I’ve learned that the snort/wheeze works on an aggressive buck, regardless of his age or the size of his antlers.

Question: Tony, tell us about a buck that you found with your trail-camera surveys in June and then took when muzzleloader season arrived.

Smotherman: I found a deer in Illinois that we called the Big Seven before bow season with our trail cameras. We lost him during bow season and didn’t see him for several weeks. Later, we found him again. He was coming to our food plots during the second muzzleloader season, probably to meet his does, because these same does stayed in this food plot for most of the year. We took that buck during that second muzzleloader season. Now don’t get me wrong. I will shoot a doe as quickly as anyone, since I love to eat venison, and does produce some of the best-tasting and tender venison. However, when I’m going to take does, I prefer to take them during the early season. As the time gets closer to the rut, I don’t take any does, because I want those does to attract the bucks I do want to take. If your area has only a short doe season, and you have to take those does over green fields, stop taking does at least 2 weeks before the rut begins. I’ll also take does at the end of the season, if the landowner wants more does removed off his property. The place I’m hunting and the management system of the landowner usually dictates when and if I take does.

Question: What tips can you give our readers that will help them take a buck this season?

Smotherman: You need to:

• · Be extremely gentle with your hunting in the early season, and don’t put a lot of hunting pressure on the big bucks you want to take.
• · Try to get as close as possible, even though you can make a shot out to 100 to 200 yards. Be extremely quiet and cautious as you move-in and set-up to take that buck. Never go into the area where you have your tree stand set-up, if the wind’s not right to hunt that region. If that big buck you’re hoping to take ever smells you, he may move to a new zip code.
• · Get to know your blackpowder rifle and how far you accurately can shoot before you go hunting. I feel confident to take a deer up to 200-yards plus away with my CVA Apex. You also need to know how your gun performs out to 100, 150 or even 200 yards, because deer don’t always appear where you think they will. If your tree stand is set-up to take a deer over a green field at 40 to 50 yards, that buck comes-out at 150 yards, and you decide, “I think I can make that shot,” then more then likely you’ll miss your buck. However, if you’ve been shooting your CVA rifle and know for certain where that bullet will impact the deer, then you can honestly say to yourself, “I’ve made that 150-yard shot before, and I know where to aim. I can take that buck.” You’ll have a much-better chance of taking instead of spooking the buck you’ve been photographing with your trail camera since June.

With my CVA Apex, I know for certain I can put three PowerBelt bullets inside the bottom of a coke can at 200 yards. I spend time on the rifle range with my gun, testing different types of bullets and setting-up the mill dots inside my Nikon scope to make that shot. Putting-in the time out on the range is what will tell you whether or not to take those shots. The reason Charlie Daniels is a far-better fiddle player then I am is because he’s spent a much-more time playing his fiddle then I have mine. The person who spends the most time on the range getting to know what his or her CVA rifle will do at different distances will be able to shoot far-more accurately at longer ranges than the hunter who goes to a rifle range the week before the season and shoots three rounds at 50 yards and says, “I’m ready to go hunting.”