The 4 Best Grunt Calls — Deer Call Reviews 2023

best grunt call, best deer grunt call, buck grunt call

Photo by Wally Gobetz / CC BY

Grunt calls are either one of the most deadly tools in the deer hunter’s arsenal or one of the most useless. We are going to presume that you live in Texas or the Midwest where such tools are most commonly used, and not like our long suffering author who is presently reduced to scouring the western Washington woods for deer during the short modern firearm season.

At any rate, if you are fortunate to have a large population of deer, then it’s likely you can benefit from the use of the best grunt call. As I sit here staring enviously at prime deer hunting in other parts of the country, I also worked out 3 of the best deer grunt calls for you to help bag your next big buck.

Extinguisher Deer Call

What’s black, cheap, includes an instructional DVD and will help you bag your next big buck? Why the Extinguisher Deer Call, of course! One of the best grunt calls out there, this inexpensive yet lethal call allows you to reliably mimic the sounds of a fawn, doe or other bucks.

With this call, you can have actual conversations with whitetails, convincing them of most anything you want, in the special grunts and sounds they use to signal everything from a competing buck to a doe in heat. A brilliant, affordable, and easy to use call, the only reason you should have for not already owning this is that you haven’t clicked “buy” yet.

Primos Hardwood Grunter

It’s hard to believe a grunt call this good can be this affordable. That’s right, for a song, you get an incredibly well made hardwood grunt call that is amazingly feature packed. Made out of traditional and luxurious hardwood and fitted with a flexible poly tube, this grunt call allows you to make a wide range of authentic, loud grunts and bleats. Designed for the skilled professional, yet easy for the new hunter to learn, you will quickly find this call to be an invaluable addition to your hunt, and at a price you’ll have a very hard time arguing with.

Primos Shawty

Insanely affordable, made of rugged all weather polymers, fitted with a custom reed that can duplicate most common grunts, and made by Primos, all combines to a pretty solid and rational reason to call this one of the best buck grunt calls. This high grade hands free call can duplicate most common buck and doe grunts, is suitable for use in inclement weather, is easy for the beginner to master, weighs next to nothing, and makes an excellent spare to stick in your pack, or to just bring for a friend. Either way, get a couple, they make great gifts too.

The Buck Bomb

After you’ve gotten the best grunt call, you may want a little extra something to help lure them in, and let’s face it, something that smells like a doe in heat is just the ticket. The Buck Bomb is authentic doe estrus urine, which is a classic scent that drives bucks wild.

This affordable priced spray comes in a generous 6.65 ounce can, and will stick to anything you spray it on… so be careful if you know what I mean! Deploy it around your stand or near where you want to bring in the big bucks, or wherever you want to have bucks think there is a doe in heat. Call ’em in with your grunt call, get their attention with the Buck Bomb, and fill your tag!

Grunt Calling

Grunt calls are commonly used by bow hunters to bring easily spooked deer within bow range. Calling in a deer is an entirely different method of hunting than finding a good spot and sniping a deer in the distance with a modern rifle. Bow hunting requires patience, precision and skill. And sometimes the best deer grunt call.

The goal, of course, is to convince a deer that it is talking to another deer; not just another deer, but one that it wants to encounter physically, be it a doe in heat or a competing buck on its territory. Typically, you are going to use a grunt call when there is a large ratio of bucks to does, and competition for a mate is fierce. On top of it, the bucks must be a diverse enough population to warrant the sort of competition among themselves that makes the big ones literally fight for a mate. Additionally, you’d want an area that isn’t under heavy hunting pressure that keeps the buck population thinned out. So if you’ve got a good healthy deer population with strong competition for does, then you’ve got yourself an ideal setup for using a grunt call.

These areas as previously mentioned are often associated with the Midwest or Texas, where some of the finest whitetail hunting in the country exists. If you are fortunate enough to be able to hunt in this whitetail utopia, you are probably already familiar with grunt calls. If not, I’d suggest ordering the Extinguisher Deer Call (see full specs) we reviewed first, as it includes a valuable instructional DVD. Barring that, there are plenty of resources online to help you learn how to use your choice of grunt call.

Which brings up the last point. Just what is the best grunt call? The reality is, any call is little more than a piece of wood or plastic with a mouthpiece and reed, that allows you to replicate a series of deer-like sounds. Given that, again I’d run with the Extinguisher as the best all-around call but any of the ones we looked at will do the job if you do yours as well. That last bit is key, you can have all the fancy camo, the greatest bow, the most amazing arrows tipped with the latest broadhead, be using the most highly rated call, but if you don’t make it all work in harmony, it means nothing. Learn your gear, master it, and you too can enjoy calling in the big bucks. Good luck!

  • Owner of Reloaderaddict.com, Boyd Smith is a major handgun enthusiast, and although he owns Glocks, he prefers the revolving wheel type. His go-to guns are a Smith & Wesson 642 Performance Center for carry and a Ruger GP100 in the nightstand biometric safe (he has kids). He loads both revolvers with old-school 148-grain Federal Gold Medal .38 wadcutters. It’s OK if you think he’s a wimp. Email him.

Share the Post and Images

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *