Sika stags

What call are you using?

Along with some others on here, in my experience the calls generally work better on the bigger stags and can cause smaller ones to run off when called to. Must be a confidence thing!

The best thing to do is watch some footage of them on utube and simply try and emulate that.

The rut has been on hold with us for well over a week now and until they are really on and chasing I do not generally have much success or even try the call. It can however get a stag to turn for a look that otherwise is not presenting a shot.
 
I use a Sceery call and a Hoochie mama call. Had all ages of stags coming at me, some reply others don't. I start with a quiet sqeak, then a few minutes later if nothing appears i do a soft whistle, repeated after a few minutes then as time goes by i get louder and do two or three calls together. It dosen't work everytime so be patient. Keep well hidden aswell
Al
 
I don't have much experience of this but was given to believe that stags would come running to the call without care or caution and I've not found this to be the case.

I called two big stags last year, there has been no real rutting activity this year so no chance to try it yet, and they both came in very cautiously to about 150ish yards before beating a retreat. Neither replied to my call. I got the impression that they generally like to get your wind rather than just come straight in and one of them did vanish into cover and work his way around me until I heard him running off in the cover. So you need to keep your eyes open and be aware that the stag might stand off by 150 yards or more. Also one of the stags I called in, to my amazement, crept up a ditch so I could only see the top of his antlers and then jumped from the ditch into a group of trees and watched me from the cover of the trees. Had I not of spotted the tips of his antlers while he was in the ditch I might never have known he was there.

There was an interesting item in "Sporting Rifle" (yeah, but I was on holidays and needed something to read on the ferry) about calling foxes and the chap suggested that foxes like to get the wind of the thing they are hearing. He was making the point that if you are in a high seat or similar then it is better if your scent is blowing out onto the open ground rather than the other way around. His reasoning, and I suspect the same will work with sika stags, is that the fox will cross the open ground to get your wind giving you a shot whereas if the wind is blowing into cover then you will never see the fox. My very limited experience would tend to support this approach and both of the big stags I called in last year worked in that way to some extent.

So my tip is to watch for a very cautious approach and to be aware that an approaching stag may well try to get your wind rather than coming directly in to take a look. When it works it can seem like magic but don't expect it to be as simple as blowing the call and then shooting the hundreds of stags that come running.
 
Some stags do literally come running, and others adopt a far more cautious approach. Stags seem very reluctant to cross open areas except in the half light of early dawn or last light. I have called stags in many hundreds of yards across maize stubble early in the morning, and some of my mates have even called them across rivers in the height of the rut.
It is always easier to call a stag in close in woodland rather than across open country, and some do scream back when they hear you call.
When they work the results can sometimes be explosive, and at other times the stags dont respond at all, and I wish I knew why?

Good luck

Lakey
 
Some stags will come in hard and quick others will be sneaky B's and come in behind you like a stealth bomber. I called one last week from over a 1000m on open ground, it did the first 300m very quick then slowed to a trot/walk for the rest of the distance.It never replied to me and came on a straight line
Al
 
I can vouch for needing eyes in the back of your head..!

Walking through a wood this morning I sat down in a drainage ditch and gave a quiet whistle. I was scanning around and within a minute looked behind me and there, 15m away was a stag staring back at me. He soon realised something wasnt right and was off as quick as he'd arrived.

My question is will a stag who has been called in and spooked like this come in to the whistle again?
 
I can vouch for needing eyes in the back of your head..!

Walking through a wood this morning I sat down in a drainage ditch and gave a quiet whistle. I was scanning around and within a minute looked behind me and there, 15m away was a stag staring back at me. He soon realised something wasnt right and was off as quick as he'd arrived.

My question is will a stag who has been called in and spooked like this come in to the whistle again?

He probably thought it was an illegal immigrant trying to whistle God save the Queen and came to investigate.

HWH.
 
Sorry for late reply. Didn't have much calling success in the rut but did shoot a few stags, so was still pleased I've just bought a screery elk call so I'm hoping to be abit better At calling next year. Would you guys say calling is an AM or PM thing? Or no difference?
 
I called a few stags during the rut this year and it worked morning and at night for me. The best result was at night in late september when a good stag came into the call from over 500m down a steep face and i took him at 140m as he would no come any closer. Exciting to watch his reaction to each call i made as he moved in closer.
 
The sceery call has worked well for me both morning and night. Called them to within spitting distance with it and I'm no expert.
 
I find the most important part of calling a stag is getting into his territory. If he is in cover with his hinds and hears you calling 500 yards away he is not going to feel threatened enough to leave them to come to you. Spend some time listening to where the stags are rutting and then carefully get as close as you can before you start to call.Start off with 3 whistles and if he doesn't reply then wait a good ten mins before you call again. If he has been responding and then stops that can mean he is now looking for you so don't give up.. I have sometimes followed stags into very heavy young forestry to get close enough to get them to react. This often means they will come within 20 yards without you being able to see any more than their legs but it often pays off and it's seriously exciting! Blowing the sceery through a red stag caller works well too, gives more depth to the call.
 
I use grnut tubes and doe bleats very effectively for whitetails , but for Sika in the USA I've not had that great of success . On the other hand I have had very good luck with attractant scents for both whitetails and Sika deer !

I've found whitetails are very quick to come to food scents as well as sex scents . The Sika also are quick to come to the sex related scents or atleast thats been my experience . Could also be coincidence but over the years there have been ALOT of coincidences ;)
 
We've had very good results using this candle scent product on whitetails and black bear .

http://hottrails.com/default.htm

For Sika deer I've had good luck with the "Sika Bomb" !

http://buckbomb.com/catalog/category/sika_bomb


Also for Sika ,

http://www.downwindscents.com/sections/dept_itemdescr.php?unit_id=15&dept_id=4&sid=1652722669



http://www.downwindscents.com/sections/dept_itemdescr.php?unit_id=25&dept_id=6&sid=1335559384


I have tried and use all three of these Sika related products .

Typically I set off a scent bomb from either maker right at first legal shooting light and later during the day I will shoot some foam out in the air from my treestand . It seems to work , but as you all well know if there's no deer in the area to smell it then it makes no difference .
 
Incidently the fellow in Texas that makes the scent candles we've been using lately I have been talking with about making me some Sika scent candles but so far we haven't followed thru on the idea .

While liquid scent is good and quick it isn't for the long haul . It will eventually dry up or dissipate . With the candle it is effective for 3-5 hours and also it has a small amount of heat so it should stay somewhat above the ground as compared to a cold scent that typically (I think) goes straight to the ground to be absorbed there .
 
Another poor year for calling stags in. Maybe it's me, maybe it's the call but both have managed with plenty success in previous years!

Stopped a few on the call to allow a shot but cannot really claim 'calling in'.

I have had them almost charging at me on occasion.

Time to try a new call next season I think...
 
Same with me this year (sika tried x3) and the roe (x7), same place, call etc - fingers crossed it was just an odd year.
 
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