"Apparently the doe had been in heat, because after smelling her, the buck worked himself into a frenzy. He flipped her over with his antlers, obviously trying to make her stand up. He then started making a series of loud 'growling' sounds that I had never heard before. My buddy, who was a good 500 yards away, heard the sound each time the buck made it.

A smiling Mark Drury shows off a 5 1/2-year-old "old-timer" that came storming in to his position after the hunter used his buck growl call. The entire event was captured on video.

"I turned on my video camera and began taping the buck. He made the growling sound a total of seven times, all the while goring the doe and pushing her around with his antlers. As he was making this sound, other bucks began to appear. Incredibly, a total of 15 different bucks came within sight of my stand. I'm convinced that they were drawn to the sounds the buck had made.

"After a few minutes, a dominant 8-pointer appeared on the scene. He quickly ran off the 11-pointer and walked up to the dead doe with a totally different disposition toward her. Instead of abusing her, as the other buck had done, he began licking her and gently rubbing her with his foot.

"Most of the bucks that had been drawn to the call kept hanging around and showed no intentions of leaving. I eventually had to exit my tree so I could take possession of my doe. Several of the bucks had gotten so worked up that I walked very close to them before they reluctantly left the area. Needless to say, this was the most exciting morning I ever spent in the woods."

During the days following Rich's incredible experience on Nov. 14, at least six other hunters at Hadley Creek Outfitters described hearing the deer growl. Each case involved mature bucks and estrous does.

A STARTLING REVELATION
On Dec. 7, I was back home in Tennessee bowhunting on a friend's farm. I was in a tree stand watching an overgrown field when a mature 8-pointer and the doe he was tending walked by my stand at about 45 yards. Suddenly a 2 1/2-year-old 10-pointer appeared on the scene. He walked directly under my tree stand and stood staring at the pair. All at once he began running full speed toward the hot doe. I believe he was attempting to separate the two deer. Each time his feet hit the ground, he made a loud, forceful growl. It had that "barrel" sound as if it were coming from deep inside his chest.

As I stood on my platform, I realized that this sound was something totally new to me. I wondered: Could it be the same sound that everyone had talked about so much back in Illinois? Ironically, that same day I received a video in the mail of the unbelievable footage that Rich Baugh had taken on Nov. 14. As I watched the footage that night, I was astonished to hear the same sound I had heard earlier in the day while hunting.

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