I later got additional copies of the video from Rich and sent them to two close friends -- whitetail legends Roger Rothhaar and Gene Wensel. As you might imagine, Roger and Gene were amazed and intrigued at the events Rich had captured on tape. Both hunters had heard similar sounds a few times before in years past, but neither man had connected those sounds to a whitetail buck, because they had never actually witnessed a buck make the sound. Gene had always attributed the growling sound to that of a distant cow.

I also asked well-known whitetail biologist Dr. Grant Woods about his experience with the buck growl. Grant told me that he believes he had heard the sound only two times before. The first occurred during the late '90s when two dominant bucks were competing over a hot doe.

The second time occurred in early 2000. And similar to Rich Baugh's experience, it, too, involved a dead doe believed to have been in heat. Grant said that shortly after he shot the doe, a buck appeared on the scene and began pushing her around and trying to lift her up with his antlers (very similar to what Rich had captured on tape). Amazingly, the buck even tried to mount the dead doe as she lay on the ground. The buck soon worked himself into such a frenzy that he began to make a distinct and loud growling sound.

AN AMAZING COINCIDENCE
In November 2004, Jeff and Chris Propst were in Missouri filming a whitetail hunt for Drury Outdoors' "Dream Season" TV show. A doe in heat had been shot by a neighbor and had fallen close to the stand that Jeff and Chris were in. Within minutes a 2 1/2-year-old buck approached the dead doe. After sniffing the doe, the buck began to get excited. He gored the doe with his antlers and tried to pick her up, obviously wanting her to stand for him. Suddenly another buck appeared. The first buck ran at the intruder and began to make a loud growling sound. It was obvious that the buck making the sound was at a heightened emotional state triggered by the doe in heat.

When the video team returned to Iowa with the footage, everyone was amazed. No one at Drury Outdoors had ever heard the "buck growl" vocalization before. But realizing its great potential, and knowing how big the "snort-wheeze" call had been in recent years, Mark Drury immediately set about trying to duplicate the sound. After considerable trial and error, a prototype call similar to a grunt tube was ready for testing during the 2005-2006 hunting season.

With the opening of the 2005 season, Drury Outdoors had two goals in mind. The first was to try to capture more bucks making the growling sound on video. The second was to field test the new call.

On Oct. 25, 2005, Terry Drury and Matt Clump were hunting a stand overlooking a Biologic food plot. Suddenly a giant 170-class buck appeared. As the buck approached what was obviously a hot doe, he made several distinct growling sounds. Terry and Matt were elated! They had captured a buck growling on video.

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