The secret to stalking in grasslands, is to look like predators in grassland. Coyotes are normally seen, and ignored by both deer and elk. Get your butt down, and crawl, or run in short stretches in a crouch. Glass areas ahead to find game trails. Stick to them to move through the grass.
Think about how much " thumping " your boots are making as you move, as both deer and Elk " hear " through their feet. If there isn't cacti, or any other kind of stickers, wearing moccasins for stalking can be a very smart idea.
By sticking to the game trails, you are more likely to be dismissed as another animal, than cause concern as " People ", when you move. You are stalking in their back yard. Assume they(game) know it as well as you know the one you mow at home every week! NO?
Hunt the watercourses, and draws, most of which will not appear on any but an aerial map. Check with the county Supervisor of Assessment's office, to see if it has such maps, and if you can get copies. Sometimes, you have to go to the survey company that took the pictures to get copies, but a copy of such a map can be invaluable when planning hunting sights. Anyone who thinks prairie flatlands are really flat has not tried to walk in a straight line across them for a mile or two. Obviously, you will need to spend a lot of time scouting the area pre-season, and become familiar with places game like to stay.
I live and hunt flat lands here in Illinois. The deer are well known to find a shallow draw, or ravine, with lots of grass in them, to bed down in, just out of sight of anything and anyone driving by. But they can look through the tops of grass stems, they can feel the footsteps of animals that might be coming close to them, and best of all, they are down out of the wind, so that their ears give them maximum benefit in hearing danger approach.
One deer season, when Our entire hunting party was skunked hunting an adjoining farm, the next door neighbor later told us that he could see a draw or swale from his upstairs back window, not 1/4" mile from where we were all hunting the woods. This swale held 22 bucks with visible antlers, and more deer without, and they never moved all day long. We didn't have permission to hunt his ground, and those who did never showed up to hunt. Since we never scouted his farm, we had no idea that the deer were using that swale as a daybed.
A friend, now dead, hunted his family's farm and spent considerable time scouting the farm before season. He found that the deer crossed the farm following a hedge row of trees, at first light. On opening day, before daylight, he crawled down a row of cornstalks a half mile to get into position to shoot a huge buck as it walked past him. He took a position on his stomach ( on a tarp he took with him) between corn row stubble, upwind of the deer, and they never knew he was there. That buck became a full head and shoulder mount in his office.
That's what you can expect hunting grasslands, and flatlands. Best of luck with your hunt this Fall. :hatsoff:
