How do you do it?
Well, I STICK to game trails, where many hooves have already crushed down most of the leaves and small twigs under foot during the nights. :hmm:
Then, I use a " Fox walk". This is fully described in Tom Brown, Jr.'s " Field Guide to Nature Observation and Tracking".
What you do, is bend both legs at your knees, and then move one foot forward, but put it down onto the ground cover on the outside of the foot/ shoe sole.
Keeping your weight on the back foot, Feel for large twigs, and branches, and move the foot either under them, or to the side of them to avoid having them SNAP under your weight.
Now, roll your forward foot slowly so that you have the foot flat, but above the ground cover. The stride length will be half the length of your normal walking stride, but that is how you help yourself move slowly and more quietly.
When you shift your weight from your rear foot, to the front foot, You will " HEAR" the leaves "crunch" under your feet, or shoes. However, the sound you hear is coming up through the bones of your skeleton, NOT through the air. :shocked2: :hmm:
Have someone stand 10 feet from you and ask if they can hear the leaves crunching under your foot. Dried leaves crushing are muffled by the sole of your foot or shoe/boot. The slower you place your foot down, the less noise you make. :v
When you have shifted your weight to the forward foot, and planted it on the game trail, NOW, you can then move the rear foot forward, and do the same thing.
If your knees tire,(they will) just stop near a tree and rise up vertically so that the large tree masks the vertical movement and your upper body outline. Take a break while you listen and really LOOK. When you are rested, and think you have seen all you think there is to see, Listen, and then stoop and bend over again before covering the next piece of trail.
If brush is thin where you are walking, you will need to stoop and bend over more to reduce your silhouette as you walk across the open areas. Animals know that game trails are used by lots of animals, including coyotes, and other predators. Prey species( including deer) tend to Freeze their positions to successfully avoid being detected by these predators. Since most deer do not have to deal with LARGE bears as predators, MAN is the one species that is TALL, and rises up above their usually level of sight and concern. You are their " NIGHTMARE", just like the "boogeyman" frights little kids in their dreams.
Practice this "Fox Walk" in your back yard, while barefoot. You can put the sneak on birds, cats, dogs, etc. that are in the yard. Move only when they are not looking. Once you practice enough, you develop new muscles in the upper leg above your knee, and in your hips, so you don't tire as fast doing this kind of walk.
( You can also run more quietly, and Faster, with less effort in this unlocked knee position. Running this way, you tend to appear to glide, rather than "Bounce" and you don't have the pounding of your lower spine that you do when you walk or run with your knees locked.) :hmm:
Don't STOMP your feet. The fox walk doesn't allow you to do this, because of the bent knees, and the placing of the foot down on the outer edge( little toe)of the foot, and then rolling it over to put the entire foot down flat.
I once spotted another deer hunter, sitting on the South side of a large tree along a ridge trail( Large night time game trail, or " Highway") that I was using to go and come back from my stand in another ravine. I did not want to interrupt his hunt, as his back was to me, and the ridge trail was about level with his head.
So, I went into a "foxwalk" to pass by him, hoping to test just how quiet I could be.
I was in Alexander County, Illinois, in the foot hills east of the Mississippi, near the town of McClure. The woods are mostly White oak, Pin Oak, Hickory, a few walnuts, Ash, and hawthorn trees. There are a few pines and junipers, part of a reforestation effort in that part of the Shawnee National Forest. There were falling oak leaves all over the ridge trail, altho it was well used by game of many species every night. I don't know of much ground cover that is NOISIER to walk on than these dried leaves, unless its gravel, or shale.
The sound of the crushing leaves that I heard( through my bones) was like walking on glass, to my mind. But, because I had already tested out how far sound travels from under a flat-placed shoe, I was not worried about the hunter hearing me. I was more worried about him seeing me, as I was dressed out in the required Blaze Orange vest and hat. I only moved when he turned his head away from me, for that reason.
It took about 15 minutes, but I walked right past him on that trail, watching him all the way, and turning to look over my shoulder at him just as I dropped down out of sight down the ridge trail, but he never heard me, nor saw me. Its one thing to test yourself with a friend or relative listening for you, and quite another to test yourself on a complete stranger who is a HUNTER, himself. :shocked2: :v :bow: :grin:
I have since learned to pay acute attention to squirrel barking, and bird (alarm)calls when I am moving. The birds and squirrels will Scream at you when you are moving too fast, and making too much noise, if you just listen. :shocked2:
And, I have listened to enough deer walking through dried leaves that I now am able to Mimic their walking Rhythm, if not the slightly sharper sound made by their smaller hooves. :hmm:
I move only when there is a wind blowing, and then only as far (inches) as the wind blows a tree branch, or standing grass blades. :hmm: If there is no wind, the deer will be in their beds, and that is where you want to be hunting them. Only scouting is going to tell you where they like to bed, but on sunny days, you can be fairly sure they will bed down on a slope facing the sun, to gain maximum warmth from the sun. The slope may be only a few inches deep, in a swale in a farm field, growing weeds and grass, but if there is soft, dry ground cover, no wind, and lots of sun, that is where they will be.
I keep the wind blowing towards me( no matter how light the breeze), or across me, rather than walking with the wind at my back. :hmm:
I am not too proud to admit that in the past, I have walked past deadfalls, only to have a deer, that was hiding on the otherside of the tree trunk rise up and run away from me. :shocked2:
That has Not happened to me recently, so I am overdue. :grin:
