Stalking or still hunting

[hoochiepapa]

I think you are 100% correct. My dad and I hunted that way for years. I learned it from him. We'd pack a lunch, and when the other hunters went home, we'd tippy-toe around in the woods and it was quite productive.
But remember, you gotta tippy-toe. :haha:

 

[luieb45]

For us midwesterners those hedge rows and cornfields most times is as wilderness as we can get. I have some smaller 40 acre draws I hunt in but lots of times there isn't much more "big timber" around.

 

[jaw69]

I live in the Shawnee National forest We have Grass and Hedge row and fence row They are great for rabbit But I have never killed a squirrel in a fence or hedge row In fact I can count on one hand the times I have seen a squirrel in a fence row. Let alone track one And even if you can track a squirrel Why would you there are so much easyer ways to shoot one or 5.

 

[CaptainKirk]

That sounds like my kind of hunting, Pete!
I am quite fed up with sitting motionless, up in a swaying tree, for 8 or more hours, freezing my a$$ off. :grin:

ABSOLUTELY!!!! That's one of the biggest reasons I like to still hunt. When I get cold I get up and move. I've set in a tree stand and literally shook from cold and asked myself over and over what am I doing here, thinking I'm not even having fun. And I can't move because I might scare a deer so I just set there looking at my watch wishing it would get to the time my buddy and I decided to hunt until and then I could get down. If I get down early I might bother his hunting and I refuse to hurt another hunters chances so I just set there and freeze.----CRAP!!! I just talked myself into finally doing what I've thought about doing for the last two seasons. I'm going to sell my ladder stands. Thank you CaptainKirk, I needed that little nudge and those words of inspiration. K45

LOL! I've been so friggin' cold I deliberately make myself shiver just to generate some body heat!
I can't say as I really enjoy it...especially when I come home empty-handed. Seems as though the hunting media these days paints you as somehow "deficient" if you choose not to climb 20 feet up and make like a squirrel for 8+ hours. I made myself a promise that next time out (missed the season this year) I'll do it still-hunting (5/55) and keep my sanity..and perhaps my fingers & toes. It's worse now since I was diagnosed with Raynaud's last year, a condition where my fingers turn ash-white due to blood flow shutting down due to the cold (sort of like hypothermia on steroids)...not sure how 8 hours of that would affect the digits...think I'd rather keep the blood flowing than to find out!
Besides, I've paid my dues in the patience dept.
Besides, the times I have still hunted, I've seen as many deer as when I stay put!

 

[Pete Gaimari]

Plus, you can cut down your 10 layers to 3. You won't feel like a mummy.

 

[Bill Hall]

Seems as though the hunting media these days paints you as somehow "deficient" if you choose not to climb 20 feet up and make like a squirrel for 8+ hours.

That's because the people who are selling tree stands, and other gotta-have gadgets, are funding the magazines and tv shows. An article isn't going to attract advertizing dollars by saying, "You don't need all that stuff, just get out and walk". That's how it works and it's the same reason there aren't as many traditional muzzleloader stories compared to stories pertaining to the modern thingies. It would be a waste of time and money to target guys who make their own bullets, build their own rifles, concoct their own lube, and brave the old ladies at the fabric store to make their own patches. It's all about the $. Bill

 

[Pete Gaimari]

A lot easier to setup a camera in a tree too.

 

[Josh Smith]

I live in the Shawnee National forest We have Grass and Hedge row and fence row They are great for rabbit But I have never killed a squirrel in a fence or hedge row In fact I can count on one hand the times I have seen a squirrel in a fence row. Let alone track one And even if you can track a squirrel Why would you there are so much easyer ways to shoot one or 5.

Because it's fun, man. And practice. But mostly fun.

Josh

 

[jethro224]

I really don't like treestands. Usta use 'em. That's the way I was taught was THE way to hunt whitetails.
I couldn't count the times I wished I could move 10 feet or 50 yards to get a shot. Or even just to stretch out or take a nap. Can't do that in a treestand.
Then I built a couple ground blinds. I found them to be much more comfortable. Naps were an option. Down out of the wind it was warmer. I could move a little ways if I had to to get a shot. And I saw and killed just as many deer.
Next thing you know I was spending my time sneaking around the woods from bush to tree to blowdown to brushpile... having a sit wherever I found a good looking spot. I don't cover a whole lot of distance in a day but move a short way whenever I want... or spend the whole day soakin' up the sunshine on a hillside. :grin:
If I spot an animal while sitting or sneaking I might decide to try and stalk closer for a shot.
Tracking is for after the shot in these parts. :wink:

I did track a squirrel once. Tried to bark him and blew him up but he didn't die. He made it about 20 yards after he hit the ground. Found him still alive under a log. Haven't barked one since.

Squirrels do use trail systems just like deer only on a smaller scale. Some of those trails are up in the trees tho. I've seen well-worn trails at the base of a good old den tree and under the fence along corn fields. Looking for those signs can put you in a good spot to hunt squirrels. I wouldn't call that tracking tho.
Squirrels do live in hedgerows/fencerows too if there are any decent size trees. Sometimes that is all that is available. You can sneak along a hedgerow and hunt squirrels and bunnies at the same time.

 

[kayja]

deer spend every waking hour of their life sneaking around and staying out of sight, so there aren't too many people going to stalk them

That's not true.

not true, are you for real? I live right here in the heart of farmland deer where our tractors,our scent or play toys don't bother the deer at all, but get off the tractor or out of the truck and the deer are in a different mode, I'd like to see you go in our woods and stalk one, maybe even get an autograph.Right now there are four eating at the edge of the lawn,(about 200') if I was to go quietly out the back door and sneak around the house, all eight eyes would be on me as I stepped out rom behind the house. Deer have other animals and birds looking out for them also. Deer,bear and turkeys can move thru the woods all day and nothing stirs, let me step in the woods and every blue jay and squirrel will start yapping.

 

[KyFlintlock]

Knowing the "lay of the land" is hugely important. Where I hunt there are cedars and ditches/creeks which are very condusive to success. Knowing where they bed, wind direction and then having the right conditions are all very important pieces.

If it is too dry and noisy forget it. If the leaves aren't too crunchy or the snow is powder: lock n load!!

Also, experience is one of the best teachers, get out there, move very slow, scan constantly and good luck.

Wess

 

[paulvallandigham]

"I wouldn't call that tracking tho. "

Its a form of tracking called " sign Cutting", Jethro. Its part of the landscape that you examine to locate where the game is.

If you look close in woodlands, you will find ground trails, 4 inches or less in width, running from every large tree, to the next large tree, in at least 2 different directions. Its the squirrel's "super highway", in second and third growth timber, when the large trees are spaced too far apart to let them run across limbs off the ground. Only in mature, old growth forests, where the canopy is very heavy, and usually very high, do you find squirrels living most of their lives up in the trees. ( The canopy protects them from being attacked by hawks.) That old growth canopy shades out all the ground plants, bushes, and trees, and leave the ground to open for squirrels to travel on the ground much after daylight. They do go down on the ground to get food, and to find mates, but they scamper and don't spend a lot of time sitting there being a target. :hmm: :hatsoff: :hatsoff:

 

[Kentucky45]

I like knowing the land. It gives that little edge on where the game may travel or bed. But I like hunting new land too. I'm planning on leaving next week for a 3 or 5 day hunting/camping trip. I know the roads in the area but not the land. Each year I take a boy that's now 16. His dad died when he was a baby and was a good friend of mine. The kid lives in another part of the state so we can't go as often as we'd like. We go on our December trip and we'll hunt again during the special muzzle loader season. The same with fishing season and of course Christmas. He's most likely packed and unpacked his gear ten times already making sure he hasn't forgotten anything. He can't hardly wait or stand it until we finally get to go. His mother says he's a nervous wreck until we finally leave. I remember being that way. School days were 20 hours long. A week was a month. I nearly wore out my clothes putting them in and out of my hunting bag triple checking everything. He was so excited last year that he had all his gear in my truck and was belted in the seat before he even said hello. On the way he always says "I wonder what we'll find new this year". Because every year it's always new. We try to hunt an area we've already explored and we always hunt a new area each year too. Not knowing the terrain we depend heavily on the wind. That is a big factor on where we walk in and which way we go. We find new and interesting things each trip. Bedding areas, deer travel funnels, hog wallows, mad territorial boars, small feeding plots. It's helped the boy to learn more about hunting than if we had hunted the same place each year and set in a stand, a blind, or even still hunted the same area over and over. When you've seen it all several times there isn't allot to learn. He's learned tracks and sign and when they were made from moving around. He knows whether an animal is using a burrow or not and what kind of animal probably made that hole. He's more aware each year and has learned to spot game before I do allot of the time and over the past years has come from "let's shoot it" to let's try to move down that creek bed and move in a little closer before we take a shot". Killing is not as important to him now as making sure he doesn't wound it. He's learned to read and understand my Marine compass and the importance of a good compass in an area you're not familiar with. I've let us get lost on purpose and had him get us out with that compass. He's an addicted muzzle loader hunter and cares nothing about center fire hunting. I've bought him his own tent and all his hunting and camping gear and he's learned to set up camp the right way. Man, you should have seen how he used to set it up, that was unusual to say the least. He's learned allot from hunting and camping in new areas, things he'd have never learned hunting the same area or setting in the same stand or blind over and over. It's made him a better hunter. And me too. Knowing the terrain is a good thing. But hunting new areas can be a big plus and it will lmot lways make a good hunter a better hunter. K45

 

[BrownBear]

Seems as though the hunting media these days paints you as somehow "deficient" if you choose not to climb 20 feet up and make like a squirrel for 8+ hours.

That's because the people who are selling tree stands, and other gotta-have gadgets, are funding the magazines and tv shows. An article isn't going to attract advertizing dollars by saying, "You don't need all that stuff, just get out and walk". That's how it works and it's the same reason there aren't as many traditional muzzleloader stories compared to stories pertaining to the modern thingies. It would be a waste of time and money to target guys who make their own bullets, build their own rifles, concoct their own lube, and brave the old ladies at the fabric store to make their own patches. It's all about the $. Bill

That's the most wisdom I've ever seen on the web. Magazines and TV shows are absolutely dominated by their ad departments. If a company is not buying an ad, they don't get mentioned.

A couple of years back the NRA was threatening to sue Colorado because they wouldn't allow the CVA electric ignition muzzleloaders in traditional muzzleloader seasons. They made all sorts of noise about gun rights and big government. Heck, the real issue was the fact that the NRA had picked the gun as their gun of the year, and both their mags were cover-to-cover with ads for CVA. :rotf: I've been a life member since the early 70's and contributed freely up till that point. They haven't got another cent from me since.

 

[hoochiepapa]

One of the biggest downers in Colorado hunting was when they stopped the "primitive" season and allowed unmentionables. At first it was longbows and recurves, and sidelock ml's. Then the compound shooters complained, and then the*#@%^&$, and before I knew it, there were hunters everywhere. But I'm glad it was stopped before going any further.
Jethro, I was in a treestand only once, it was a climber, and it took so long for me to get down out of that tree, that the game warden was waiting for me to explain why I was leaving the woods so late. :rotf:

 

[Pete Gaimari]

deer spend every waking hour of their life sneaking around and staying out of sight, so there aren't too many people going to stalk them

That's not true.

not true, are you for real? I live right here in the heart of farmland deer where our tractors,our scent or play toys don't bother the deer at all, but get off the tractor or out of the truck and the deer are in a different mode, I'd like to see you go in our woods and stalk one, maybe even get an autograph.Right now there are four eating at the edge of the lawn,(about 200') if I was to go quietly out the back door and sneak around the house, all eight eyes would be on me as I stepped out rom behind the house. Deer have other animals and birds looking out for them also. Deer,bear and turkeys can move thru the woods all day and nothing stirs, let me step in the woods and every blue jay and squirrel will start yapping.

You made a general statement that you can't stalk deer. I should give it back to you and say ..are you for real?

First let me say I have no idea where you live. Putting your location in your bio would help in your posts so I don't have to guess. More than likely you're talking about Whitetails. They take off at the first sign of danger. I hunt Mule deer. They don't take off as easily. They'll stand there staring at you, or they'll start to move and stop and stare again.

I see them from a distance from glassing or just by eye. I stalk them and the closer I get the slower I move. Never moving if they look my way. I only move when they're looking away. Same way I hunt elk.

I'm assuming you use a tree stand? Maybe if you'd have a more positive attitude to stalking you'd try it more and get better at it. :idunno:

 

[kayja]

In my short 70 years I've tried everyway possibe in all kinds of weather, and no, i've never been on a stand.

 

[Pete Gaimari]

In my short 70 years I've tried everyway possibe in all kinds of weather, and no, i've never been on a stand.

You have me confused. You don't use a stand, and you say no one can stalk a deer and sneak up on it.

How do you get deer?

Please don't tell me to wait for others to drive them to you?

 

[kayja]

In my short 70 years I've tried everyway possibe in all kinds of weather, and no, i've never been on a stand.

You have me confused. You don't use a stand, and you say no one can stalk a deer and sneak up on it.

How do you get deer?

Please don't tell me to wait for others to drive them to you?

I've been roaming,logging,cutting wood and hunting the same 42 acres of woods for over fifty yrs and know every trail,stump ect. I just pick a nice spot over looking a trail and set, some times for days now. Yrs ago before all the city people starting grabbing up the farms and posting everything in site, getting a deer was just a matter of waiting for a few hrs because all the hunters would be down on the flat land and chase the deer out of the swamps and bedding areas and the deer would move into the woods, now hunters and places to hunt are few and far apart.At one time I could see a dozen orange suits moving around below, now it's rare to see one unless they're tresspassing.

The deer here are used to smelling humans so it really don't pay to try and fool them with all those bottles of scents, movement or a blue jay yelling will get their attention real fast.Move while they're trying to zero you in and all you'll see is a white tail.

 

[Pete Gaimari]

Ok, that a different kind of hunting. I haven't been back east in a lot of years.

It's pretty open here. We have to cover miles of mountain terrain. Staying in one spot won't get you much. Track, spot, stalk. Sneaky wins out here.