Still Hunting

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Ok, to answer your question I do like still hunting. I do it where I can. I know you weren't asking for this answer, but it does kind of come off that way as it is the only way to do it and those that can't are not real hunters. You can't sit in a treestand in the the desert, you can't still hunt across a parking lot. A hunter adapts to the area he has to hunt in. So no matter what you prefer, if you are going to hunt to eat, do what you environment allows you to do. As an Ohio boy, I was amazed how little brush there was when I hunted in Colo. area I hunted, in the areas around Cripple Creek and in and around Saguache. It was like a park with trees in it, compared to the thickets of Ohio, in the little woodlots of my area. But, the terrain made it easy to still hunt with the ability to use all the terrain cover I mentioned in another post. For me, getting into the game was actually pretty easy, but I had trained in an area that didn't have the terrain I was now hunting in. I am not saying that still hunting is easy, it just depends on what you are used to. But, it was great for this Ohio boy to still hunt and see the country I had never seen before. This is something that still hunting allows you to do. So with that in mind, I like still hunting. After I had done enough still hunting around though or scouting, I would choose an ambush point.
 
Ok Dave. No matter what I do I get grief.

This was my first post.

"My passion is still hunting. I wish I could say I wrote this, but I didn't. It does express how I feel, and how I hunt. Enjoy."

Did I say anything about anybodies hunting style?

No. It started with the first post from August West very early in the thread. Typical from August lately.

I give up.

So, i'll give you all what you're accusing me off.

Still hunting is the only way to hunt. A baboon could hunt all the other ways.

Happy?
 
Now I've walked up and shot a few deer but that wasn't still hunting. I guess I lack the confidence and patience. You nailed it, though. Still hunting - for me it's just roaming around - is a grand tradition and you usually see more deer.

And there certainly are IDIOTS in the woods. I know of morons who bragged of taking "sound" shots. One deer hunter was shot out of his tree stand by some halfwit who said he thought it was a deer!

Let's face it; if there's an armed idiot in the woods, you aren't safe even in your own home.
 
Capper, I certainly understand and appreciate good still hunting. That is not the point I was trying to make or imply. I guess there was one paragraph, that kind of nailed me. Actually the last sentence of the quote posted here, kind of implies a sense of superiority to those that don't still hunt. That can be because of many reasons, the terrain, health or maybe a different understanding of what you are hunting and where you are hunting. It certainly doesn't mean that your woodsmanship or hunting know-how is lacking. After all, a cat can hunt different ways, like watching a known travel way because he intimately knows his quarry. Or he can still hunt, not really knowing where his quarry is exactly, but hoping that he is doing everything right, to earn a meal. Is one way here,being less of a hunter?

Regardless, that is the whole problem with the internet conversations. Many things would have been said differently if the audience you are speaking to, reacted differently than you would have thought they would have, just by reading body language. Kind of another way of still hunting, by reading the reaction of your listeners. For me, no harm done, just another way of looking at what is important to those that are reading this thread, which is hunting.


Conclusion
Still-hunting is not easy, but it can produce deer when no other tactic can. And, truthfully, I can't think of any deer that are more memorable or exciting than the one's I have taken while cruising through the woods. Perhaps that's because success in still-hunting is a true testament of your woodsmanship and hunting know-how.
 
Since i've always still hunted. I don't know if it's the hardest way to hunt. When I do spot and stalk on occasion I find that easier. Only easier to spot the game. Not much easier to stalk it.

It doesn't really matter if it's harder or easier. You do what you like, or in the case of some in this thread. The only way you can, because of where you are.

Let me ask you something hypothetical. If 3-4 different ways to hunt were available to you, and it was shown that still hunting was the hardest. Would you always still hunt?

It doesn't matter if you say yes or no. My point is, isn't it silly to hunt a certain way just because it's the hardest way? Pretty foolish and snobbish.

I'm not like that. Although some think that of me. No matter. I still hunt, because frankly, it feels good. It's fun. It can be effective.

It's also how my dad taught me to hunt when I was 8 years old, and I haven't stopped doing it to this day. It's what I know. When someone says "Hunting". I immediately think of still hunting.

It's all I know.
 
Still hunting is just one method. Sometimes the best approach, sometimes not. On days when the leaves are dry, the wind is shifty and the nights have been carrying a new moon a well placed stand will probably outproduce. It also gets your movement up out of the deer normal scan (I do agree - deer hereabouts look up regularly and likely spot a human blob in a tree from a long ways off).

When deer aren't moving a still-hunt at least gives you the chance to wander into a bedded deer. I have seen gun hunters walking with the gun slung and even smoking a cigar. Apparantly they believe they won't see a deer while moving. I believe they're correct. When I still hunt it may take me an hour to go 100 yards; but it can vary on how noisy or quiet the ground is or how cold I am. Walking through crisp hoar-frost (think frozen corn flakes) at first light is a hopeless pursuit.
HPIM1055.jpg


But it's no great pleasure to sit on such morning very long, either. I end up moving a bit and sitting a bit. It's good to have choices and know multiple methods.

I gotta get me to Texas. I watched a show yesterday where they went to a fenced deer factory, sat inside a cabin with a door with their barrels out the windows, wearing camo shirts w/no coats, and shot one of the larger deer near the feeder checking out the attractant granules they's cast around. Now THAT's hunting. I could wear my comfy bunny slippers for that!
 
I certainly understand what you are saying. You need to open your horizons a little. :wink: Though I am here on a muzzleloader site, I am really a bowhunter at heart. That is really what I know and for that matter prefer. So I hunt with my muzzleloader, like I hunt with my bows. Only I won't climb a tree with a gun, it is just a personal thing and it is ok with me,if you are comfortable doing it. But, I do enjoy hunting with the primitive tools of PC/HC muzzleloading, to relive the hunters hunts, of years ago. So, on the whole, I bowhunt. But I have learned to use a muzzleloader to hunt with as well.

On the hypothectial question of toughness to hunt. I find for me,it is actually easier to bowhunt, like you feel it is easier to still hunt. Some will disagree with that, but remember,like you, this is what I do. I find that using any gun, during the gun seasons is actually tougher. There are so many people running around in the woods, slamming doors, tobacco odors, food odors,talking,running around, 4 wheelers, etc. that the season to me, has really lost it's magic.Believe me,all the animals know it is hunting season and they can't read the rule book. So, I continue to enjoy bowhunting the most, even though some will say it is harder. By the way, my bowhunting is done with a vertical bow and no triggers. So am I dumb because I continue to do it? No I don't think so. I hunt for my enjoyment and no one else's. When you buy your hunting tag, it is yours to use, inside the letter of the law, to your enjoyment. So what ever legally floats your boat, enjoy.

For me, I see many more animals still hunting. But, I don't see as many inside my range of effective shooting. There are many reasons for that and they have already been given.But it is also the same reasons for taking a stand. Some don't see allot of game, when sitting in wait. It is because they need to let nature flow through their core and become one with the world, instead of rushing around trying to make the event come quicker. In other words, some people just can't sit still. Each form of hunting, has it's merits and each form is better suited to some hunters, to some areas,and to hunting certain game.I loved still hunting Colorado.
 
Hoar frost forming what's called an "ice flower". When the ground gets cold it draws the moisture up and more out of the air and makes shapes like a frozen crystal fountain.

Conditions have to be just right - and they are NOISY to walk through on top of the dry leaves. Your foot sinks 2" into the frozen ground below that has lifted up like stelagmite icicles.
 
Good luck on your operations. I used to still hunt 40 years ago and I really enjoyed it. Then had to quit while hunting the $$$ in my own business. Now that I'm retired and trying to get back into hunting, I'm disabled, can't walk very far so can't do it. So have opted for a ground blind and will have to sit it out and see what walks by. You all enjoy what ever type hunting is best for you and cherish it for as long as you can.
OB
 
Wow, I had never seen an ice flower before. What we call hoars frost here is kind of a crystal like structure that sprawls all over anything that is out there. You can see the frost almost growing if you are out in it. Usually cold clear nights below 10 degrees with high humidity.
 
Hope your surgeries go fast, pleasant dreams while you are out and a fast recovery.
 
A couple of yrs ago while deerhunting,I was moving slowly through the woods and saw a guy up on a hogback and he asked..."are you still hunting?" I answered back... "yes I'm 'still' hunting, even though I'm 76 yrs old".....Fred
 
I went in Mon to have an operation on my right eye. (3rd time), and to have some skin cancer removed from my left cheek.

They took a piece of skin from my right ear and sewed it onto the right eyeball. Hopefully that will seal the eye closed now. Just sewing the eye together hasn't been working.

That was the easy part. I went to another doctor for the melanoma on my left cheek. The used the slow mohs method. They cut off a slice, and send it to the lab to see if they got it all. Then after seeing the results the next day they know if they need to take more off. The did that for three days for me. That was the easy part. I had about a 2" square chunk missing. The problen if was right under my eye. The only eye I can see out of. The doctor was worried about a graft over the missing chunk would pull the lower eye lid down when it healed. So, he got creative. My bad luck. He made a cut starting at my left temple across my lower eye lid, up to the corner of my eye, all way down the side of my nose to below my mouth. Then he grabbed the skin from my chin area and pulled it to my eye and sewed it.

I look like I lost a fight with a bear. I must have 50 stitches. Maybe more. It's hard to look at myself long enough to count them. The worse part is my eye. Even though it was supposed to preven my lower eye lid from pulling down. My eye lid is pulled down. My eye lids and my eye itself it bright red and swollen. My vision it very blurry. It's fun trying to type this, but i'm bored of sitting around.

I went to Colorado Springs alone to have this done. So, I had to stay awake for all this. So I was injected with a ton on lidecane. The side effect is it burns out the nerve ends. It must have hit my tooth nerves, because it feels like I have 5 toothaches.
 
God bless you Capper, your in my prayers, I know the drill, maybe not to your extent, but i know it. I hope your still hunting!
Robby
 
Some fatherly advise: wait until everything heals. Today you might look like you lost a fight to Mohammad Ali, but do you really care? I pray you have a full and successful recovery. You are needed here to keep the young guys in line.
 
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