any of you guys prefer stalking?

[Dogbyte]

im still new to hunting deer with trad gear, ive shot and killed hogs, but thats about it. Ive killed deer with compound bows, but mostly from a stand, only a few from the ground, and they were flukes, we just happen to cross paths, but i wasnt necessarily "stalking".

it was opening morning here in Arkansas yesterday, like everyone else i think, i got rained on, i went that evening, and while it wasnt fun getting rained on, it was however nice to be able move and be so quiet through the woods...

i recently got new contacts, and man, did they ever help, i spotted a doe through the woods about 50 yards, but it was downwind... i knew it was a matter of time. So i tried as fast as i could to get close enough for a shot.

as i got about 30 yard from her, she began to look behind her, toward a small 1/2 acre clearing in the woods...she was just on the edge of it, in some tall grass. She finally leaped away, but not as if she had winded me. tail was down, she didnt spook before she left or anything. At first i thought maybe my scent finally caught up to her, but given the way she left, i thought maybe she seen something in the clearing, like another deer or another hunter... After i got back to the truck i know for sure it wasnt another hunter. So im guessing my scent finally caught up to her, and i just wasnt fast enough getting to her to shoot...

all this stuff is retrospect, and i guess thats how ya learn, but it got me wondering... when i hunt off the ground like this, in a stalking manner, i dont really have a goal in mind, other than hoping i happen to see a deer before it sees me. Nothing wrong with this i guess if your in thick game.

So then i wondered what everyone else had for plans when trying to hunt this way? do you have better luck still hunting? or does stalking work best for you? Its a different story when your on the ground, game in sight, and trying to get in front without being seen or heard... hogs are one thing, but an old doe is not even in the same ball park.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I hunt this way most of the time, and hunting on the ground in the rain is excellent for stalking.
rule #1 is always... i mean always hunt into the wind.  If the wind shifts, back out or shift with it if possible....often time even in swirling wind conditions, a fairly heavy rain will drive your scent right into the ground.

as you get close to your prey watch their tails and ears. if that tail goes up and they start flipping their ears around. freezeand don't move a muscle. another thing to remember is you are better off blending in with what is behind you than hiding behind something. so watch your back and never silhouette yourself.... watch your shadow too. I've been busted before when i knew they couldn't smell me or see me, but spooked when they saw my shadow movement....

hunting up close and personal is a rush. i've come up on feeding deer at 20 yards and have them lift their head and look right at me trying to figure out what moved..... i've stood right in plain sight and watched until they lowered thier tails and come to full draw in slow motion hiding my face behind my bow, and drilled em....shoot about 3 inches low when you try that shot. the first thing they do is crouch before they leap.

have fun...btw... if she would have caught your scent, her tail would have gone up like a flag.

Kirk

[joe skipp]

Stillhunting...especially on those drizzly days when the woods are quiet and especially during the  pre rut when bucks are on the move.

[Earl Jeff]

I like sneaking (stalking) but I suck at it so I usually stick to the stand.

[Terry Lightle]

Like joe said

[hawkeye n pa]

I like the term "still" hunting  more than stalking.  But I'm more of a real slow roamer.  If the little critters are not alarmed the pace is just right.

[Bill Skinner]

I love to do it but it's not as effective as being on a stand, whether a ground blind or up in a tree, for deer.  For hogs, rabbits, squirrels and such, it is the only way to hunt.

[Dogbyte]

yep, i checked the wind before i started yesterday evening... it was a low southeast wind...as it was raining, i checked again with my breath, which you could barely see, and i could see that it had switched and now was due west, and I was now stalking north and east TOWARD her, but my path took me south where i was afraid my scent was gonna drift over her where i'd been walking.

Something sure caused her to get out of there... i agree with what hawkeye says, if i can creep up on a squirrel, then thats a good indicator.


haha get this, i had to put some skeeter dope on cause the mosquitoes were so bad...then that rain came, after it quit, and i was trying to pick that doe back up, i quickly realized all the dope had washed off! hard to move slow when ya got skeeters swarming you... had the top half of my bug suit on mostly for camo, but glad i had it. hands and face were getting molested!

i made some tree seats that are light enough to carry around my waist, i wanna start trying to sneak a little, then sit a little, and sneak some more, ect....

[Night Wing]

The only big game animal I can stalk is a javelina. On deer, I get busted everytime so I quit trying to stalk them.

[JEFF B]

spot and stalk everything     good fun

[Dogbyte]

any of you guys ever got out in front of a deer after spotting it? as in, going up ahead, and way around where you try to anticipate where they are headed?

ive never tried this, but i thought about it yesterday, since the wind was wrong, i still think she woulda busted me with her nose had i tried...

it was still raining, and im sure i coulda walked a lot faster, with it being quiet. but just curious to hear how its been done.

[Sam McMichael]

I just clump too noisily. I have tried it a few times without success. I have read material on stalking from back in the 1970's to the present, including Asbell's recent works, but so far, no success. Also, I just don't like rain, so taking advantage of quiter conditions is not likely. But I sure do admire you guys who can do it.

[Rooselk]

The still-hunting that you describe is a lot of fun but can be a iffy proposition. Truthfully I've seen more grouse than deer using that method, but that's certainly not a bad thing. I much prefer the spot and stalk hunting method which is a productive and useful method here in the west.

[Aunty]

I love stalking its such a rush   . Hunting in rain is great it takes most of there hearing away. In the winter look for the sunny ridges, I was chasing wallabies a couple months ago seen 9 wallabies in 200m strech of the ridge closest was 6 yards away. Stalking is an art in itself IMO.
good luck

[JamesKerr]

I love stalking! My problem is I can't do it enough.

[Dogbyte]

well... this evening, it was sprinkling again, and i decided to walk a ridge behind my house, deer often lay on the edge of it up out of the wet...i musta been going too fast, although i was at least invisible to two does. One of them knew i was there, cause im sure they heard me, i was in a particular thick spot and these saw briers kept snagging my quiver... so little by little im shaving off a few things i'd do differently. I guess im gonna get a side quiver system going, and HIDE THOSE DANG WHITE fletching to boot! haha. They were looking my direction, but i dont think they could see me... cause they were looking elsewhere to either side of me, they just couldnt get a bead on me.

If i had of been on one side of this ridge rather than the other, i would have met those two does head on... maybe i would have seen them in time...oh well. they were about 25 yards away when i spotted them, but it was only because one made a backward leap (from my noise im guessing)... i back tracked to where i was guessing they would cross, but they crossed before i got there, later on when i finally arrived at the crossing, i could hear some blue jays hollering further down that trail, im almost sure it was because of those two does.....they were concerned and in another gear... and dang, i had to back track through that thick stuff that blew my cover to start with.    :D  

Oh and also, i missed the fattest rabbit ive ever shot a bow at...TWICE.. but just barely missed the first time, second shot had some distance, but ya never know how bad a critter wants to go home with ya until you shoot.

[njloco]

Spot and stalk here.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Well i'm heading back to the coast tomorrow to try my luck calling some elk in. It's so dry down there it's really going to be tough to do much stalking....dry weather i set up in make shift ground blinds a lot more.

btw... the speed you go while stalking or creeping through the thick stuff is paramount to success...you should standing dead still twice as long as you are moving. walking at a steady pace is a dead giveaway. Walk like a deer... two steps... pause, two steps.... pause. move really, really slowly doing everything and it increases your chances of seeing the deer before they see you....

[Stumpkiller]

Stalking is great, and although I usually get busted before getting a good shot it is well worth the time and effort and makes for the best memories.  I've yet to arrow a bedded deer, but I have popped a couple with a traditional muzzleloader after stalking to shooting distance.

I perch in a stand for first light and sunset, but in between move about still-hunting.  I have more success from the stand but more fun on the ground.  And, when I do connect on a ground-level deer it is a much more fulfilling victory.

[Ben Maher]

I have never hunted any other way .... tree stands and ground blinds are only things I have ever seen in magazines and tv !

Would love to use a tree stand though .....