crokit

As I have stated prior, the majority of my deer hunting in NY is done in the Adirondacks High Peaks region, in a 20,000+ acre primitive area { no motors,electric engines, etc. What you bring in, you bring out }. The chances of being lucky enough encountering a mature buck that has been jumped by another hunter is slim to none. The ONLY method of hunting I use there is still hunting, { you could sit in a stand for a week and not see a deer, let alone a mature buck } and the most important factor in this style of hunting, IMHO, is being able to see the buck before it sees you. There are several CRITICAL factors that need to be followed to accomplish that, IMHO, with wind and pace dominating.

When I leave my tent before daylight, I have already chosen the section of woods the night before that I am going to hunt. Generally, it is within a mile of my camp.{ I'm already well over 5 miles in }. I get to my chosen area before daylight and sit until I've given the spot a chance to produce, then I begin my hunt. The wind is biggest factor determining which direction I head from there. As stated, I travel at quite a slow pace, 100yds. or so an hour. I walk in the shadows of the trunks of trees, whenever present, rather than open sunny areas. If you must cross open areas, don't waste time, do it quickly. I don't necessarily hunt with camoflage, but stay away from solid colors. I try to move only when the wind blows and creates stirring among leaves, etc. This is sometimes painstakingly slow, but it's quiet. When the woods are like cornflakes, it's amazing how quiet you can be using this method coupled with small steps, literally allowing the heel of one foot coming down, brushing the INSIDE of the big toe of the other foot: baby steps. Mix up your pace, don't put out a pattern of steps/noise { think move like a deer, a wary deer }. Use of noise from babbling waters obviously is another method. Your biggest challenge is beating the eyes,nose, ears of not just the buck your after, but the does he utilizes as his safety net.

Stopping often is key. Where I hunt, every 10-20 yds of travel seems to open completely different vistas. When you choose to stop, do it where it makes sense, and sit long enough to give the spot a chance to produce. This could be 5 minutes, it could be an hour. It's an acquired gut feeling frankly, that often determines duration.

Key on other animals in the forest and their noises, particularly birds { not just bluejays } and red squirrels. They bust more mature buck than you and I ever will. My experience has been they become more excited, as if the forest literally erupts, when big buck show up, and I believe it's the antlers. Just a theory, but works for me.

Frankly, I literally could talk about stillhunting all day. I'll not bore you further, but if these few ideas are followed, you'll at least be on your way to seeing that buck before it sees you. Bottom line, no matter how good you think you are in the woods, a mature buck is better, and it all comes down to being in the right place at the right time. The more time you spend at it, the better the chance is of that happening.