hardcastonly

think about this question "how much better a hunter would you be.
".if the game you hunted had the realistic potential to rush in and kill you if it saw you before you could get off a shot?"
having that mindset helps,
I took a local guy into an area I have access to to hunt hogs with a pistol,
he had borrowed my EAA 45 acp and I had a mod 686 357 mag 8.375 inch revolver,
hogs in florida are on private land, are considered pests/vermin and may be shot all year.
I was walking into one of the areas I hunt rather regularly
, its mostly a long ago abandoned orange groove and sugar cane field of about 4200 acres
Im thinking how out of sync it seems with most guys that the skills I've learned,
have become due to decades of learning how to hunt,,
using the basic and effective hunting skill set!
you must see the game well before it sees YOU,
the goal has zero to do with distance covered, reaching that next fire break or old road,
its all about being totally aware of your surroundings, and remaining un-detected by the local wild life
, this can,t be accomplished if you , simply walk through an area.
as I walk in, too the area we hunt, with a new guy I'm teaching,
I try to teach him the basics,
as I walk into the area I move slowly and quietly,
I sure don,t walk at a steady pace,
I take 5-7 steps, hesitate,I try to plan where I stand ,next to old trees,after each few steps taken,
I never walk in the open areas, I stop and observer every 30-45 seconds,
sometimes for 2-5 minutes, time goes by before I will move forward,
I try to stop close too trees when I can, as it tends to break your visual outline,
I stoop and look at a lower eye site level every few stops,
I move as little as possible, while my eyes slowly sweep the area visually at the extent of my vision range,
over between 270-360 degrees, yes that requires I slowly pivot my head and body,
given the opportunity I will sit on a stump or larger rock for 10-15 minutes to listen and watch,
I listen, I almost sub consciously,, watch and feel the breeze, before I continue,
I listen and look... this is obviously a behavior pattern learned long ago
I can see the newer guy wants to plod along, consistently step after step,
I have difficulty in getting across the concept of stealth,
as if he some how thinks the goal is to get someplace as fast as he can, on the most direct route he can find.
that might be his goal, but I can,t imagine where he thinks hes destined to go to!
the goal here is to observe, too be, and remain, totally aware of your surroundings,
this is obviously a rather unique concept to most people,
that and you never move in a consistent strait line, you slowly change the path,
you zig, or zag as required, watch the breeze , everything down wind knows your there,
change directions 45-70-90 degrees every 4th or 5th stop and rest cycle,
you remain alert, you observe and you damn sure try not to either be detected or predictable,
theres no place, you have too reach, no due date or schedule to maintain! my dad was a good instructor, he often said,
its only a deer or maybe an elk, but hunt like it was a man eating 600 lb tiger and its kill or be killed and your only weapons a spear.
you get into a mind set, it takes constant observation and remaining constantly aware of your surroundings,
something, in a skill set, most modern men have ignored learning for decades.
it took me HOURS to get the new guy to even start to grasp the concept,
in minutes he got bored, he wanted to cover ground, to see the next clearing...
to do so he would invariably have to move through the area at a rate that would almost instantly reveal his presents,
in and his direction of travel too any deer or hog in that acreage.
after he seemed to grasp the idea, at least marginally,
we started to after about 30-45 minutes see several groups of hogs, and later a few does wandering through the well over grown brush.
I pointed out tracks, I showed him how to find places to break up his visual outline,
but mostly I tried to get across the idea that the key was observing his surroundings without the upsetting or influencing the local wild life.
after we got back to the truck, several hours later he admitted,
he had never seen so much game, and until that trip never seen game that was not at a dead run...
so it was a productive few hours
(no we never saw anything worth shooting this time,
but it was well worth the time spent and rather enjoyable)