I try to imitate what another deer would sound like. To start out the deer are usually on the down wind side of trees so they can smell what is in the trees and see what is coming their way from downwind. I enter from the side farthest from where I think the deer will be and using a grunt call I will imitate a buck working it's way thru the forest. I walk a few steps and if I make noise I cover it with a grunt or two, then I will scrape leaves around making as much noise as I want shaking trees and everytrhing a buck would do. Then instead of a straight line I zig zag around in the trees grunting and scraping every 15 minutes or so. I have put the crosshairs on many bucks over 150 doing this. Give it a try.

I come from a family of stillhunters. We have killed 10 3 1/2 year old plus bucks in the last four years, eight of them by stillhunting. (There are four of us - me, brother, ma, and pa.)Here in MT we don't have piles of hardwood leaves lying around on the ground, instead we have pine needles, which are a lot easier to move quietly on.

Slow, slower, and slowest is the key (like many others have said). My goal is that any other hunter I encounter never see me move, that he walk away thinking, why's that guy just standing out there? As for deer, my goal is to see at least half the deer before they see me. If my ratio is off, then I know I need to slow down more.

That said, I think a stillhunter needs to rethink a deer's senses. Typically, outdoor writers go to great lengths about a deer's senses of smell and hearing. I think that for a stillhunter, it's actually a deer's vision that kills you most. Unless they are extremely goosed up by heavy hunting pressure, deer won't run on sound. They will stand and watch in the direction of the sound to catch sight of the source. Alerted or not, deer are uncanny at picking up movement.

We've talked about moving at a slow speed, but add this tip. When you take a step, be on balance, and move that leg forward s-l-o-w-l-y! Don't give the deer any quick jerky movements to pick up on. Also, if you have an idea where a deer may be up ahead, move directly at it. A direct approach gives the deer less apparent motion to pick up on than if you're moving sideways to them.

Now story time. In recent years, I've found some whitetail out in the prairie part of the state. We've got some whitetail out here who have never seen a tree. They live in country that would make an antelope feel lonesome! I still hunt these deer, and it's really a trip. Most hunters I see are out there zooming around like Wiley Coyote, blazing away at running deer 400 yards away. They all say you gotta "burn some powder". Well, I beg to differ. You can still hunt these deer just like you would in the big woods, move slowly and spot them as you step over a rise. Then you crawl forward for the shot, or circle around in a stalk. I killed my #3 buck this way in 2002, spotted him at 600 yards and crawled up to 200 yards for the shot.Two scraggly cottonwoods stodd 1 1/2 miles from the spot he fell.

I agree with everyone on there replys. I would like to add one. Many people who still hunt pay to much time looking at the landscape when they should be looking through it. You are much more likely to see a deer in the small crevaces between trees than you are to see them in front of them.

I once read an article from someone in the far northeast who is famous for tracking an individual buck and shooting him. His father and brothers are well noted for this as well but I can't remember their names. One of them said he places a half empty bottle of drink in his pocket and if he can hear it slosh or move then he is going to fast.We can't do this around here because you can't see very far in front of you. Here there are 2 types of deer hunters...dog runners and still hunters which here still hunting is stand hunting.