spuddog

This has been an informative thread. I hunt muleys in CO but some of this still applies. We usually watch the bowls, meadows and hill sides for deer to come out to feed on the sage brush, but if you walk back into the Spruces it looks like a pen at the stock yard with all the deer droppings. I 've thought about stalking through the forest and these tips might help. Two things I'd add are: 1) have you considered a monocular? It will give you a smaller FOV but for that close, it might not matter and would keep a hand free. 2) I got a tip out of Field and Stream to carry my rifle over my left shoulder (right handed) muzzel down. Then hand rests naturally on the forend of the stock with one swift motion you can bring the rifle up, turn it scope up and bring it to shoulder. It actually works pretty well, but you have to be careful with your muzzel. As it points down you can get it filled with mud if you're not carefull. Works best with shorter barrells.

Good luck,

Spud

waiting_for_a_gift

I do a lot of still hunting, with both rifle and bow. I've only tried using binoculars once or twice, but I intend to use them more in the future. The approach I would take is to find some natural cover, good vantage point, set my weapon down and glass. (I don't use a sling with rifle, don't intend to start) Another option would be to hold weapon in right hand, quick look through binos with left. This might be a good approach in the cover / terrain you described.

As a rule of thumb, I cover about 100 yards per hour. A very high percentage of the time I am absolutely motionless. I typically move fairly rapidly between stops, and my stops are usually about 10 yards apart. I always carry my weapon in the ready position: port arms with rifle, round in chamber, right hand on pistol grip / receiver, arrow knocked with bow.

drdi

Wow, this is some good stuff! Thanks everyone for your input.

My farm is 140 acres. There are bad points and good points to stillhunting some of the areas. The bad is that the thick areas can be THICK (but some aren't too bad) and also the land is pancake flat. The big reasons for still hunting is because of the orientation of food sources (oak forest, and some standing corn) and bedding areas (which are too numerous to count), well, there are really no natural funnels. This is much different than when I go to my in-law's farm to hunt where there are some great funnels. But on my farm the deer can travel any of a bazillion paths to and from bedding/feeding areas. Plus this time of year, the deer are incredibly nocturnal.

Well tomorrow I'm going out with the ML. I'll be out before first light and set-up between a food source/bedding area. If I don't see anything in the first few hours, I'm going to try and stillhunt through an area that was logged about 15 years ago. The deer love to bed in there, but it's getting to the point where it's getting MUCH easier to move around in there and the understory is starting to open up a bit. Seems like about every other tree in therehas a buck rub on it, LOL!Forecast in the morning is for light snow showers, 20mph wind with gusts of 35+. Good day to hunt into the wind and also have the wind mask some of the sound. They'll probably be sitting pretty tight though. I'll let you know how it goes.

Jimmy S

IMHO, it won't go very good for you if you hunt that 15 years old logged areabut I sure hope you do well.
I certainly wish you the best.

I hunt the same type of woods that were cut years ago...or should I say, I used to hunt that area.
I now realizewhy I was wasting my time......

trophytaker_browning

i find an area with a lot of feilds scatted with woods inbetween and glass the feilds

drdi

Well that information is about as useless as it gets.

Would have been nice if you could have related your experience.

The thing is that this logged area isa small 20 acre area that is between a dirt road and the main woods. It's getting easier and easier to walk through it every year. Every year we push this area and get deer out, but usually with several people pushing and a couple of other hunters as shooters in the main woods. On a number of occasions, I have come close to getting a shotwhile walking right through the middle of this stuff. It's still too thick in some areas to hunt, but in the middle area couplevery nice 75-100y wide open areas loaded with deer sign. The deer mill around in there all day. I just need to catch one in there when I am in there. I think with the right conditions, still hunting and easing my way into those more open areas could be productive. Anyway, it's just something different to do midday instead of sitting on a stand looking at an empty field.

drdi

Well the still hunt didn't really happen too much today. The winds died way down and everything was so quiet. I did do a little bit of slow pushing for some of the other hunters. Didn't push out anything though.Had a doe and a couple fawns step out in the field I was watching this evening, but it wasa few mintues aftershooting time ended. Tomorrow is my last day to hunt this season. The winds are suppose to be calm tomorrow too. Hoping that there will be others hunting on my neighbor's farm and I'll just sit and watch the field between our two blocks of woods.

Thanks again to everyone for their advice!

crokit

drdi: What I would like you to do is get into the logged out spot, near where it butts up to the big woods. Find a spot along that corridor where the wind is directly at your back. walk that corridor, with the wind at your back, until the wins suddenly comes as a cross wind.

When you find that spot, look for rubs, not necessarily monster rubs{ if there are some, great }. Get next to the rubs and squat down so your eye level is approx. the eye level of a mature deer. Look upwind from that spot as far as your unobstructive view can see.

Pick a stand area near that edge of your view, upwind from the rubs. I will almost bet that that spot will be near the area in the logged out piece where you see all the deer activity. I would use a climbing stand at least 20 feet off the ground.

Big buck will use these areas upwind from the rubs to " clock the does " and other deer in the vicinity of the rubs. Generally these rubs are in a spot that the big buck do not have the wind in thier advantage, as it relates to thier travel activity. They use the eyes, nose, ears, of the other deer in these spots to thier advantage.

Just a couple of theories I've used thru the years, that frankly have worked for me. Good luck. If you can't get off the ground, get a spot on the ground.
I just noticed that tomorrow is the last day you can hunt. Get there right at daylight and look for what I'm talking about. What have youto lose?