Stillhunting deer....any success?
08-02-2009, 12:10 PM
#21
Spike
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 15
I enjoy still hunting very much and have killed quite a number of deer using this method of hunting.
I like that it let's me cover more ground and is not nearly as passive as stand hunting.I do plenty of stand hunting also.Prctically all my archery hunting is stand hunting.Rifle and muzzleloader is pretty evenly balanced between stand hunting and still hunting.
I like that it let's me cover more ground and is not nearly as passive as stand hunting.I do plenty of stand hunting also.Prctically all my archery hunting is stand hunting.Rifle and muzzleloader is pretty evenly balanced between stand hunting and still hunting.
08-02-2009, 04:52 PM
#22
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: oxford county, maine
Posts: 2,206
You evidently have a skill that most of us could only hope for, must have been born a ninja. 
Still hunting is a method that takes skill and patience. When done properly you do a lot more standing than moving. Anyone who can walk through the woods in the fall, when the ground is covered with dry leaves and twigs, and consistently kill deer is good. I'm sure that all of us have done it, more than likelyon a windy day when the ground was wet, but to be able to consistently kill deer this way is an art. A club that I belonged to years ago had two guys that did nothing but still hunt, one got his buck every year and the other guy was on a 37 year dry spell since his last deer.
Still hunting is a method that takes skill and patience. When done properly you do a lot more standing than moving. Anyone who can walk through the woods in the fall, when the ground is covered with dry leaves and twigs, and consistently kill deer is good. I'm sure that all of us have done it, more than likelyon a windy day when the ground was wet, but to be able to consistently kill deer this way is an art. A club that I belonged to years ago had two guys that did nothing but still hunt, one got his buck every year and the other guy was on a 37 year dry spell since his last deer.hahahaha i hope your kidding. .......how do you supose we hunt in maine? track whenh theres snow and still hunt when there isnt. on public land by the way
08-02-2009, 04:59 PM
#23
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: oxford county, maine
Posts: 2,206
Yeah I won't go in depth as much as Crokit did but that was a really good post. The factor for me most of the time is the leafs. Wet, dry, or in between is a huge factor, I'm not going to walk if the leaves are really really dry because its almost impossible....but I've tried. I think no matter how slow you go when the leaves are really crunchy you'll get caught, unless the deer is dumb. When the leaves are wet then I like to go a pretty good pace, I want to cover as much ground as possible. When the leaves are in between wet and dryI'll slow it down a tad and slowly let my boots down on top of the leaves and stop every 20 yards for about 20 seconds and listen very closely for anything moving. You cancall this skill or whatever but a lot of its luck. You just have to be lucky enough that that one step that makes the decision to walk down or up that ridge besides walking on the road is the right decision. Thats been the case for me a lot of times.....if I hadn't decided to just take that extra 10-20 minutes to walk the hard way besides walking the road and making it easy on myself I wouldn't have harvested any of those bucks. We've all done it, we would all be suprised what monster buck or trophy we've walked by that was just 20 yards off from where we were in the woods, you have to be lucky and make the right decisions. Knowing your land inch by inch helps a lot while youdo this to and knowing where fresh rubs and scarpes are at also. Thats another thing that is so great about stillhunting, you find rubs and learn that a buck is using that trial hot n heavy, meaning move the stands if the rubs are big. Thanks for the replies and keep them coming, once agian paitence paitence paitence, thats what you need for success in stillhunting and making the right decesions.
thats a pretty common myth. all those deer ive tracked on crust and shot on crunchy days must have been "really dumb"
the fact of the matter is deer are curious creatures. most often will hold tight and try to let you walk by. on crunchy days the trick is in the speed at which you hunt. you cant sneak or try to sneak along when its crunchy. you need to hunt at a steady pace. fast enough to keep a slight steady rythom but slow enouygh so you scanning left to right the best you can. by sneaking you giving them too mcuh time to think about their exit routes. if you go along steady lots of times they will hold their position and wait to see what you are. if you sitting in the woods you cant tell if it is a man or a deer coming along if its moving at a steady to slow walk. neither can they. this thread cracks me up w/ some of the train of thought here. i needed some amusment. thanks
08-02-2009, 07:46 PM
#24
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Chippewa county, WI.
Posts: 2,646
I had some luck with still hunting in 1998. I shot a nice buck in his bed while stillhunting into the wind along a fenceline. I thought I was pretty good until I looked at the bucks eyes when I went to retrieve him and realized that the eye that was facing me when I shot him was pretty much gone and that he was blind in that eye. Yeah I'd rather be lucky than good too.
I have taken a few other deer this way. Most of the time though, I didn't see the deer until I stopped and then they jumped up and took off. That's when I let them have it.
I have taken a few other deer this way. Most of the time though, I didn't see the deer until I stopped and then they jumped up and took off. That's when I let them have it.
08-03-2009, 02:44 AM
#25
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location:
Posts: 417
I knew a guy, who said he learnd a vaulable lesson from an old Indian, on hunting. Whether you want to call it still hunting or not, he said - move at such a slow pace, that you aren't moving in on the deer, let it move in on you.
While I dont' necessarily feel you have to let the deer move in on you, because it may be moving - but going away from you - move slow enough that you detect the deer, before it detects you. I love doing this after a new snow, combining tracking, still-hunting and stalking.
I also believe in moving when the wind blows, and I picked that tactic up years ago when I was guiding for elk near Chama, New Mexico. Walk with the wind in your face, or quartering your face, walk when the wind blows, watch where you step, keep your eyes open, and your ears focused, and most importantly (if you don't want to waste a lot ot time, ask yourself, "Where would I be today, under these weather conditions, if I were a deer?" And then go there.
Learn everythng you can about deer behavior, so you know where to expect deer, at what time of the day, when it is nice, cold, snowy, hot, windy or wet, during the different phases of the rut and post rut, and you will at least see a lot more deer.
I'd post an article on this from my book, but I don't want to hijack sosmeone else's thread.
God bless and good hunting,
T.R.
While I dont' necessarily feel you have to let the deer move in on you, because it may be moving - but going away from you - move slow enough that you detect the deer, before it detects you. I love doing this after a new snow, combining tracking, still-hunting and stalking.
I also believe in moving when the wind blows, and I picked that tactic up years ago when I was guiding for elk near Chama, New Mexico. Walk with the wind in your face, or quartering your face, walk when the wind blows, watch where you step, keep your eyes open, and your ears focused, and most importantly (if you don't want to waste a lot ot time, ask yourself, "Where would I be today, under these weather conditions, if I were a deer?" And then go there.
Learn everythng you can about deer behavior, so you know where to expect deer, at what time of the day, when it is nice, cold, snowy, hot, windy or wet, during the different phases of the rut and post rut, and you will at least see a lot more deer.
I'd post an article on this from my book, but I don't want to hijack sosmeone else's thread.
God bless and good hunting,
T.R.
