Still hunting

[B&C Blacktails]

Use medium to heavy weight wool socks

 

[mcseal2]

Good read guys. I read an article on still hunting muleys years ago that made a lot of sense. After the first few days mature bucks on most public lands get pushed into the thick stuff where they don't get bothered. Also most rifle seasons in early October are at a time when muleys are spending a lot of time in cover and daylight movement is limited anyway. Still hunting isn't the only tool in my hunting toolbox, but it is an important one. I think it's important to let conditions decide how I hunt, not just how I WANT to hunt that day.

 

[JNDEER]

I find people get impatient quickly when trying to still hunt. IMO you will never have success if you are not still hunting in an area the deer are actually going to be in. Don't just pick some random deer trails or thick timber and still hunt at a great pace thinking that is the ticket. You still need to still hunt were the deer are. If you are in an area that you KNOW deer are in and you don't see them then either your wind is bad or your still hunting was poor. When you start jumping deer at 20-40 yards you are getting better. When you can get on deer within 10-30 yards and see them before they see you...then you're golden.

 

[cacklercrazy]

Don't forget to look back when you stop. Had bucks try to sneak out behind me. 5 small steps then stop.

 

[Bonecollector]

I took a guy West last year and now his nickname is "Skyline". And it wasn't because we stopped for the chilidogs!

 

[mallardsx2]

Never...and I repeat...NEVER take to the woods without your safari sneakers and your porta-roof....

friends just don't let friends do it.

 

[dapper]

I seldom still hunt, but when I do, its always been for whitetails in Wisconsin. It takes more patience than stand hunting. Because you have to move so slow and fight the urge to see whats over the next ridge. I've worn soft soled moccasins and I've been successful at it and have gotten close to some nice whitetails. But I do it mainly during the rut when they are moving. But the reason for posting this, and it may be of no use to western hunts, but I will often use my foot in the leaves to imitate a squirrel. Either digging in the leaves or rustle the leaves like a squirrel hopping from tree to tree. One whitetail buck I took actually moved into me and bedded down 33 yards away. I moved a short distance to have a shot when he stood. He bedded for an hour and ten minutes before he stood and offered the shot. Squirrels hopped around and it never bothered him, he never even looked in their direction. A tractor was working a field several hundred yards away and only when some metal clanged did he pay attention. So if you seriously want to still hunt, making natural noises will cover any sound you unintentionally make or to relay a sense that all is ok. Maybe out west a crow call or natural sound will aid you.

 

[Never in Doubt]

All of my deer have been killed when I spotted them as I was on my feet moving. I have yet to spot from a seated position then stalk and kill a buck. Kinda weird since I do a ton of glassing, but it is what it is.

Seems like most of the bucks I'll spot in the morning bed up in a grove of trees too thick to see the deer itself laying down. IDK if that's a California thing or not. The deer i hunt are usually blacktail/muley crosses.

If I put myself in a good deer area before first light and slowly hike through it, I can catch them out in small openings and just out of thick cover. Once I looked behind me and saw two bucks watching me. I never saw them when I hiked through. I killed the bigger one.