I will throw out this subject that I asked about on HA just before the collapse of the forums.

Here in Virginia, there are basically two types of deer hunting environment.

First, there are farms & rural properties, mostly small, where tree stands are the most common method of hunting. For the record, I hate tree stands but will sit in them if invited.

Second, there are wooded or overgrown or swampy tracts of various size, ranging from large woodlots up to state WMAs to the George Washington/Thomas Jefferson National Forest that stretches a few hundred miles from one end of the state to the other. In some counties, these areas are hunted with dogs, while in other counties that is illegal.

Public areas have considerable pressure; at one WMA I counted enough cars in the lot that hunters easily would have outnumbered deer. This is an obstacle to driving deer since you don't want to encircle some poor fellow's tree stand.

Most of the woods are oak, often with thick understory that runs rather on the thorny side. Visibility is very short so spotting a deer and stalking it would be comical at best. Except during or after rainstorms, quiet movement is very, very difficult -- quite a problem for avid still hunters.

Snow is pretty rare during the statewide firearms season, so tracking would be a pretty exotic method. In counties with the longest seasons (running into early Jan.) there is sometimes a little snow after Christmas. The late muzzleloader season takes place around then in the western part of the state (incl. National Forests).

With the aforementioned obstacles to stalking, tracking, still hunting and driving, what approach would you take if, like me, you hate tree stands?

Despite all options being available, I personally just can't help still-hunting. I just love slowly walking through the woods, trying to emulate a ghost. I haven't filled a tag in while though, so take this for what its worth!

Canuck

Whenever you move thru an area...I don't care how careful and quiet you are...the deer know it. Trying to sneak up on a whitetail in his own backyard is nearly impossible. If you get close to one and he jumps up 20 yards away its not because you snuck up on him...its because he let you get that close and simply couldn't stand you being that close anymore and bolted.
Animals have an uncanny sense for things that don't belong. Deer know when something is there that shouldn't be there.
People who still hunt can be successful if they use things like terrain to their advantage. But by and large most are simply bumbling around the woods and never really understand why they don't see anything.
Drive hunts can be very successful but take organization, trust, and an understanding of local habits and escape routes (which are almost always different than daily feeding/bedding routes).

I know that stand hunting isn't the most exciting way to hunt, but for the area that I hunt in, it is by far the most productive for me. The only time I try to catch deer in their natural movement patterns is during the first few hours of opening morning. After that, any deer I see has usually been moved by other hunters. The area that my main stand is located in is a natural funnel for pressured deer use. All it takes is to see deer and be successful and have patients. I have now reached the point were I will not get out of my stand unless a deer has been shot or it is time to leave for the day. I do enjoy still hunting, but I have never been very successful at it. TTS

I have shot whitetails with all the above menthods of hunting. I have killed more from stand hunting then any of them. The most fun is still hunting. My self I prefer noise it makes you slow down and still hunt like your surpose to if it is to quite most people move way to fast. Having shot deer in their beds a good still hunter can sneak up on them. If you move more like a deer or a squirrel you can get right up on them. The trick is to sneak only so fast that you hear a moving deer before if hears you. You covers yards in stead of miles. You break your steps so there is no pattern. You stop and listen like your the hunted.

For a long time I thought still hunting whitetail was impossible. Now I know it is just impractical (unless you find some Eden-like setting where they have not been hunted.)

I can stalk mulies and have done so successfully a number of times to within ten or twenty yards.

Whitetail are an order of magnitude more alert than a mulie, and than any African plains game I have stalked. (I know there are exceptions, and I have only been to Africa once.)

I stand hunt whitetail to fill the freezer and still hunt for fun.

Don

When I first started stalking I was told that stalking on foot (still hunting) was like trying to obtain an aircraft near miss.

My own opinion (with absolutely zero whitetail experience) is that in the situations that John mentions a modified stand hunting technique would fit the bill. By this I mean an intelligent appreciation of the ground and conditions is applied to come up with a route that can be stalked to a number of vantage points where the stalker can stand with his back against a tree rifle at ready (crossed sticks essential) to take advantage of any moving deer. You get bored after 20 minutes you move to the next spot etc.

Having said that I would go to the range or the prairie dog town rather than stalk in crowded conditions.