I am officially giving up on sitting still in a stand. I am positive that is the best way to hunt whitetail but I CAN NOT stay still. I am a squirmer or fidgeter or whatever. I can stay put for a maximum of 2 hours if I have a great chair. If I just go out and find a tree and sit down, then 30 minutes tops.
I have found a few spots to hunt where I can stretch the distance to where the deer don't see me wiggling a little. But most of the land I hunt is pretty brushy. Most shots would be 50 yards or so from a ground blind or a low tree stand.
I think maybe I would ber better off learning to move through the woods properly. If anybody knows of some books or anything that will give me the knowledge I need to stalk deer I would appreciate it. I am more than willing to spend a lot of time and effort to learn this skill.
All opinions and comments welcome and appreciated.
Thanks.

You might try one of those pop-up ground blinds, and a nice folding chair. If you keep it mostly zipped up, and rake the leaves away before you get in it, you should be able to fidget a little and get away with it. Check your state regs first, you might have to put some orange on the outside, just to be safe.

I think you are talking still hunting instead of stalking.I think stalking is seeing a critter then closing in on it. First you need quite outter wear nothing spooks game faster then nylon ect rubbing on the brush. Then you move half as fast as you think you should. I prefer one step wait a min or two. Also learn the bushy tail two step, watch and listen how a squirrel walks. Everythig makes noise as it moves you just don't need to to sound human I couple of steps stop and listen. I have come up on many a deer using that.

Frank,

If you're going to hunt deer while you have your feet on the ground and aren't stationary there are a few rules that you will either become familiar with and abide by or you will be a miserable failure. Period.

You absolutely MUST master the wind and it's nuances. It rarely blows in a straight line and it swirls and follows land contours and is infinitely tricky. Become intimately familiar with it. Then you must learn to completely avoid giving your smell to the deer.

Deer have eyes and use them very well. BUT they rely on their noses FIRST and foremost to save their lives. Forget trying to hide your scent. You are a human, therefore you stink!

Secondly. Forget camo. Deer already know all about it and the fact that hunters outlines are hard to spot. Consider the die cut camo suits or make yourself a gillie suit. You need to completely shatter your human shape and look totally like a bush even up close!

Thirdly. Totally avoid walking on leaves or anything that can make noise. You have to find silent ways to move through the woods. You might have to wait for rainy days in some locals.

Forth. Learn to flow through the woods like the wind and not to walk like a bumbling idiot like most of us do. You must become a ghost or a whisp of smoke.

Fifth. Go where the deer go. Forget going to the easy places. That's where all the other hunters go too. The deer are hiding for their lives and pick places that hunters don't go. You have to think totally outside the box on this one.

Remember that it's not sport to the deer. They are hiding for their lives and you are looking to kill and eat them. It's life or death for them and you need to get in their heads. Maybe you should have daydreams about being unarmed in grizzly country with bears all around and try to figure out where to hide. The deer will be there. It's really quite simple and is right there in front of your face.

Good Luck from a confirmed still hunter and master fidgeter.....

$bob$

[ 11-26-2003, 04:57: Message edited by: LDHunter ]

These are great suggestions guys.Thanks
The pop up blind is a good idea and along those lines I am going to look into active deer calling and things like that.I don't know why I didn't think of that before.
I am sure the term still hunting is what I should have said, and is a skill I need.
A brief search took me to a pretty good article on the subject if anybody else is interested.http://www.gameandfishmag.com/whitetaildeer/gf_aa116503a/
One problem I will still have to work through is the blaze orange thing.I must have at least a hat.

Great suggestions,thanks.

I can only speak from my experience and dont know much about hunting the dense eastern woods, but Ive found that in stalking the weather always plays a big role.

I firmly believe that a deer can hear us coming at more than twice the distance that we can hear them from and likwise are MUCH more adept at moving quietly. Ive seen it! An entire herd 100 yds ahead of a group of hunters making a drive in the trees, the hunters never knew they were there!!

Absoloute silence should be your goal and that philosophy has gotten me close enough to hit them with a rock on several occasions.

Dry leaves and sticks are real noisy when theyre stepped on, under these circumstances work the edges of clearings and meadows. I sometimes cover ground on rocks and logs. Good game trails are usually overly exploited by other hunters and wont do.

Frozen snow is noisy too, moist dirt under the trees is a better option.

The best situation for stalking is fresh snow, love it! Easy to sneak in, track in and spot animals in once its stopped. 2nd to that is just after a good rain.

Deer have impecable hearing and are extremly sneaky themselves, give them credit, they are very intelligent and if you dont respect that youll never catch one by suprise. Anyone who has done much stalking has probably got at least one story of a deer circling some brush to evade their persuer or doubling back in the direction they came from.

You really do have to get into their heads, I always ask myself where I would be if I were them and it usually produces results.

Heres another tip, the wind and other natural sounds can sometimes be used to your advantage to mask your approach.

From one bonified fidigiter to another, Good luck..

[ 11-26-2003, 08:54: Message edited by: Wstrnhuntr ]

2 hours is a good enough time to spend in a seat.

Most of us UK hunters will do both. See in the day in a stand then when good and light stalk (read still hunt) through the woods. In the evening I will often still hunt to a stand to see out the light.

There is no real magic just common sense and practice.

Keep wind in your face or side, carry a puffer bottle of powder to test.

Be quiet. Waterproof and quiet are next to impossible.

Move as slowly as possible. Don't walk more than 4 steps without glassing with your binoculars.

The aim is to spot a deer without it spotting you therefore have a sling on your rifle and use binos.

If your back doesn't hurt after still hunting you're not doing it right. Deer are lower than you, you need to look under cover for legs - this is most often how hunters get busted.

Don't forget to look behind you.

You're looking for a part of a deer of something that doesn't fit like a horizontal line in a sea of verticals an ear flicking etc.

When you see it mark it. Don't move until you're sure it (or the herd around it) hasn't got you pegged.

In the UK deer will often see you. The trick is to ensure they cannot scent you and cannot make out what you are. This means wearing sober colours (camo makes no odds) and most importantly gloves and a face veil. If you are on the side of the path and not skylined or silhoutted then like as not if you keep utterly still the deer will first pretend to feed but whip it's head up 5 seconds later and if you are still maybe repeat and go back to whatever it was doing. If it's moving you wait until it's gone behind a tree before getting your rifle up and aiming at a gap where it's headed. As it approaches you whistle or grunt, bring the cross hairs on it and fire if appropriate.

Real still hunting is so tiring you need to stop and rest every 20-30 minutes. I take a little thermos to encourage me to stop. I'll make sure I'm overlooking a likely area and have the rifle etc set up ready to shoot.

Your seasons are short enough that you don't want to be wasting time learning all this with a rifle in your hands. Practice it in the close season. Moving from binos to rifle into the aim is a good hard part of it. If you can take a rifle with no bolt without drawing every game warden for miles that would be good.

Finaly the deer have to be there. It's no good planning the evening before on the basis that it's sunny and doing the same if it's blowing a gale and slashing with rain. Do something more appropriate. Still hunting on a dead calm day in the frost or dry leaf fall is not going to produce much unless visibility is long.

I am with you on this 1. I am not 1 to sit for too long. The best way to learn stalking is by stalking. I track and stalk all year long, always practicing on anything I can sneak up on, the dog, the wife, the kids. I hunt predominately in the west an almost all of our hunting is spot and stalk. ALWAYS, ALWAYS play the wind. This is more important than noise. The other thing to learn is to use the contour of the land.
In my never to be humble opinion this is the real form of hunting. Having a seat on a stump (or tree stand) is really just waiting at a cross road for something to happen.

ED

Try these:
"Tom Brown's field Guide to Nature Observation and Tracking"

"The Science and Art of Tracking", also by Tom Brown.

Just go to this link on Amazon to find this and other books by Tom Brown (you may or may not find it cheaper at some other on-line dealer, I just offer this as a starting point):

[URL=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0425099660/104-1738944-1827953?v=glance]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0425099660/104-1738944-1827953?v=glance[/UR L]

I have the "Field Guide" - a very good 'how to' book.

[ 11-26-2003, 19:05: Message edited by: Jim in Idaho ]

And when you think you have slowed down as much as humanly possible cut your speed in half. What you are really doing in effect is a moving stand where most of your time should be spent stopped. As was suggested carry and use a good pair of binoculars. Study every nook and cranny. Another thing is be ready to shoot NOW. Ideally you will spot the deer first but often it's the other way around or a tie. Either way you will not have much time to think about things. There is another method for the mobile hunter but for it to work best you need a large area like the UP of Michigan, Northern Wisconsin, the Adirondacks, etc. This is the method made famous by the Benoit family. Here you look for a fresh track and take off following it. You need to move at a good clip. You are not trying to sneak up on a buck because he is going to know you are there. The trick is by staying on the track you wear him down mentally until he waits long enough to watch his track that you can get a crack at him. The same technique can be used without a track by cruising along an old logging road. Often a buck will stand there thinking it hasn't been spotted and let you walk by. If you have good eyes and are quick you have a chance. These are all fun ways to hunt depending on conditions. Just don't be surprised if you here KABOOM from somebody like me that is good at sitting on escape routes

Jeff

Hey Jim in Idaho

Being from Pa. I have had a occasion to be in the presence of Mr. Brown.
I have know way of putting this politely so I will not expound on this, just take the books as a reference source and DO NOT read anymore into it.

ED

LDHunter had some really good points however if you are bowhunting do use camo that breaks up you outline. I am a believer in the original Predator camo as being absolutly great in all terrain and country. I have had a Bull elk 10 yards downwind and was not able to get turned around on him, I had a durker almost step on me in RSA as well.
Being a bowhunter, and spending most of my time on the ground big eyes and ears and paying attention to everything around you is the best advice given so far as is the idea that if you think you have slowed down enough go twice as slow and then you might need to go slower yet.

The other pice of advice that I have heard that really works, is to take a step or two, then slowly study everything aroiund you that you can see, then use the binoculars to do it again. take another step or two and repeat.

It was explained to me this way. Stand in the doorway to your living room. Look at everything you can see. Take a step and look at what else is now visable that was out of your field of view the previous step. Now expand that to the woods and ... you get the idsea!

Good Luck

In addition to the good comments on the wind above. Consider how game animals walk. A buck will take a few steps, stop, listen, look, pause then move on a bit. Compared to a predator, A coyote moves in a steady pace, with a sence of perpose. That predator cadence is what the buck is listening for.

If you want a role model, watch a house cat stalk.

I wouldn't give up on sitting in a tree stand, yet.

I'm the fidgetinist, snortinist, scratchinist SOB who ever sat a stand. I can't hold still for more than 2 min. without having to adjust something, clear my throat or scratch a mystery itch! However, I've also seen lots of deer, and have got 2 ten point bucks in last 4 years and a number of other deer have literally walked right under my stand. In fact, my biggest problem is that I usually pass up deer waiting for something better, and end up skunked anyway.

My son is ADHD, and he manages to see deer every year, too.

The area I hunt there are permanent blinds built. They tend to creak and groan with the wind, so maybe the deer get used to them some. Plus, they usually have some thin fibre board or the like about halfway up the sides, to block some of my movements.

Try adding some camo around your stand to block some of your movements. As far as noise, as long as your aren't re-enacting a Broadway musical with a lot of singin' and tap dancin', you should be able to blend in pretty well. The woods can be a noisy place.

I've thought about looking into one of those cough suppressors. I don't know if they're still around or not. They are large enough to fit over your nose and mouth, so you can cough or sneeze into them and it muffles the sound.

Good luck.

I just got back from my first try at still hunting.It is pretty hard work, but I much prefer it to trying to stay put.I found that when I get tired I can simply crouch for a few minutes and rest my legs.This also is a good opportunity to stay put and look around for a while.
In the grassy areas I was able to move slowly and silently. But where there are lots of dry leaves putting my feet down without noise is impossible as far as I can tell.My food going down on dry leaves makes NOISE. No matter how slowly I do it.
I believe these leave covered places are going to need the "bushy tail two step" as mentioned above.I spent a lot of time listening to some very noisy birds near me and trying to copy them.
Only time will tell.I didn't see any deer today but that isn't unusual in the heavy brush where I hunt.
I will be practicing these skills through the comming year. I hope to find out for sure how effective the "bushy tail two step" really is.
I do know for sure that human walking through the woods sounds nothing like any other animal out there.So sounding like a bird or squirrel may work really well.
Any skill repeated eonugh times becomes habbit. Wouldn't that be cool if I got to the point that I could just move through woods and not be distinguishable from the other animal noises.

My feet do hurt.I'll need better boots.

Don't forget the rest of the year - that is, after deer season is long over, you still have plenty of opportunities to hone your still hunting skills.

Try sneaking up on squirrels, rabbits, turkey, fox, coyote, etc. during the off season. It's good practice for getting the basics down.

I still hunt on the way in and out from my stand, but personal experience (and that of many others) tells me that on an average day, my chances are much better sitting at a well placed stand.

As can be seen by reading this thread, the best approach to stalking is to move slowly and quietly. But! Most big deer know that we do that! On occasion something that has worked extremly well for me in mountianus areas is a deliberate flush. Kind of like an old fashioned drive with only one guy. Moving quickly directly through some trees or brush and not at all being concerned about the quiet factor. The idea is to just get them up and moving either while placing yourself in an advantegous shot position or simply to locate them followed by a more lengthy and tactfull approach. Sometimes they wont run off too far if they feel they are not being persued. Being in good physical shape is a huge plus as you should be able to suddenly stop and listen to more than just your own panting.. I expect this tactic is much more effective in mountians than flatlands though.

Ask Aquavit. Serious.

What is Aquavit?

About practicing the rest of the year. I am planning to set up a schedule to practice the whole year round. Like maybe once a week or every other week. I figure this will also get me familiar with the area I hunt. I hope that by next year my knowledge of this area and skill level at still hunting will be enough to make a big difference.
Currently the way I harvest deer is I sit in my blind overlooking the swamp enough times that something eventually walks within 300 yds of me, and I shoot it.
Next year I plan to be more deliberate and more active.
By the time opening day rolls around I will have a skill and a plan. I hope.

Lots of good comments here. I have to reitterate that still hunting when done properly is mentally/physically exhausting (especially in hilly areas with the challenge of not slipping). You spend so much time balancing with weight on one foot (or part of one foot) and bent/bending over to look under/over/all around the landscape that you start to feel like a yogi (I bet they would be good at it). The best example of proper still hunting is to watch a cat (that makes alot of kills) hunt birds and mice. They move so slow and are so patient. My feelings are that if you move more than 1-2 miles over a four hour period through prime game area then you are going too fast. When I was 18 and VERY strong/fit, I could pass through a group of whitetails without spooking them. Sitting at a desk 1/2 a day every day and having more fat on me (I'm still pretty fit) have made still hunting more challenging, but age has also made me more patient.

Deke.

I need to move but for different reasons. I can discipline myself to remain motionless for a long time, but I pay for it in pain. I have arthritis in my left hip from busting my pelvis in three places when I was skydiving many, many years ago. (I tell kids, "What you do in your youth, you'll pay for in your old age.") I have to move periodically or I'm screwed.

I bought a pop-up blind, the Ameristep Outhouse (it's tall, like I am, and I can stand up and stretch without my movements giving my position away to any wildlife in the immediate area).

It's the same thing with bear hunting. I can sit still for a long time... and have... but it's murder. Those of you with arthritis, I'm sure you understand.

A pop-up blind has many advantages.

Russ

I was able to walk up a buck this years, a 4 point. Normally I see parts of deer running away from me through the woods. I am able to get close enough for a shot but don't see the deer first. Need to slow down more and look out between trees.

If you don't like to hunt from a stand then get out and walk, walk slowly stop and look a lot and I mean walk slow, movment is your enemy, I just "meander" around with the wind in my favor at all times, be quit and look sharp, be ready because they usually come out under your boots and a wise buck will surly keep a tree between you and him, given a chance, so shoot quick, remember he has eyes in the side of his head, you do not.....

I like to walk the Senderos in So. Texas and keep just inside the brush and hunt about a mile in 3 or 4 hours if that. It is the hardest walking hunt to be successful with but I have done it many times. I, don't like blinds either.

You can hunt deer on foot about any place if you just get out and do it.