Stalking/still hunting

Does anyone hunt this way anymore? I can’t sit in a blind for hours on end like some here so I like to take it slow and creep up on what I am hunting. Got my biggest buck a few years back doing it this way and have gotten one with a bow using stealth and patience. It is the way I was taught and raised so it is hard for me to give it up.

That’s my favorite way to hunt but I can’t do it very often any more, I’ve taken some of my biggest deer this way over the years. I grew up loving to squirrel hunt and I slipped up on a lot of deer this way and I used those skills whack some deer.

No, crazy talk, only a idiot would walk miles a day in heat and snow, carrying his home on his back in search of meat.

I've been called worse.

Like what?

I've not had much luck at this, possibly because I'm no good at it.

I grew up in CO glassing, still hunting and stalking. I still hunt this way. I have sat in a blind and will do so again but I will readily admit that sitting in a blind is my least favorite way to hunt. Given the choice you will find me slipping through the woods and brush and walking my game up.

As a matter of fact I was doing just that this morning. No deer but I did take a really nice bobcat.

Still one of my favorite ways to do it as well. I did a spot and stalk on a doe just last week. I got to within 50 yards, and let her meander her way in to 42 yards before I let it fly. I don't think I'd ever have a chance of getting within bow range of a big buck that way, but definitely can do with a rifle.

This is the way I hunt 90% of the time for hogs, I don't have a stand or blind where I hog hunt and prefer to ground hunt them anyways. Deer and axis is popup blind or tree stand because i only hunt 5 to 10 acres for them, moving about doesn't work too well in that situation.

Hog hunts WMA's...

Hunting leases, every one has thar own stands, areas.. Archery, i like sitting on stand, after finding good sign, droppings, trails, scrapes, rubs... Usualy found during the hog hunts...
Spot & stalk tis pretty m7ch limited ta puplic land...

Hunting @ its purest forum...

Social distancing from MN...

Not near as many as compared to those states where baiting is illegal.

I really like hunting that way if the ranch is large enough. Smaller acreages just do not lend themselves to hunting that way. I do not like running deer off of my land onto neighboring land....it does not happen all the time but it will happen from time to time. I will hunt by glassing or spotting for mule deer. I did a lot of walking and hunting them years ago, nowadays I find an elevated spot to glass/spot from then figure out how to get to a buck I find that I like. I found a buck this mule deer season that was over 1900 yards from me and the heat waves were so bad at sunrise I could just make out his frame. So I took my rifle and shooting sticks and went to the group of deer. They bedded down at one point when I was on my way to them. I found them after stalking slowly and glassing for bedded deer. I found a does head then found several more does after that. Then found one buck and the bigger buck after about 15 minutes of glassing. Was not a shooters I just backed out walked back to my Ranger. That was the only way I hunted mule deer for the first 6 yrs or so. Still my favorite way to hunt them just age is starting factor in on that method of hunting. For whitetails and management stalking slowly is a great way to hunt but you have to have time to judge the deer to see if it is in or should be taken out herd. Hard to make quick decisions that way. Meat hunting is not a problem.

I get so tunneled in a blind, I get aggregated because I can't see next saddle, group tree, back side of a ravine etc. I'm same way, even when I know better to drive, I still rather take off on foot. Although in Colorado this year when a guy and his wife road up to me horse back and I was on mile 7 for the day with 2k elevation change, I really missed being horse back and just covering country.

I mostly hunt from a blind because it's so hard to nap when stalking.

The only way I hunt. I don't sit in a box.

No telling how many deer walk bayouguy....

It's how I hunt. I don't like blinds.

Lighting and wind determine where I set up.

Yes......but some terrain makes it very difficult to succeed.....your best success will be "vista" type terrain that you can find highpoints to glass from before starting your stalk FME......

It all depends on the terrain, weather conditions, field conditions, etc. You don't want to stalk with crunchy leaves under your steps. Or stalk with crunchy snow or when conditions are so still and quiet. I hunt in South Texas. You are not going to walk up on a mature buck stalking through the thick South Texas brush country. Now, corning senderos and walking down them searching for deer is ok to do. Again, it just depends.

Grew up hunting the big woods of up state NY and Maine. Still hunting is the most rewarding and primitive of all big game hunting. Moving SLOWLY undetected through the woods with a constant awareness of wind is not something most can tolerate. Shot a number of animals with this technique and the sense of accomplishment far exceeded the size of the animal. I once tracked a doe for 2 miles in a fresh snow through some thick cedars and shot her in the head at 10 feet with my muzzle Loader.. Getting that close makes any animal a trophy.

When I was a teen, I’d wear my tallest Lacrosse boots and very very slowly I’d walk (shuffle) down a shallow slough that was aptly named Mud Bayou. Moving slowly through the shallow water made no noise. Over several seasons I killed a few doe. Never snuck up on a buck. Couldn’t do it all the time, due sometimes to lack of water or the water was too deep. I really enjoyed hunting like that.

I grew up in the pnw and if ya didn’t stalk you most likely weren’t getting anything
Didn’t know people “hunted” like people do in Texas

Used to stalk mostly for pigs and deer as we had a few sweet spots you could easily sneak up on.
Throw in a little stop and call for varmints after on loop back home.

Fast forward to today and cruising around in the Mule or get close with mule and finish with short stalk or sitting in office chair in carpeted 4x8 blind rules!

I may not stalk a lot but when given the chance I much prefer to find natural sign, trails, etc and sit on them. I think it’s funny when people talk about the deer not coming to the corn and that’s It for their season. No idea what to do after that. Like when people say they just aren’t coming to the feeders cuz of all the acorns on the ground this year. Well why not go find where they’re eating acorns or find where they’re traveling to eat them? I don’t like being dependent on corn.

Of course I don’t have a place to hunt right now anyway so I’ll hunt however I’m told I can

Hey Flashprism where in Maine did you hunt. For three years I stalked them north of Lewiston in the snow and pines. Worst thing I hated about it was dragging one of those heavy deer to the roads in deep snow.

BTW do you miss the small store "Italian" sandwiches like I do? One of those with a Narragansett beer and a bag of bbq chips would taste pretty good for lunch.

I will be doing a bit of stalking this fall in Argyle Scotland with professional stalker Chris Dalton. We were supposed to have gone this past October for the hunt, but it seems that COVID19 had changed our plans. We were to hunt at the Kinnaird Estate in eastern Scotland but will now hunt in the western part of Scotland and on one of three estates there.

Chris Dalton is a former British Military sniper and has been a professional stalker for 20 years or more, and for the past two consecutive years was selected as Stalker of The Year.

In this video he gives a very good description about the hunt with a few colorful references about the "roar" (rut). The hunt takes place at the Kinnaird, where we were scheduled to hunt this year. Beautiful country.

Space had a good friend from Penobscot and hunted with him for years miles and miles of paper company land and some monsters

All depends on terrain. Spot and stalk doesn't do very well is the thick stuff where you can't get a line on a herd and the deer will hear you coming before you see them. In those cases, I agree with cbump's assessment -- find sign and sit it

The only time I did a lot of it was before hunter orange. I wore a red/black block/checker wool shirt and I think it was harder for deer to spot me. Now a days I would be worried about becoming a target. A lot of really anxious guys wanting to shoot something.

X2

we hunt mostly out of stands because the vast majority of the properties i've gotten to hunt on simply weren't big enough to accomodate stalking or property owner's didn't allow for it. I've spot n stalk hunted some though as well too and its just as enjoyable where you have the ability to do it. as a younger person we leased on maybe 700ac place in the hill country...we had to hunt out of blinds was all the landlady would allow us to do....but she disliked the pigs enough that she would let us hunt the pigs in the dark. my brother and i would walk the pasture roads and trails in the dark just listening...hogs would be in the oak motts...on still nights you could hear them in the distance and appraoch them based on sound to make a shot by flashlight or moonlight. was pretty fun.

I like sitting at the base of a tree in the woods. I like to scrape away the leaves to where I'm sitting on the dirt in an attempt to stay quite. Also, I like to push up the leaves to block some of my movements. This last year, I started using one of those small camo nets from Walmart. I hastily string it to small trees or bark to make a small makeshift blind. I'm finding I can't sit as still as I used do so I need a little more help.