still hunting strategies

You need to approach areas you suspect hold deer from downwind. You cannot walk too slowly. If you are seeing tails you need to slow down. I stop often and do not move again until I am sure I have checked out everything in my line of sight completely. Far too many folks do not look far enough ahead as they walk. They tend to look at their feet. You need to focus on the path ahead so you can avoid areas that force you to turn around.

I love still hunting! I get bored sitting in one place for too long. I think it is best carried out with only a loose plan. The wind and terrain will dictate your route. I sit for a while when I find a place that looks deer friendly, and move when I get bored or cold.

Also look behind you often.

Before the tree fell on the shed I walked to the shed, plugged in the electric blanket and waited, now I try to get into blind 30 min before daylight and sit still listening and looking for movement. I have shot from the 4 wheeler while looking over the creek/beaver dam area with binoculars.
While scouting the area figure about twice the time to get to your site than you can make it during the day, I use a red headlight instead of white. Get a pack to carry snacks, water, coffee, first aid kit, comfortable seat and skinning kit. I like to build a blind about 3-4ft using pallets or cable and limbs/brush. When I hunted in a club I would plan on staying out when everyone else headed in for lunch and spooked the deer into moving, I've shot plenty doing that. The wind in your face is your friend.

The question is oversimplified and depends on terrain and the method of harvest. But you cannot go to slow. Stop often (every 50 feet or so) and scan. But stop where you can shoot. And don’t kneel unless you see them and they don’t see you. Otherwise you’re just adding movement and increasing your odds of getting busted. There is no perfect method. But if deer are busting you, you’re doing one of a couple things wrong. And most likely it’s your scanning that is lacking. Look for pieces of a deer. Not deer. Once you find the piece, the whole deer will be revealed.

You can increase your success rate if you read The Still Hunter by Van Dyke. His information on movement and wind is still quite valid.

In the mean time....,
Plan your movement very slowly from large tree to large tree. The tree helps to break up your silhouette, and makes it tougher for the deer who live in that place year round to spot "something is different".

IF you can, depending on the weather, you wear shoes that allow you to feel the ground, so you don't snap a twig. Otherwise, you have to look where each step will go to avoid snapping twigs.

Take two rolling footsteps at a time, max. You should end up and pause with your feet in a "shooting position". So In my case shooting right handed, it's right foot, then left foot, and stop, look, and listen. IF something is spotted moving I'm already in proper foot/leg position, and only then need to slowly bring the gun to sighting position. I think the deer key off the rhythm and pattern of human foot steps so I only take two very slow ones at a time and pause.

Wind is the key. A little wind helps to disguise your noise, and it helps you as the deer use it to aid them. They will try to use it to bring them scent of a possible threat. So you move crosswise to the wind. Moving into the wind means the deer be crosswise to you, coming at you or moving parallel, but from behind they will smell you. Moving with the wind is folly, your scent and all noise goes farthest when you move with the wind and the combination will cause the deer to move away slowly, long before you can see them. IF you have trouble judging the wind at first..., tie a piece of bright color thread to your front sight post, leaving about 3" hanging free....it will tell you which way the wind is moving.

If you choose to stop for a while, then gently scrape the surface of the ground next to the large tree you've chosen to break up your outline. Stand on the scraped area. The loam scent that you release will help to cover your scent, and the small circle you scrape to stand in eliminates you accidentally stepping on a twig.

I wish you had all day to hunt. About half of the deer I've gotten has been in cold chilly, damp weather, when the deer need calories to stay warm, so they don't go "nocturnal" as so many guys have told me they do. About an hour after all the other guys in the area have left for lunch because "deer don't move in the middle of the day", I've gotten deer, The noise and the scent from all the hunters drops since they left, and I stop moving and pause next to a large tree. Folks think I'm telling a tall tale when I tell them I got that nice fat doe at 2 p.m.

I don't worry about cover scent. I think deer react to what is "different". I soak my hunting clothes in plain lye soap, dissolved into water. Then rinse and hang dry. No "color brighteners" or scent from detergent and no telltale scent from the drier from the previous load. IF you have highly chlorinated city water as I do, I use hot water and let it come to room temp, then clean the clothes, as the heat from the water heater breaks down the chlorine, so no color fade and no chlorine scent. I've used a small fire and some hickory chips to "smoke" my pants, hat, and coat, and that works very well, I've found too.

LD

Here's something I wrote in a thread a few years ago on this very topic. It's geared toward bow hunting, but the tactics are the same no matter what your weapon. I could probably add some more, but this is a good starting point:

I've stalked and killed whitetail with rifle and bow (I hunt MS and west TN...lots of woods and ag fields). Some things that will help increase your odds include:

- stalking when it's wet out. wet leaves are quiet leaves. VERY productive.
- keep the wind in your face
- stalking on windy days. Everything is noisy and moving when it's windy and it
can help hide your signature
- walk as quietly as possible on every surface you cross

Draw weight - I never adjusted my draw weight for stalking. I have lightened it for stand hunting in the winter...after three hours of sitting in freezing temps I've found it impossible to draw my bow before. But when stalking you'll be generating enough heat and circulation that it shouldn't be a problem. However...if you currently have your draw weight so high that you have to do Pilates moves to get it to full draw...then yeah...lower it until you can simply raise it and draw it straight back with no extra movements. This means no pointing the bow at the sky and then lowering it back...bring it level with the target...and smoothly to full draw...nothing else.

Tactics - The biggest thing to get your mind around is that you are playing a whole new game...it's a slow motion game of hide-and-seek. When I stalk I might cover 50 yards every 20 minutes. If you think you are moving slow enough...slow down some more. Your goal is to become creeping death.

I'm looking at everything...every step I take changes my view. Every step changes the angle of everything I can see. There might be a deer 60 yards ahead that I can't see because a tree is blocking him...but a single step could change the angle enough that I can now see one of his ears. That is the stalking game with a bow.

Another thing I found when I began was that I got surprised a lot. A deer would jump up near me and it would totally catch me off guard. The question that comes to mind is "If i'm stalking deer, how could I possibly be surprised when I see a deer?"

It's an important question to answer. I think what happens a lot of times is we get complacent. Your mind might wander to other things. It's slow and you're not seeing anything so you just start going through the motions. You start thinking about stuff you have to do back at the house, or dinner plans, or work...suddenly you're not hunting anymore. You are walking in the woods with your mind somewhere else. Then when a deer jumps up within shooting range it surprises the bejeezus out of you. That's a deer that you should have killed but never saw because you didn't have your head in the game.

You have to stay locked on the whole time you're stalking. You are GOING to get close if you do it long enough...the question is will you be prepared when it happens?

It should also be noted that when I stalk, I have an arrow knocked and my release clipped on the whole time. The only time i'm not hooked up is when I'm glassing with the binoculars. It's more effort but I think it's necessary...you won't get many shots stalking with the bow so you don't want to blow the chances you get by fumbling to get your release hooked up...give yourself every advantage you can.

Practice quick shots. We used to use a 3D target for our bow hunting drills but any target will suffice. Turn your back on the target and have your partner move it. When he says "deer" you have three or four seconds to turn, draw, and fire. You won't know what the distance is...you'll have to judge it by sight within your three to four second window...this means you'll have to judge it as you are turning and drawing your bow. With enough practice you should be able to turn and hit anything within 40 yards inside of three seconds.

Sometimes you'll get lucky too...you might be stalking and happen across deer that are coming your way. At that point you just hide and wait.

I have found it easier to sneak up on a bedded deer than to sneak up on one that is feeding in a field. I got busted every time I tried it. Maybe it was because there were too many eyeballs, maybe they are less alert when bedded down, or maybe their first reaction when bedded is to freeze...I dunno.

Glass for areas that should be holding deer. On hot days they may be in different areas than on cold days. On windy and/or rainy days they may be holed up in different spots. Study every log and dip and thicket you see...there could very well be a deer bedded in or next to it.

Know your prey. One time I busted a pair of doe from cover. I snuck right past them and didn't know it. When I was about 10 yards past them they jumped up and bolted. I whipped around and raised my bow only to see them with afterburners lit. I drew my bow anyway knowing that many times a whitetail will stop and look back to see what the threat was. Sure enough one of them stopped 20 yards out, turned broadside and looked back just in time to see me release an arrow into her boiler room. That success came from practicing those drills I mentioned above, and knowing my prey. By the time she stopped to look back I was already at full draw...all i had to do was touch the trigger. If I hadn't done that she would have stopped, looked back, and seen me raising my bow and drawing...and she never would have stuck around for all that movement. Be prepared.

Walking quiet - Every step you take needs to be considered prior to taking it. You can almost always find a spot with fewer leaves, or wetter leaves, or less gravel, or damp dirt vs dry rocky dirt. You might have to put your foot down sideways to avoid breaking a stick with your next step, you might have to step using only the edge of your foot to minimize the noise occasionally. All of those decisions determine whether your foot step is quiet or goes crunch. If you get sloppy you get noisy, if you get noisy you'll blow them out before you get to them. You will be surprised at how quiet you can get when you really try...and by how close "quiet" can get you.

Clothes - depends on time of year...but NEVER any fabric that makes noise when branches rub on it...and NEVER any velcro. I have had a shot at a 140 inch deer ruined by a velcro pocket accidentally getting pulled open at a bad time...velcro no-no.

Time of day - I generally stalk mid-day because that's when it's less productive to sit in a stand. Most mornings and evenings I can be in a spot where they come to me...but mid-day it's fun to go to them.

Bino's - these will be your best friend. You might think "why would I need bino's since I'm moving so slow and it's a thick wooded area?" You need bino's to pick out pieces of a deer that may be up ahead. I can't tell you how many times I've been glassing while stalking and seen a tail or an ear, or a patch of white where there should be no patch of white...every time you stop, you glass.

When stalking with the bow I'm light...I have my bow, my bino's, and a 7 pocket pouch (fannie pack type thing with some essentials in it). Depending on where you are, and when you are there, you might not need a lot of clothes. You'll be generating body heat by creeping along in a slow motion walk.

Know where your cover is. I had a gigantic whitetail walk right up to me one time. I saw him coming down an ATV trail through thick brush but he was coming so fast I had no time to adjust. He caught me in the open and i had no way to draw. He stopped when he was about 10 yards from me. He went behind a tree, I drew my bow back...and I never saw him again. If you're going to take a break...do it next to a big tree or some other cover that will allow you to move if necessary. That was a sad, SAD day in my life...his rack was as wide as a set of goal posts...10 yards...fail.

Conclusion

Don't expect to cover a lot of ground, and don't expect a high success rate.

DO expect to have the deer teach you a lot of lessons along the way.

It's hard work, but when you succeed it's a great feeling.

Stalking with the rifle is easy. Stalking with the bow...not easy but doable. You just have to commit, and accept the lack of success as part of the process.

Be patient, be slow, be quiet, glass, and practice.

Those are some of the things that helped me. Good luck.

GSPN
i like your post, a lot of good advice.

What size of binoculars do you use?

Highland Lofts said:

GSPN
i like your post, a lot of good advice.

What size of binoculars do you use?

Click to expand...

Back when I was doing a lot of stalking with the bow I just used a small pair of 8x bino's. I was stalking mid-day, so there was plenty of light even in the deep woods. I just needed to be able to see through all the little gaps between branches and bushes, etc. Whenever I stopped moving, I'd just take my time and study the landscape through the bino's. I'd imagine that the area was broken up into "squares" and I'd search each square thoroughly before moving the bino's to the next section. I've had a number of deer so close I could pluck hair off them.

If I'm rifle hunting I have a set of 10x42 that I use.

I have a set of Nikon 10x50, do you think they are to big?
Here is a picture of the type of woods we hunt in.

We use rife where we hunt.

Highland Lofts said:

I have a set of Nikon 10x50, do you think they are to big?
Here is a picture of the type of woods we hunt in.View attachment 869132

We use rife where we hunt.

Click to expand...

Well, whatever you have will work. The 10x will have a narrower field of view, so you'll have to do some more scanning to cover everything, but they'll work just fine. If you decide they're in your way, then lighten up and try it without them. Slow is the key. And commit. When I started doing it I just committed to stalking a lot, and I was willing to deal with the low success rate. I viewed it as a project, with the goal being a bow kill. I didn't care how long it took me, I would continue until I got it done. I was surprised at how much I learned along the way, and I was already a seasoned hunter at that point.

That's a great looking set of woods, and on the next gray, drizzly day I'd be out there creeping. Sometimes you'll want to take a knee so you can see "under" the lower branches. That'll let you see further through the woods sometimes.

When I stalk with a rifle, my left hand holds both the forend, and a pair of shooting sticks. The "legs" of the sticks are tucked under my left elbow for control. When I see a deer I can take a knee and have the gun on the sticks in 1.5 seconds. If you don't bring shooting sticks, just know that every branch and tree near you can be used to steady the gun if you need it. I once stalked up behind a buck in a set of woods just like the one in your picture. I was directly on his 6 o'clock about 80 yards behind him. The only shot I had was to aim dead center at the back of his neck. I was OK shooting off my knee at that distance, but due to the vegetation I had to be just a bit higher than resting on my knee, and it felt like I needed a bit more support to really nail that one inch target. I eased over slowly to a sapling, used a low branch for a rest, and dropped him before he ever knew I was there.

You'll be surprised how many deer you can stalk to within rifle range of.

Heck, one time during black powder season I was stalking a long narrow valley on the farm. It was probably 400 yards long and 70 to 100 wide in places. They'd recently done some dozer work to clear out a spot for a lake and all the trees and brush were just pushed to the middle of the valley and piled up about 8 feet. I had that log pile on my left and was just creeping down toward a group of doe in the distance with the wind in my face. After a few minutes I reached the end of the log pile, and when I looked to my left there was a buck walking along doing the same thing as me! He was just cruising along on the other side of the wood pile going after the same doe. Couldn't have been 40 yards from me. He and I looked at each other like "WHAAAAT!?!?"

He took off for the woods on his side of the field. Again, knowing your prey matters. He made it to the woods just fine, but near the top of the ridge 100 yards away, there was an open patch and I figured he'd stop and look back before bailing over the top. I got the gun up and waited. Sure enough, he stopped and looked back to check his six, and I sent him one. Dropped like a rock. It was a 100 yard offhand shot. I was aiming at the back of his neck, but it went a bit low and went straight up his hind end.

Heck, even when I'm hunting from a stand I always sneak to and from it. I never use a 4 wheeler to get to a stand. I hunt from the time I leave the truck until the time I get back to it. Not everyone will have that luxury, but on the farms I hunt, it works for me. I stalk across every field and set of woods on the way to the stand. That type of stalking is a little faster than the type we started off talking about, but again, you'd be surprised how many deer you can kill on your way to the spot you'd planned to hunt. I had one hunt that was over in six minutes. I'd gone down a fire road about 300 yards, creeping along a ridge top with my rifle ready on the way to my stand, and a buck that was on the move crossed paths with me. I took a knee, boom. I was on my way home less than 30 minutes after I parked the truck. I'd have never killed that deer if I'd been on an ATV burning through the woods to get to my stand.

Be quiet, slow, patient, observant, and willing to learn what the deer teach you. Can't wait to hear how it goes. I'm excited for you. It really is a fun way to hunt. I probably kill half my deer every year by stalking. Anytime it's rainy or drizzly, I'll be creeping mid-day.

The past few years we have been putting trail cams on the gut piles. It is interesting what visits them. You can bet the coyotes eat off them on a regular bases.
Lots of crows, more so if they are out in the open field then in the woods.
Foxes occasionally.
Raccoons as well.
Bluejay.
And other deer will check them out.
Two seasons ago a fisher ate of a gut pile a few nights in a row then moved on.

The only time I still hunt is when I walk to a stand and return from the stand but I do still hunt new areas to learn the travel patterns of the animals. I have two rules that I follow when still hunting. My first rule is to avoid showing yourself on the skyline because animals recognize the shape of an human instantly. Always cross a ridge or hilltop in a low area or use cover to hide your silhouette as you cross. I never stop on top of a hill or ridge. The second rule is to move slowly and every time I stop I make sure I am near trees or brush and standing in the shade if possible. Constantly still hunting will cause the animals to vacate the area and if you do the same thing more than once they will pattern you.

Highland Lofts said:

The past few years we have been putting trail cams on the gut piles. It is interesting what visits them. You can bet the coyotes eat off them on a regular bases.
Lots of crows, more so if they are out in the open field then in the woods.
Foxes occasionally.
Raccoons as well.
Bluejay.
And other deer will check them out.
Two seasons ago a fisher ate of a gut pile a few nights in a row then moved on.

Click to expand...

Around here, Bald Eagles live on gut piles during and right after gun deer season. During the rut, you generally see one or two sittin' on road kills. I've heard that hungry deer will actually eat the stomach contents from gut piles of other deer because it is not different than regurgitating their cud.

One thing I've found you need to still hunt is a lot of area. Small acreages many times give no entrance without being seen by deer sitin' and watching already. I've done my best on huge parcels of public land where I can walk all day. Especially those areas I am very familiar with. Lots of places where one does not have to be quiet, because hunting there is poor or it's so open that being quiet does not matter. You just move quickly thru, get to a better area and then sit for a while to give the woods time to quiet down again. On large parcels, even if you spook deer, if you have an idea of where the deer are headed, you can cut them off. I have spots where I know deer will circle thru certain cover when spooked from their beds. I'm gonna tell you, you can't still hunt without spooking deer, no matter how good you think you are. Even when you don't see tails, you may very well be pushing deer ahead of you. Because of this, I have had very good luck still hunting with another person. many times one of us will catch a deer trying to sneak around the other. sometimes when a deer is focused on the other, you can get close enough for a good shot. Rain and wind are the best cover you can get. It also seems, at least where I hunt that deer don't expect hunters to be out in nasty weather.....and if the weather is going to be nasty for a while, many times deer are active at the front of it.

Still hunting is also a great way to find good spots for stands in the future, even if you don't get one while still hunting. If you kick deer up outta their beds, there's a reason their beds are there. It ain't a coincidence or something random. Remembering those spots will mean maybe success in the future, either while still hunting or standing. Knowing where the primary bedding areas means you can be more careful and more alert on your approach to them. You can also focus more on where the deer will try to escape thus giving you a shot, if they move before you get there.

A lot of good information in this thread. While still hunting I tend to vary the number of steps that I take 1, 2,5,3. From my experience I've seen game animals vary the number of theirs so it makes sense to me to do the same.

I love to do it when conditions are right. Two weeks ago they were perfect. The fact that my battery was dead on my 4-wheeler might have had a little to do with it. I slipped off of a steep hill for a couple hundred yards and had 2 does hop out in front of me. The hunt was over and it was time for the hard part. I hiked back to the truck and, just for kicks and giggles, I hit the starter on my Yamaha. Low and behold it started making the retrieval a lot easier. I am so glad that I learned to hunt deer the hard way. I get a lot more satisfaction when I kill one doing the sneaky snake.

I've had limited success still hunting, our cover and terrain is generally not conducive to it in MN. Usually too thick to see any distance with lots of crunchy leaves. Where I have had success, is when the weather either soaks all the crunchy stuff, preferably under a cover of wet snow, or the wind is howling so hard as to cover any noise and lock deer up in heavy conifer cover.

In such conditions, I like to work cross wind, rather than directly into it. My theory, matched with some correlation that tasted good in the crock pot, is that pressured deer tend to move upwind. By working crosswind, I can catch them as they flank me to the upwind side. Sometimes they'll cross directly in front of, or on an intercept course into my location unaware of the specific threat they are moving in reaction to. I follow basic advice on stalking as listed in above posts. Painfully slow movement, thorough scan of my environment, especially upwind and behind. I'm also listening for a deer being flushed by my scent downwind, and prepared to attempt an intercept as they flank around me into the wind (they tend to cross my backtrail just out of sight behind when spooked). I've connected with a couple of nice ones in this manner, but it's not for the faint of heart. Requires a fast backtrack on your trail and often a running shot in tight cover. They seem to need at least 2 senses activated to full out alarm and flag, but only one can make them nervous enough to move. Not sure if my technique would technically be called still hunting, as I am counting on intercepting the movements of pressured deer, rather than sneaking up on them unaware, but it is marginally successful in the right conditions. I favor dense conifer cover that has good visibility at ground level for this, preferably a pine plantation where you can see for great distances down the rows.

When you think your going slow enough, slow down more. Don’t worry a whole bunch about natural sounding noises, but be careful not to make noises of metal clanging or such. I actually like to make noise and draw a bit of attention to the area I want to hunt over because a lot of times I have curious critters investigate what the noise was as soon as daylight breaks. A lot of people will say to enter from downwind, with scent deadened clothing, at an hour before shooting light, with scent drags covering your scent... but these guys are typically no more productive than the guys who carry smelly beverages (beer, coffee) and smoke cigarettes in the woods. The most important things are to not make sudden motions, not make loud noises that tell animals that your there to eat them, and most importantly to simply be there...preferably awake.

Go slow, look wide, and be one with the woods.

At the risk of being unpopular, I think being alert and ready is more important than being slow or quiet. Not that those aren’t important but if you are watching and ready, that will get you more shots than anything in my experience. Always be watching and be ready to shoot.

My uncle is a still-hunting machine. It’s all he likes to do and he is almost always successful. He moves pretty quickly, quiet as he can but not slowly at all. He covers ground, he’s always watching and he’s a really good freehand shooter. That guys kills stuff.

It’s a fun way to hunt and you can learn a lot from it. I do more spot and stalk these days but will always have a soft spot for the old still hunt. Plus, there’s a fair bit of crossover skills-wise.

Imagine following a drunk person who has COPD. That's about the speed I move and I weave around like a drunk driver.
It might seem dumb, but I've killed deer inside 75 yards that were staring at me with a mouth full of grass.
I'd never thought of using binoculars walking in the woods before. It will be on my short list.

Make an effort to do a 360 scan each time you make a major move, like getting up to relocate. Your patience is for naught if you spook game as they approach.

wankerjake said:

At the risk of being unpopular, I think being alert and ready is more important than being slow or quiet. Not that those aren’t important but if you are watching and ready, that will get you more shots than anything in my experience. Always be watching and be ready to shoot.

Click to expand...

Nuttin' unpopular to me, just a slight rearrangement of priorities. Some of which may be necessary due to conditions, terrain and technique. Do something long enough and one figures out what works best for them, in their scenarios. That's just a part of being a successful hunter. One thing I do, which seems to be highly unpopular, is that many times, I use my rifle scope for scanning the area instead of my binos. Many claim this is unsafe.....I don't know why. Safety is on, trigger is off the finger and I have already ascertained there are no other hunters in the area. Who the 'ell am I supposed to be sweeping other than trees and deer? The advantage I see, is that while the gun gives a bigger profile, it means less overall movement for me. Most of the time, in the terrain I hunt, I bring the scope up to verify something I see as a deer or not a deer. Otherwise, because of the terrain and the minimal distances I can see, most of my scanning can be done by eye. It's only when something looks like a ear, antler tip or the line in the brush looks to be a deer profile, do I need to magnify. Doing it with the gun means the gun is already on the target, if it is indeed a target. I do not need to put the binos down and now bring the gun up on a deer that may have already seen me. Sometimes, that split second is the other decent shot I have. Also, looking thru the scope with my other eye open gives me more peripheral vision in case something else moves outside the FOV of my optics. Again, this is in the terrain where I hunt, where one can only see a few hundred yards at the very most. The majority of my shots are from deer, standing up from or busting outta their beds, within 20-30 yards. I guarantee you, you need to be ready with your gun and be alert. But you still need to be quiet and have the stalking skills to get to within that 20-30 yards first.

Conditions do play a major role, especially where I hunt. My area is much like Random 8. Crunchy leaves/snow, thin frozen ice/ground/moss, swamp grass and heavy undergrowth can make "still" hunting virtually impossible most of the time. Still there are ways if you know the area and where deer like to hide within it. Around here in pressured areas deer do one of two things, they either leave the area completely as the first sign/sound of hunters entering the woods(as far away as 1/2 mile) or they hunker down in their beds and let hunters walk by them(something that has worked for them in the past). The first one you have no control over. It might be the sound of the car door shutting oe even the closing of your rifle bolt. In the worst of conditions it might be the first steps you take into the woods. The second one tho, you can still hope to get close enough to animals to get a shot. This comes from knowing where they bed and approaching from a position where you can cover their escape trail and get a shot. This is a case of not walking directly at those spot, but almost like you are going to walk by them until you are in the right position to get a shot at that deer that now realizes, you aren't gonna be like all the others and walk by.

Many of these scenarios are going to produce running shots. These are not popular with many folks either. But in many of the areas I hunt, after opening day, during legal hunting hours, the only way you see legal deer is to get them up and moving. If you don;t shoot at a running deer, you don't get a deer.....period. What one has to do, is know how to shoot at a running deer(most of us upland game hunters have nuttin' but running/flying shots), and to only take those shots that give you the best percentage, of a good humane kill. This, when sitting on a stand or in a blind, still hunting or even making "sweeps" or "drives", is still the most important aspect......in my opinion.
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buck460XVR said:

You need to approach areas you suspect hold deer from downwind. You cannot walk too slowly. If you are seeing tails you need to slow down. I stop often and do not move again until I am sure I have checked out everything in my line of sight completely. Far too many folks do not look far enough ahead as they walk. They tend to look at their feet. You need to focus on the path ahead so you can avoid areas that force you to turn around.

Click to expand...

Yep...

Hunt into the wind, use your nose, constantly check your changing field of view, and move like a grazing cow or horse.




GR