Snuck up close

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courtgreene

courtgreene

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For some this happens with boring regularity, but it was a first for me.

yesterday, for reasons I won’t mention, I very much needed to be immersed in nature. Since nothing is in season at the moment I picked up a Nikon instead of a savage or Winchester and went to my land looking for deer.
As I approached I saw a tail flicker through the bushes, so I got low, quiet, and moved painfully slowly until I was 15 yards away from a doe eating happily on bushes. It was pretty great. Highly recommend.
The limb made it hard to get a good picture and impossible to do so after the shutter sound alerted her to my presence. Still pretty exciting. If you can beat the heat, get out there.
original pic was too large… this is a screen shot.

148D25A1-A1A8-41B2-A447-5F4DF25714B7.png
 
I think this one’s grown up now, we drove up on her yesterday evening. We stopped, shut off the engine and watched her eat for awhile about 20 yards from us, didn’t have anyway to take her picture though.

 
I've been that close or closer. But it was either when I sat still and had them walk up to within 3-4' of me before they saw me. Or in a place where deer are so accustomed to people that they ignore them.

There is a local college with a walking/biking trail. The whole area is covered up with deer, seeing 100 or more while biking, and often within 20 yards, is pretty common. But I've never been able to stalk anywhere near that close. Good work.
 
The closest I've ever been to a living, wild whitetail deer was when I was turkey hunting. Mama and her still-nursing fawn came out of the edge of woods I was set up on. Both sniffed at my decoys, but Bambi ambled right on over and started nuzzling into my pocket. Figured out the fawn caught wind of the apple stashed away for my lunch. After a minute mama put her foot down and they went on their way.
 
About 20+ years ago I was combining a wheat field and a doe with fawn was bedded down in the middle. I tried everything to chase them off and even got out of the combine a couple times to herd them away. No matter what I did they kept hiding in my next cut path. Finally , momma took off at one end of the field and left baby behind. Baby then proceeded to just stay right in front of my header. It was 100+ degrees out and baby was starting to get worn down. By the time I got to the other end of the field where my kids were waiting in the shade of the woods beside my grain truck, I was having to stop the combine every 20ft because baby was just done. I finally put it in my lap so I could finish the last few hundred yds to get to the truck. My kids got to hold the fawn and give it some water while I combined some more and finished filling the truck. We left the fawn under a big tree while we hauled the grain to the silo. Took us about 45min and it was gone when we returned so I'm sure momma found it.
We didn't have a camera or cell phone then, but my kids still remember that day.:)
 
Kinda the whole idea behind stalking. Out west there's such a thing as spot and stalk. Around here, with the flatter ground and dense vegetation in areas where there is enough available access to acreage to even qualify for a stalk, you are basically doing what you did. Walk slowly and quietly while watching for any sign of a animal. More often or not it is the twitch of a tail/ear or the glint off moving antlers that you see first. Very seldom have I ever saw a whole deer first while stalking. Many times it's the subtle shape of the contour of a deer's back, resembling a stump/log that I see.

Kudos for you.
 
Howland937 said:
The closest I've ever been to a living, wild whitetail deer was when I was turkey hunting. Mama and her still-nursing fawn came out of the edge of woods I was set up on. Both sniffed at my decoys, but Bambi ambled right on over and started nuzzling into my pocket. Figured out the fawn caught wind of the apple stashed away for my lunch. After a minute mama put her foot down and they went on their way.
Click to expand...

that's pretty crazy.
 
buck460XVR said:
Kinda the whole idea behind stalking. Out west there's such a thing as spot and stalk. Around here, with the flatter ground and dense vegetation in areas where there is enough available access to acreage to even qualify for a stalk, you are basically doing what you did. Walk slowly and quietly while watching for any sign of a animal. More often or not it is the twitch of a tail/ear or the glint off moving antlers that you see first. Very seldom have I ever saw a whole deer first while stalking. Many times it's the subtle shape of the contour of a deer's back, resembling a stump/log that I see.

Kudos for you.
Click to expand...
I've done OKAY (for the southeast where we walk on crunchy leaves that sound like walking on cereal) still-hunting, but had I had a gun and not a camera I can almost promise you I would not have gotten this close. That may be because if I have a gun I take a shot when I get one. That may also be just the way the ball bounces. It also may be a combination of the two.
(In fairness I did have a gun, but was not hunting so it stayed holstered and was only for self-defense)
 
Here in suburbia no need to stalk, they come to you for the bushes and flowers.

We have a three legged doe locally who has absolutely no fear, she'll bring her two fawns for a hearty meal.

Not afraid of me walking my leashed barking dog close by, just stares, then resumes eating. Doesn't even raise her tail or move on.
 
I have stalked within a few feet of deer while hunting. You must move very slowly and make no noise and be down wind. I no longer have the physical control to do it. You can be in full view sometimes. I sat on a stump by a feeding doe once. So cool that I didn't shoot.
 
d2wing said:
I have stalked within a few feet of deer while hunting. You must move very slowly and make no noise and be down wind. I no longer have the physical control to do it. You can be in full view sometimes. I sat on a stump by a feeding doe once. So cool that I didn't shoot.
Click to expand...
I've walked up on them bedded down and gotten within a few feet. Usually on really windy days or right after gun season when they're sitting pretty tight. Never when I was actually deer hunting though. Figures.
 
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