Still Hunting, a lost art?

[Firedogg]

  I have yo still hunt, I can't force myself to sit for any long period of time unless I am watching animals.

[PolarBear]

Most everyone still hunted before baiting became the norm. It is a lost art. I enjoy still hunting because I can stay in tune with nature by using all the senses. Nothing more gratifying than harvesting an animal fair chase.

Most of the places that I hunt there are only 2 options, still hunting or treestands.  I hate glassing for hours and road hunting. 

[RadSav]

To me, the art of still hunting is "See before being seen."  To me that has meant low, slow, listen and glass.  I also believe one way is never the only way.  In times of maximum animal movement I like to stop and sit for long intervals then move and stop again.  During times of minimal animal movement I tend to move more and sit less. 

I glass a lot when still hunting.  If I can catch an ear or an antler before seeing the body of a deer or elk I have a much better chance of not being seen.  I use the focus of the binos to work through thick brush first before I get there.  Focus just inside the brush line, then 15-20 yards, then another 15-20 yards...  You will be surprised at how much more you see when you adjust focus and step forward with your eyes before your feet.

In the timber during temperature change from morning to mid-day and mid-day to evening I am constantly watching the wind.  Atlas Mike's Glow Yarn is the best stuff I have found for testing wind direction as the thermals change.  Pink is my go to, but each person seems to have a color they see best.  Two or three fibers can be seen for a long way.  Just tear them loose from the fluffy bundle and toss them up.  I've had times in early season when I can watch them for three to five minutes floating back and forth, uphill and down hill.  Old 35mm film canisters work great for holding your yarn and keeping it dry.

I really like the Exo pack I've been using the past few years.  But it really sucks for still hunting in dry conditions.  It's like a megaphone alerting animals to my location any time I have to rub against a branch or rock when everything is covered with dust and smells like tinder.  Last year in Utah I left it at the truck after the first morning of hunting.  Switched over to the soft and quiet Blacks Creek Western for the rest of the hunt.  If I was miles in I would still have used the Exo.  But since that was not the case there I figured I could get 50# out on a first trip and then return with the better pack on a second trip.  Same went for gaitors.  I wore a less favored Sitka Flash gaitor and figured if I got an animal down I'd switch to the ORs.

And finally one of the most important things I learned is to keep still hunting even if you are headed back to the truck.  I have probably been busted within 100 yards of the truck more times than I have been busted down in the holes of hell.  I find myself thinking, the trucks right there! Man, I can taste that soda or water in the ice cold cooler already!  Then once my guard is down, my focus in on the truck and I forget about stealth - BAM!  Nothing but a chance to see a raised tail and a clean bunghole.  More than once I have snuck all the way back to the truck and there is a buck or a bull sniffing tires or watching themselves in the reflection of the window.

[rasbo]

I love to still hunt,I used to be in a hurry at times when I was younger.Age and injuries have slowed me down,much to my benefit,I rattle as I still hunted when I was on the wetside works great..

[Skyvalhunter]

I think you will find a lot of disabled or hunters that have experience under there belt do a lot of still hunting and are quite successful.

[ELKBURGER]

I didn't take the time to read the whole thread so I don't know if it was suggested already. Read or reread the book 'Blacktail Trophy Tactics' by the Late, Great Boyd Iverson. I have never heard anyone else describe still hunting like him.

[johnsc6]

I still hunt a lot.  The most important things are, in my opinion, to hunt the wind and go extremely slow.  I check the wind constantly and struggle to go slow enough.  Slow meaning that each step is deliberate and you pause often.  Quiet clothes are important.  I haven't done much for scent control.  I don't really know if it works or not, but have myself convinced I'm screwed if I don't have the wind in my favor.

 :yeah:I think this summed it up fine........except I believe with elk you can move faster and even make noise, until you are in their zone. Wind is everything.. if your hunting with the wind at your back your just hiking. I don't care how much carbon impregnated Chinese nylon you pile on. And I refuse to walk around smelling like stale Holstein urine, your nose is a great way to know its time to slow down.  Only exception to wind rule is if the animal is already trying to escape someone else and your using a rifle.

[Grizman]

I go along with everything that has been said.  I have been a still hunter for over 50 years in heavy timber.  I'll add just one thing that has always worked for me. Don't travel in one direction all the time.  I always make a continuing series of 90 degree turns.  Hundred yards or so and make a turn. Another hundred or so and turn again. Two things happen.  Game will stand motionless and watch you moving by.  You make a turn and they get nervous and will move. And, when you change directions, you get a totally different view and different angles of the terrain.  Walking quietly in a straight line only allows you to cover the country in a narrow patch as you move thru it.  I play around in the woods a lot through the year, and zig zagging has gotten me a lot of meat and pictures. 

[PolarBear]

I didn't take the time to read the whole thread so I don't know if it was suggested already. Read or reread the book 'Blacktail Trophy Tactics' by the Late, Great Boyd Iverson. I have never heard anyone else describe still hunting like him.

I was fortunate enough to be able to sit down with Boyd when the book first came out and pick his brain for over an hour. A ton of my hunting techniques for any species of deer come straight from him.

[Pete112288]

I still hunt a lot.  The most important things are, in my opinion, to hunt the wind and go extremely slow.  I check the wind constantly and struggle to go slow enough.  Slow meaning that each step is deliberate and you pause often.  Quiet clothes are important.  I haven't done much for scent control.  I don't really know if it works or not, but have myself convinced I'm screwed if I don't have the wind in my favor.

This is just about the exact response I was about to give. I am always struggling to keep myself moving as slow as possible. A lot of overgrown skid roads and thick reprod with moss floors are my favorites. I check the wind quite often. I fill one of the travel size contact solution bottles with baking powder. That's my wind checker. Most of the time I go through the whole bottle full in 1 season pretty easily.
As far as when to stop and look, listen, or smell. I can never explain that one well. A lot of times it is in an area with decent visibility or when its a dry season with crunchy brush. Beyond that it always seems to be random. I get some tingle in the back of my neck or something that says "STOP!" and most of the time there is something around when that happens. Or, even though I am hearing birds in the brush all the time, there is just one soft noise that is similar that for one reason or another tells me to stop and wait it out.
Can never stress the point enough to be meticulous about watching anything fishy. When that stump on the other side of a clear cut doesn't seem like it fits in, watch it and get some glass on it, it may not be a stump. Or that one horizontal line in the vertical reprod and brush, it just may be the back of a deer watching you.

[jeffro]

One step at a time.
Every 3-5 I'll pause and glass.
Every 15-20 I'll sit and let everything quiet down
And play the other hunters, most of the animals I get are being pushed by others

[Special T]

I didn't take the time to read the whole thread so I don't know if it was suggested already. Read or reread the book 'Blacktail Trophy Tactics' by the Late, Great Boyd Iverson. I have never heard anyone else describe still hunting like him.

I was fortunate enough to be able to sit down with Boyd when the book first came out and pick his brain for over an hour. A ton of my hunting techniques for any species of deer come straight from him.

You got to do something on my bucket list! I wanted to have a cold one with him and bs about hunting more than anyone else. He was a NW hunting icon. Im bummed he is gone and envious of the fact you got to meet one of the greats in our area!

[PolarBear]

Yeah, He was a wealth of knowledge and a really nice guy.  I also got to sit down a few times with Jim Zumbo and Ted Nugent.  Zumbp ogled a couple of whitetail racks and a Cascade Roosie that I had and it started an on going chat session that started up again every year for about 3 years when he was at the Sportsman's show.

[WAnoob]

This is a skill like others I have became better at as I am getting older. When I was younger hunting with my dad I always wanted to go to the furthest and highest point on the mountain because that's where the big deer should be. My dad of course knew better and constantly made me slow down and hunt slower, ironically he always shot the biggest deer a few hundred yards in back of camp. I just wished I would have learned my lesson sooner

[Jonathan_S]

I wrenched my back a week before season like 4 years ago and had to move slowly and deliberately.  I didn't have a choice.  I saw more elk in my area that year than ever before.  Unfortunately it did nothing to stop the rain from soaking my percussion cap.  There is a 5x6 bull that will always haunt me.