Traveling quietly through brush

[smithkl42]

A lot of folks - here, in books, other forums, etc. - have recommended hunting the edges of clearcuts, as deer can apparently be found there during the day. And I regularly hear advice like "Get off the roads". And all of that makes sense. If I were trying to hide from a sniper, you wouldn't find me on a road or trail anywhere near shooting light.

But whenever I've tried to get off of roads and human trails and into the timber proper, it seems like I end up making a ton of noise, enough noise that I'm sure to be alerting every deer within a hundred yards, well before I could possibly see them. I can move quietly and carefully enough along roads or trails or lightly-brushed country. But moving through the sort of brush we've got here in western Washington is hard enough, period, and doing it quietly enough to call it hunting seems impossible. Blackberries are the worst of course: they're everywhere and grab at everything. (I've gotten myself into blackberry patches that took me hours to get out of.) But even just the standard salal and vine maple and similar sort of underbrush make it incredibly difficult to move quietly.  Sometimes I try to follow game trails, but those trails around here seem to peter out quickly, and even when they don't, they tend to dodge in and out of blackberries and deadfalls and low-hanging branches in ways that defeat my attempts to move quietly.

In short, I'm sure I've frightened way far more deer than I've seen.

How do you combine the advice to "get off the roads" with "travel quietly"?

[cougforester]

I think it comes down more to knowing when you can move fast and when you need to really slow down. If you're just trying to cover ground and get between spots, bomb through it. Sound actually dies pretty fast in thick timber.

As soon as you start still hunting, go as slow as you think you should, then go half that again. Learn to walk on the outside of your foot and roll your weight forward. Humans now walk normally heel first, which pops sticks like no other. Learn what limbs that bend if you step on them vs what will pop loudly look like  in your area.

I work out in the woods almost every day and perhaps my most valuable lesson I've learned is if you come to really nasty patch of brush that there's no other logical way around, don't just creep your way through it. Blast through as fast as you can. You're going to make noise either way, get it over with and reduce the change of an animal being or moving into range of hearing that commotion. 

[dreamunelk]

Use game trails whenever you can.  If deer hunting move slow and stop often.  Elk move a little faster and pay attention.  When see, hear, or smell switch to slow  and slower mode.  Get out and scout before and after the season.  The more time you spend out there the better you will move.  This is a case where practice really helps.  Going from walking the roads to moving through brush is a major change.  Your body needs to adjust and remember how to move.

[Humptulips]

There is nothing wrong with walking the road. Truth be told as many roads as there are I spend more time on the road then off anymore. Pick your spots is my advise. Even at that you will walk out to a spot you can see better and step on a stick. You'll think you just alerted every deer for miles but that doesn't necessarily mean they took off on the dead run. Look around, they know something is up but you still have a chance at them.
One reason stormy weather is so good.

[Buzz2401]

Wool can really help. Nothing is as quiet as wool. Next would be fleece.  Then just walk slow. Moving brush is not that alarming to animals, swish, swish, swish is.  If the wind is right and you move slow and use cover to your advantage you can get really close to animals.  Also pick your days, sneaking up on a blacktail on a calm sunny day is gonna be real hard unless the terrain is giving you a break. A little rain, snow, fog or wind can go a long way for covering movement and sound.

[PolarBear]

 
I HATE hunting clearcuts or road hunting!  8-15 year old reprod and big timber is my favorite.  Good fleece or wool, creeping through the brush (if you think you are going too slow, slow down some more) and using bad weather to your advantage.  Wind and rain are your friends it messes with all of their senses .  The best way to be dead quiet is to sit and wait especially if you are limited to where or how you can move.  If the brush gets too thick to navigate quietly pick a spot where the critters are going in and out of the thick stuff, back away a bit and just wait.
 

[Tinmaniac]

On the wetside the only way to hunt 8 to 15 year old reprod would be to sit wait.At 8 years you may be able to still get through it.At 15 visibility will be about 2 feet.I love 2 to 5 year old cuts with big timber and older cuts butting up to the new stuff.Stay out of the sticker bushes and chest deep salal.

[bornhunter]

The secret to moving quiet is move slow. A wise old successful hunter once said, " when you think you are moving slow enough, slow down."

[dscubame]

The secret to moving quiet is move slow. A wise old successful hunter once said, " when you think you are moving slow enough, slow down."

  x2

[Special T]

I wear fleece. When the weather is nice I wear my super soft flexible soled boots. Additionally I carry a pair of hand pruners. I dont cut everything in my path on a hunt, but there are always just a few big BlackBerry cains that need removal.  I hate BlackBerry brambles everything else I can hang with.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[smithkl42]

I carry a pair of hand pruners. I dont cut everything in my path on a hunt, but there are always just a few big BlackBerry cains that need removal.  I hate BlackBerry brambles everything else I can hang with.

I gotta say, hand pruners are the single best non-traditional hunting utensil I've got in my backpack. They're absolutely critical. They're also kinda loud, but I suspect they're not so loud as my punching through a bunch of blackberries without 'em.

[hawks33]

Try getting in there in the spring or summer and do some light pruning. If I go to an area and find a lot if sign, but it's too thick, try making yourself some access in the off season so you can setup outside the thick bedding areas. Good spots to sit during the rut and at dawn/dusk. As others have said, the weather's your friend, unless I'm hunting sagebrush, I dont like sunny days. G

[Special T]

I personally think going Poco Loco after the season is over with a machete when the leaves are gone. I have one spot im going to do this to this winter after waterfowl season.

[fishnfur]

Lots of good ideas mentioned.  Practice makes you a lot better. You learn by mistakes and trying new methods of getting through the brush. 

 I think all of Boyd Iverson's tips have been mentioned":

Stay on trails.  Don't cross country off trail.

Use ambient noise when available to conceal your movement (planes, vehicles, chattering critters, wind, etc.)

If you blunder and crash a bit, stop and hold for 20 or more minutes.  Tipping a can call, using cow call, or raking a tree or brush with an antler makes local animals think another animal made the noise. They will calm down quicker if you fool them. Eventually, game animals get back to their normal routines if you are quiet for awhile.  Continued noise emanating from your movements as you travel will clear a path all around you.  Game animals will get out of your way.

Go around blackberries if possible.  Clip or step directly on them if you have to pass through them.  Many a close encounter has been ruined by Blackberries.

[Shoofly09]

slow                                              slower

[headshot5]

I generally cut trails after season (February so I can look for sheds) with a machete, and then hit them with pruners again in August if I'm planning to hunt there.  I also carry a pair of hand pruners in my pocket while hunting.  As also noted, wearing fleece and wool helps.  The two biggest blacktail bucks, that I have killed were 200 yards apart on consecutive years.  Both were shot from a trail I had cut that paralleled a clearcut.

Also, if you can cut a trail to see into portions of a clearcut that can't be seen from the road, you will find the deer entering in exiting the clearcut in that area a large % of the time.  I've had great luck watching the hidden corners of clearcuts in mid-morning and evening.

Edit to add...  If you need a recommendation for a good machete get a Bear Grylls machete made by Gerber.  It's the best machete I've every used.  I'm not generally a gerber fan, but they did a great job on this one.   



 
 



       

[Jonathan_S]

I don't usually try and be quiet unless creeping into a stand.  Otherwise, just focus on making the "right" sounds.  Deer, elk, bear aren't silent but they have very different patterns of sound than do we.  Still hunting (slow movement) should sound like an animal moving.  Even if it alerts your prey, they're more likely to hang around out of curiousity or even discount it entirely.

[7mmfan]

With blacktail in particular, I've found them to be quite curious. I worry about my smell WAY more than I worry about noise. If they haven't seen/smelled you, just heard you, they will hang out to see what you are most of the time. They are also notorious for holding tight and letting you walk by. I have walked into a spot and got setup, only to have animals come check me out a few minutes later when I sat still long enough. Their curiosity gets the best of them sometimes.

Like others have said, noise isn't all bad, it just needs to be the right noise. Doe bleats, grunts, tree rubbing, false browsing (plucking browse so it sounds like a deer eating), all are sounds that can put a close by animal at ease, and even encourage them to come check you out.

My biggest ah ha moment was when still hunting a big ferny flat in big timber. It was actually pretty good going so I found myself moving to fast. I got to a point where I needed to pick my way through some downfall and brush and it slowed me down to a snails pace as I tried to negotiate it quietly and had to take time to pick my next steps. I was about 5 minutes in and had moved probably 25' when I saw a white spot in the ferns about 100' away looking at me. It was a buck bedded down watching me and all I could see was his face between some ferns. He could tell I was pre-occupied with what I was doing, and hadn't noticed him. He also knew if he bailed that he would be very visible in that open fern ground so he just layed there and watched me. It was the fact that I was forced to slow to a snails pace that allowed me to pay more attention to what was immediately around me that allowed me to notice him.

[Fl0und3rz]

With blacktail in particular, I've found them to be quite curious. I worry about my smell WAY more than I worry about noise. If they haven't seen/smelled you, just heard you, they will hang out to see what you are most of the time. They are also notorious for holding tight and letting you walk by.

Blacktail, mulies, and elk, I have walked right up on busting through thick brush, as close as about three yards to about ten yards, depending on their willingness to hold tight and sight distance.  Sometimes you can smell them before you see them. 

[smithkl42]

I generally cut trails after season (February so I can look for sheds) with a machete, and then hit them with pruners again in August if I'm planning to hunt there.

I like that idea of cutting some trails on the backside of clearcuts. Gives me something to do in the off-season.

[Special T]

Here are some tips for investing time on a blacktail hunting spot.

Dont clear the entry to a trail too well. you dont want to let everyone else know its there.

Get to know an area really well before you invest tooo much time Ive overinvested in places that didnt produce cutting trails finding trees for the stand and cutting shooting lanes. While learning an area really well just use hand pruners until you get a good layout. IMO make a rough sketch map. Its pretty to do this over a Google map.

When you do find a spot that your pretty sure will be productive cut a wide swath while the leaves are gone. Its a lot less work, but when the brush comes back it will do so with a vengeance because you cleared it. if you dont clear wide enough spring time will have it closed back up again.

Look for Mushrooms and where the berry plants are. it may turn into a productive bear area.