Never Hunted Whitetail

[AKBowman]

Take a walk if you want to see whiteails.
Sit still if you want to kill whitetails.
As told to me by a wise old man, with lots of nice whitetail racks on the wall.
Dont get wrong i have killed bucks still hunting, also have been waved goodbye to alot.

Cute saying, but I grew up with someone who would laugh at the idea of sitting in a tree all day waiting for a whitetail.  There were plenty of 140+ bucks hanging on the wall as well.  Still hunting/tracking is a lot more than just "walking through the woods".  I'm glad that he never brought me out in the woods to sit in a tree and call it hunting.  To me that's just "waiting".    There's a lot more to be learned by still hunting (in my opinion).  Anyone can find a game trail and sit on it for hours/days on end.

I wouldnt say "anyone" can sit on stand for hours or days on end. In my experience it is a hell of a lot harder to sit on stand than it is to still hunt. For me the "hunt" in stand hunting is everything that goes into stand hunting and not really the shooting part. For exemple learning the animals patterns, general wind directions, how rutting activity changes deer patterns, where do go to feed when the wind is blowing in an odd direction, where they go when its cold, rainy, hot, dry etc, etc. All of these variables can cause a person to second guess their stand location and bail off onto the ground for a still hunt. For me its easier to hunt from the ground (less productive, but easier) I wouldnt say its more fun than stand hunting...either way stand hunting is definitely hunting.

[huntnnw]

Ive rattled off and on for years and never called a buck in in NE WA..grunts on the otherhand a ton of bucks. I am guessing you are gun hunting?  Find the does the bucks will be around..find a vantage and sit.. watch ridges!! bucks love to cruise them during the rut,also watch cut lines clearcuts that run up to old growth

[brackens]

My  is that you must sit in the morning and evening.  Check the trails, if the hoof prints are pointing out toward the feed that is a good place to sit in the evening, if they are pointing toward timber or bedding cover then sit there in the morning.  Most of the time Whitetail use a trail to come in and one to come out.  Not that this is the case all the time but I have found that a trail usually has prints, predominately, going in one direction.  If you can find where trails meet that is the cat bird seat.

[ihuntforchrist]

I think you've probably killed a few nice ones, brother! Let's see some pics. Like the one in your avatar!
[/quote]

i'm sorry. I lost all the files of the photos when my old computer crashed. I'm working on getting the files back.

I've killed some deer but only have two nice ones on the wall. The one in my avatar is a 138" 10 point (5x5 for you westerners ) from Wa 2010. i also killed another 135" buck in wi. I'm slowly adding to the count. It doesn't help that i can only kill 1 deer/year in Wa. A far cry from the 4-5 average back in the deer woods of wi.

[DBHAWTHORNE]

Take a walk if you want to see whiteails.
Sit still if you want to kill whitetails.
As told to me by a wise old man, with lots of nice whitetail racks on the wall.
Dont get wrong i have killed bucks still hunting, also have been waved goodbye to alot.

Cute saying, but I grew up with someone who would laugh at the idea of sitting in a tree all day waiting for a whitetail.  There were plenty of 140+ bucks hanging on the wall as well.  Still hunting/tracking is a lot more than just "walking through the woods".  I'm glad that he never brought me out in the woods to sit in a tree and call it hunting.  To me that's just "waiting".    There's a lot more to be learned by still hunting (in my opinion).  Anyone can find a game trail and sit on it for hours/days on end.

1. I would beg to differ that "Anyone can find a game trail and sit on it for hours/days on end.". Most people I know can't sit still for more than an hour or two in good weather..much less freezing weather.

2. Even if you can sit still on a game trail for hours on end it doesn't mean you are going to be successful. There is more to it than that it most cases.

3. The Benoit family has certainly had an influence on hunters in the NE US but I have found that few are as effective as they are in using their  techniques.

4. Tracking is certainly skill based and one of the purest forms of hunting I can imagine but generally the conditions have to be right for this successful in a hunting scenario. I have been through a couple tracking courses and even the best trackers I have seen aren't going to track down a mature whitetail in the woods of NE Washington on any consistent basis. If you know a guy that does please let me know because I would love to interview him for story.

5. Stillhunting is just another kind of hunting and no more or less challenging than sitting in a stand all day.....almost anybody can walking through the woods slowly and stop, look and listen.... of course that is oversimplifying still hunting in the same manner your over simplifying stand hunting. They are both hunting tactics..nothing more nothing less.

6. If most general season hunters would sit still for a while then I believe they would achieve a much high success rate on whitetail. The ones I do see walking around certainly aren't tracking and they definitely aren't still hunting.....they are "walking through the woods"


 

[huntnnw]

I agree on "anyone sitting all day" is far from the truth...sitting in single digit temps is hard to do. When I rifle hunted my most success came from still hunting during the rut and sitting and glassing and using a grunt call then move on

[Miles]

Take a walk if you want to see whiteails.
Sit still if you want to kill whitetails.
As told to me by a wise old man, with lots of nice whitetail racks on the wall.
Dont get wrong i have killed bucks still hunting, also have been waved goodbye to alot.

Cute saying, but I grew up with someone who would laugh at the idea of sitting in a tree all day waiting for a whitetail.  There were plenty of 140+ bucks hanging on the wall as well.  Still hunting/tracking is a lot more than just "walking through the woods".  I'm glad that he never brought me out in the woods to sit in a tree and call it hunting.  To me that's just "waiting".    There's a lot more to be learned by still hunting (in my opinion).  Anyone can find a game trail and sit on it for hours/days on end.

3. The Benoit family has certainly had an influence on hunters in the NE US but I have found that few are as effective as they are in using their  techniques.

That's like a guy from the east coast saying that Cameron Hanes had an influence on backcountry hunting, but few are as effective as he is.   Give me a break....

The Benoits didn't gain popularity until the mid to late 90's.  There are MANY hunters that are easily as successful at tracking as they are, they're just not looking for publicity.   The Benoits didn't start this type of hunting, they just marketed it to the hunting public.   Have you ever looked for hunters in the NE US that are successful at tracking?   

[CP]

Driving around until you see one then jumping out and shooting it is always effective.  Now that’s real hunting, like the pioneers did it, only they drove wagons.

[ihuntforchrist]

Driving around until you see one then jumping out and shooting it is always effective.  Now that’s real hunting, like the pioneers did it, only they drove wagons.

fact, but frowned upon these days

[PolarBear]

Driving around until you see one then jumping out and shooting it is always effective.  Now that’s real hunting, like the pioneers did it, only they drove wagons.

That's how they hunted Injuns, not deer.   

[BULLBLASTER]

Driving around until you see one then jumping out and shooting it is always effective.  Now that’s real hunting, like the pioneers did it, only they drove wagons.

That's how they hunted Injuns, not deer.   

I learned that it is not necessary to stop the rig or even turn off the engine.... just rolling down the wiindow is sufficient. Besides we all know the deer will just stand there and look until the car door opens... 

[DBHAWTHORNE]

Take a walk if you want to see whiteails.
Sit still if you want to kill whitetails.
As told to me by a wise old man, with lots of nice whitetail racks on the wall.
Dont get wrong i have killed bucks still hunting, also have been waved goodbye to alot.

Cute saying, but I grew up with someone who would laugh at the idea of sitting in a tree all day waiting for a whitetail.  There were plenty of 140+ bucks hanging on the wall as well.  Still hunting/tracking is a lot more than just "walking through the woods".  I'm glad that he never brought me out in the woods to sit in a tree and call it hunting.  To me that's just "waiting".    There's a lot more to be learned by still hunting (in my opinion).  Anyone can find a game trail and sit on it for hours/days on end.

3. The Benoit family has certainly had an influence on hunters in the NE US but I have found that few are as effective as they are in using their  techniques.

That's like a guy from the east coast saying that Cameron Hanes had an influence on backcountry hunting, but few are as effective as he is.   Give me a break....

The Benoits didn't gain popularity until the mid to late 90's.  There are MANY hunters that are easily as successful at tracking as they are, they're just not looking for publicity.   The Benoits didn't start this type of hunting, they just marketed it to the hunting public.   Have you ever looked for hunters in the NE US that are successful at tracking?

I heard of the Benoit Family in the 80's and you likely didn't hear much about them before that because while hunting and whitetail have always been popular the craze didn't really begin until the 80's.

I agree the Benoit's aren't the end all be all when it comes to tracking....but when you say "MANY"..... I would say by what measure??? Unless 99.9% of successful trackers shun any publicity what so ever (which isn't highly likely considering human nature) I can say fairly confidently that there aren't a large percentage of hunters using tracking to consistently kill mature bucks.

That being said during this past general season (and most general season before that) I can personally only think of a few days that would have been conducive to this style of whitetail hunting...even in the mountains. It's nearly impossible to track them and hunt them at the same time with no snow.  I can track or I can hunt but it's nearly impossible to do both. If I am tracking with no snow I am focused far too much on the track (which may turn out to be impossible to follow anyway). If I am hunting I am simply still hunting and certainly not following the track.

When I was younger and hunted with modern firearm I did a lot of still hunting and found it to be very effective for killing animals. However, I can't say it was any harder than stand hunting and for most people I personally believe it is easier.

[Miles]

Take a walk if you want to see whiteails.
Sit still if you want to kill whitetails.
As told to me by a wise old man, with lots of nice whitetail racks on the wall.
Dont get wrong i have killed bucks still hunting, also have been waved goodbye to alot.

Cute saying, but I grew up with someone who would laugh at the idea of sitting in a tree all day waiting for a whitetail.  There were plenty of 140+ bucks hanging on the wall as well.  Still hunting/tracking is a lot more than just "walking through the woods".  I'm glad that he never brought me out in the woods to sit in a tree and call it hunting.  To me that's just "waiting".    There's a lot more to be learned by still hunting (in my opinion).  Anyone can find a game trail and sit on it for hours/days on end.

3. The Benoit family has certainly had an influence on hunters in the NE US but I have found that few are as effective as they are in using their  techniques.

That's like a guy from the east coast saying that Cameron Hanes had an influence on backcountry hunting, but few are as effective as he is.   Give me a break....

The Benoits didn't gain popularity until the mid to late 90's.  There are MANY hunters that are easily as successful at tracking as they are, they're just not looking for publicity.   The Benoits didn't start this type of hunting, they just marketed it to the hunting public.   Have you ever looked for hunters in the NE US that are successful at tracking?

I heard of the Benoit Family in the 80's and you likely didn't hear much about them before that because while hunting and whitetail have always been popular the craze didn't really begin until the 80's.

I agree the Benoit's aren't the end all be all when it comes to tracking....but when you say "MANY"..... I would say by what measure??? Unless 99.9% of successful trackers shun any publicity what so ever (which isn't highly likely considering human nature) I can say fairly confidently that there aren't a large percentage of hunters using tracking to consistently kill mature bucks.

You sir have obviously never stepped foot in the north woods of NH or Maine during the month of November.  Spend a hunting season there, then get back to me with your "fairly confident" assessment. 

I'm curious as to how you heard about the Benoit family in the 80's?   

[Buckmark]

So once again as typical a topic has taken a turn and become a pecker measuring contest.
The OP stated he has never hunted Whitetails before, was not going to sit in a tree and yet wanted advice.
Sitting still (not in a tree) seems to be the most common answer, so must work, does still hunting work, sure but if you hunt them like you hunt mulies your odds will go down.
He is not familiar with whiteys, has not hunted the unit (i think) and as far as i remember unit 224 is not a hotbed of whitey bucks (I hunt further east than that) so finding good sign/trails/doe's/feed and sitting on it should put the odds in his favor.
I know for me when i started chasing whitetails and applied my mulies tactics to them it just did not work, but when i switched up and started stand hunting (ie: sitting still) my success increased, although i am bow hunting which does change things.

[DBHAWTHORNE]

Take a walk if you want to see whiteails.
Sit still if you want to kill whitetails.
As told to me by a wise old man, with lots of nice whitetail racks on the wall.
Dont get wrong i have killed bucks still hunting, also have been waved goodbye to alot.

Cute saying, but I grew up with someone who would laugh at the idea of sitting in a tree all day waiting for a whitetail.  There were plenty of 140+ bucks hanging on the wall as well.  Still hunting/tracking is a lot more than just "walking through the woods".  I'm glad that he never brought me out in the woods to sit in a tree and call it hunting.  To me that's just "waiting".    There's a lot more to be learned by still hunting (in my opinion).  Anyone can find a game trail and sit on it for hours/days on end.

3. The Benoit family has certainly had an influence on hunters in the NE US but I have found that few are as effective as they are in using their  techniques.

That's like a guy from the east coast saying that Cameron Hanes had an influence on backcountry hunting, but few are as effective as he is.   Give me a break....

The Benoits didn't gain popularity until the mid to late 90's.  There are MANY hunters that are easily as successful at tracking as they are, they're just not looking for publicity.   The Benoits didn't start this type of hunting, they just marketed it to the hunting public.   Have you ever looked for hunters in the NE US that are successful at tracking?

I heard of the Benoit Family in the 80's and you likely didn't hear much about them before that because while hunting and whitetail have always been popular the craze didn't really begin until the 80's.

I agree the Benoit's aren't the end all be all when it comes to tracking....but when you say "MANY"..... I would say by what measure??? Unless 99.9% of successful trackers shun any publicity what so ever (which isn't highly likely considering human nature) I can say fairly confidently that there aren't a large percentage of hunters using tracking to consistently kill mature bucks.

You sir have obviously never stepped foot in the north woods of NH or Maine during the month of November.  Spend a hunting season there, then get back to me with your "fairly confident" assessment. 

I'm curious as to how you heard about the Benoit family in the 80's?

It is true that I have never stepped foot in the woods of Maine or NH during the month of Nov. It will take 2-3 years but I will take you up on that and make it a point to visit those woods during the month of November. I have always wanted to hunt Maine.

I read about them in a magazine. I honestly can't remember which publication but I know I hadn't killed a deer yet so it had to be 1987 or before. If I remember correctly the article was primarily about Larry

I know for a fact Larry Benoit has been in national publications since the early 70's and possibly earlier.