Stalking: Does anyone use this method?

The only hunting I do other than predator is stalk hunting...

Half of hunting for me is the fresh air in your face, seeing some nice country, a bit of exercise, looking sround the next bend, enjoying the hike, walk RUN!!!!

I would not be able to sit in a tree stand... I'd go crazy..
 
jackenape said:
Also, if it's windy, deer tend not to move around as much, so there's a better chance of at least seeing deer if you're walking around. If you spook one, sit tight awhile. They tend to circle downwind, so keep an eye out behind you.
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Interesting, good to know.
Really happy to see how many people are stalking, sounds exciting.

One issue for me will be finding an area to try it out during deer season.
Going in with my dad and his clan for a couple days, but their camp is all dog punching out to watches, so I can't really go off on my own.
 
Try moving carefully through an area they have pushed, right behind them. You can't move as fast, of course, but you will find lots of deer will slip through a drive if the bush is big enough that the pushers can't see each other, and the deer will be very distracted and moving. That shouldn't bother your crew much, but you must, of course, take a lot longer to cover the territory than they will take doing the push.
 
By and large, what you are describing is referred to as 'Fair Chase'.

The often cited and widely accepted definition of fair chase as provided by the Boone and Crocket Club: “Fair chase is the ethical, sportsmanlike and lawful pursuit and taking of free ranging wild game animals in a manner that does not give the hunter an improper or unfair advantage over such animals.”

The clause “Fair Chase” is that all pursued wildlife has fair chance to escape the hunter through full use of all of its God given capabilities to detect, fly or run unrestricted by man or his inventions.

Fair chase within this definition (wildlife’s capability to escape) allows the hunter’s use of deception and concealment as these two techniques do not restrict any wildlife’s ability to evade the hunter. This includes deceptions such as decoys, scents, or calls and concealment as blinds, camouflaged clothing, and cover scents. At this point the definition of fair case is largely limited to that of a single prey and hunter. That of course is not the only means hunters may employ.


Excerpts extracted from ks-mo-hunt.org/fair_chase_hunting.htm
 
still hunting is by far the funnest way to bag a deer. 2 seasons ago in december i spot and stalked 2 whitetail does and ended up being forced to take a quartering towards me shot with the crossbow at 12 yards. she didnt go far since i got both lungs and the heart.

last season i got within 20 yards of 2 more does. no snow that time so it was even harder. i was slowly bringing up the bow when a gust of wind flipped up the flap on my winter hat spooking them. but, if it werent for the hat it would have been a done deal. i tagged a button buck from the tree stand not long after that and it wasn't nearly as exciting as a stalk.

after i get one for the freezer this season i am going to try still hunting with the recurve:cool:


i gave up on stalking turkey as we have high numbers around here which means the birds very rarely travel alone. with so many eyes its almost impossible. after many attempts the closest i have ever got was 50-55 yards.
 
My favorite way to hunt... I wait for a day with bad weather - wind, rain, snow (my favorite), etc. I walk VERY slowly, stopping for longer periods than I am actually walking. Sometimes I will stop for 10 or 15 minutes and have a seat in a good looking spot.

Where I hunt, we have big tracts of swampy, thick, ugly terrain. On bad weather days I have basically crept within 10-40 yards of deer without them being the wiser.

Snow days are great - the faster it is coming down, the better. I start into the thick stuff in the areas I know the deer to frequent. The first big set of tracks I find I follow them. Not always a buck, but exciting none the less.

I got close enough one time to a little buck that when I gave a buck grunt, he charged right towards me and I had to stand up from behind a shrub and shoot him or be run over. He was no further than 2 feet from my barrel when he passed me. What a rush that was!! I call him my self defense buck :D

Try it, you will like it, but don't expect to be an expert overnight. It took me years to get good enough that I wasn't just seeing tails run. Play the wind and have fun with it.
 
I'm surprised that right off the bat some one didn't make an attempt to define some terms here.

In my experience:

"Stand Hunting" means staying put in a tree or ground blind (stand) and waiting for game to come into range.

"Still hunting" is moving very slowly and stopping often through game cover trying to get close enough for a shot before the animal becomes aware of the hunter.

"Stalking" means once an animal is seen, using cover and stealth to get close enough for a shot without being detected.

"Calling" and or rattling, is making some form of call in order to attract an animal to within range or stopping an alerted animal from leaving the area before you can get a shot.

A lot of responses above seem to be talking about "Still hunting" and referring to it as "Stalking".
 
Stalking is the only way I hunt.

It's amazing what one can notice while in this mode.

I also find it to be a lot of fun, even if I don't get anything.
It's like playing hide and seek with wildlife. :D
 
Duffy said:
I'm surprised that right off the bat some one didn't make an attempt to define some terms here.

In my experience:

"Stand Hunting" means staying put in a tree or ground blind (stand) and waiting for game to come into range.

"Still hunting" is moving very slowly and stopping often through game cover trying to get close enough for a shot before the animal becomes aware of the hunter.

"Stalking" means once an animal is seen, using cover and stealth to get close enough for a shot without being detected.

"Calling" and or rattling, is making some form of call in order to attract an animal to within range or stopping an alerted animal from leaving the area before you can get a shot.

A lot of responses above seem to be talking about "Still hunting" and referring to it as "Stalking".
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Around here what people call Still Hunting, is finding a good spot to sit and wait, like stand hunting without the stand. Most sit in a spot for a bit, and move to try another spot from time to time.The majority also implement calling into Still Hunting/Stand Hunting also.

I use all the methods above along with Deer Drives. Stalking, and Deer drives are by far my favorite ways to hunt.

Even though I do Still Hunt/Stand hunt I find it the most mindless/less challenging way of hunting.
Its more like waiting for a victim rather than hunting(fair chase).Once the scouting is done (which I do for all types of hunting) it then turns into taget shooting IMO. Instead of a paper target, its an animal. The challenging factor does however go way up when a bow rather than a rifle is added to the equation, which I prefer when Still Hunting/Stand Hunting. Either way, its all hunting, and I love to hunt.
 
This year will be my first doing anything other than stalking. I figured I'd try a stand out. But only for a little bit. Stalking is so much more fun.
 
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