How To Still Hunting For Deer
Deer hunting on the move, or still hunting, is generally misunderstood as to what it is and how to go about it. It is haunting deer, not awaiting on a stump or in a blind for the deer to come to you. It can be the most appreciated deer hunting experience you can do. It can also be the most frustrating, since it is a skill which requires you to slow everything – your sight, your breath and your walking gait. But the payoffs go beyond the hunt to your better enjoyment of nature itself.
These few mere techniques can be used on your next hunt – whether you choose to still-hunt or not, the principles are the equivalent. These know-hows will also make your deer hunt a richer experience. Softly walking thru the woods enjoying nature is very relaxing and pleasing. It’s all about: you’re outdoors – love the scenery, hunting or not.
Even so, deer, and other prey species, have eyes designed to detect motion. Deer and all prey species have eyes on the side of their head, and this aids in perceiving motion first, long before the animal can distinguish whether what they see is a threat, or just some pattern-breaking motion in the woods. When still hunting for deer, we must adopt to the way they see. First, we must see motion, patterns out of sync second, and the deer last. The only way to do these is to relax our focus and broaden our field of vision.
You see it entirely all the time – the hunter walking through the woods as if he’s hunting on rice paper. It does not work. As a hunter, you are going to make noise. But then, so do deer and other game. So does anything dwelling and breathing in the woods. What you want to avoid is making the pulsing gait a hunter makes when he’s running, usually after a deer, or doing everything he can to be quiet, when he doesn’t yet see one.
Walking toe-heel is the way to walk, because the palm of your foot can be more adaptable in its response to the softwood twigs and dead-fall underfoot – like deer, whose hooves make relatively light contact with the forest floor. Walking heel-toe makes for a heavy, stiff step – a human step. Walking heel toe, take a few steps, pause, and, using the soft-focus described above, take in the environment, in a holistic way.
At present be very deliberate, if you find yourself getting into a steady, rhythmic gait, interrupt it. You also prefer to avoid any plain human sounds, and also sounds coming from anything man-made, such as metal or hard plastic. Bottom line – sweeping past an oak stump is alright to marching in beat is not, nor is that canteen banging against your hunting rifle strap buckle.
Eventually, walk into the wind. Yes, this is rule 1. But many hunters, especially those used to staying in a relatively insulated hunting blind, forget this cardinal rule. I’ve stood with my bow drawn on a buck 10 yards away, with the buck clearly trying to figure out what the heck this would-be rambo was up to – only to watch it spring to life once the wind shifts, and thanksgiving was a bit – thinner that year.
Do not even annoy still hunting on blustery days, with no prevailing winds. The bottom line, when you are hunting deer in this way, is to get used to is slowing yourself down, for hours at a time, and softening your focus to “deer hunt” for motion – not deer. But act like, see like, deer, become a more part of where you are, and you will reap many rewards – whether you take a deer or not.
Hunter craftsman and knowledgeable Ethan O. Tanner explains the various selections of stalking deer the choices of Deer Shack for great outdoors advice you should consider.
