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Still-Hunting
By Thomas K. Remington
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Finding your prey while
still-hunting can sometimes be difficult.
Photo by Tom Remington
Through my travels and
communications with hunters all over North America, the subject
of still-hunting usually comes up somewhere in a conversation.
The common factor about still-hunting is there is no true
definition of what it really is. A general description would
read something like this: hunting slowly through the woods
attempting to move undetected.
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As with anything, still-hunting has as many variances as there
are hunters to talk about them. One of the reasons for this is
the type of terrain you choose to hunt. This discussion will
focus on the Maine woods and some techniques and interesting
observations that have been made by other hunters and myself
over the years. If nothing else, I hope that you can learn at
least one thing from this article.
It really goes without saying that every hunter that enters the
woods during whitetail deer season, is searching for that
illusive “monster buck”. Some of us have been successful more
than once and others have hunted for years and still have not
bagged the one they are so patiently waiting for. Experienced
hunters will agree that a certain percentage of success in
bagging that trophy buck is luck and the percentage will vary
greatly as well. Personally, I think luck plays a huge roll but
there are things that you can do as a hunter to increase your
luck. |
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There’s no better teacher than experience, so by all means get
out into the woods as often as you can and open up your mind and
learn – even if from your mistakes. Let’s focus for a few
minutes on the advantages and some techniques on still-hunting.
More than likely we have all scouted out a particular area that
we think we will find deer in. If this isn’t something that you
have done in the past, it is something you should begin doing
now. Often, we learn those areas because we hunt in the same
territories year after year. Over time you will learn what areas
within the scope of where you hunt produce deer and which ones
don’t. Generally speaking a productive area will continue to
produce activity year after year but there are certain elements
that will affect that.
Once you have an area, the smaller probably the better, one way
to hunt that patch is called still-hunting. This is a technique
that hunters use to move into an area in search of deer usually
when deer don’t seem to be moving. Many of us would prefer to
find our favorite stand and wait for the deer to come by us. But
not always are deer eager to move around and we may want to go
to where they are and “sneak up on them”.
I have put together what I call my 4 points to a successful
still-hunt:
Point 1. Patience – This, in my opinion, is the single
most important factor in still-hunting. If you don’t have
patience you don’t stand a chance. If you haven’t learned the
hard way yet, deer can wait on you for what seems an eternity.
Patience comes into play in many ways. One way is just the
ability to not worry about how much ground that you have
covered. Try to concentrate on moving painstakingly slow with
little or no noise. Patience is also necessary when attempting
to determine everything that is in the scope of your vision. It
is necessary to identify all objects that are visible to you. I
know over the years that I have hunted, many a deer turned into
a tree and just disappeared or I witnessed a blow-down get up
and run away.
In between the movements of one or two steps at a time, there
should be long periods of standing perfectly still and this
requires the utmost of patience.
Point 2. Factors You Can Control – There are certain
factors or elements that we as hunters can control. Taking stock
in these before and during your hunt can greatly reduce the
chances of being discovered by your prey if not actually
increasing your chances of success.
Be aware of your own scent. I always try to look at being in the
woods in this way. It really helps me in gaining a better
understanding of what I need to do and not do. You are intruding
in the living room of the deer. Reverse the roles for a second
and imagine if you will, that someone comes onto your property
and nears your home. At your home you have familiar sounds many
of which we recognize in our sub-conscience. If you detect a
foreign sound, you become alert and probably get up off your
couch to find out what it is. This holds true as well for odors.
Animals do the same. They recognize strange odors and noise the
same as we do and most times, their senses are much keener than
ours are.
Hi-tech clothing today can “lock out” many of our odors.
Old-timers used to leave their hunting clothes out in the shed.
My Uncle used to put his in a basket of apples until it was time
to wear them again. Many hunters opt to use some kind of scent
mask to help cover or disguise their own smells.
I don’t know if this is proven scientifically or not but I was
told at one time that a human scent to a deer gets the same
reaction as a skunk smell to a human. I’ve never sat down and
kept accurate records but I think I can quite easily say that
when I go to hunting camp for a week, we see more deer earlier
in the week than later. As our clothes become more and more
saturated with the smells of bacon grease, wood smoke, all the
common odors associated with a hunting camp combined with the
build up of perspiration odors, it can get pretty darn rank.
When making your plans for your still-hunt, you need to asses
the weather conditions – time of day, temperature, forecast and
wind direction. Time of day can help you in determining what
might happen to your scent. On a clear morning with a forecast
of sunshine and warming temperatures, your scent will tend to
rise, as do the temperatures. Conversely, at the end of the day
as the temperatures cool, scents would tend to sink.
This goes hand in hand with temperature outside. Temperatures
can fall rapidly with the passing of a cold front and rise
sharply with an approaching warm front. The important thing is
to be aware of conditions and adjust your hunt to them.
One of the most important weather factors of course is the wind
direction. While still- hunting, the wind should never be at
your back but don’t always assume that just because when you
left your vehicle or hunting camp and the winds were light out
of the west that they will be that way everywhere. Depending
upon terrain, winds can swirl and shift without notice. Many
times I have had a slight breeze in my face and as I approached
the base of a hillside or mountainside, the wind came rushing
from my backside as warming air followed the up-slope. Wind can
also be forced through a ravine or gut depending upon certain
conditions.
Another important factor that can be of significant help to the
hunter is to know your terrain and the area you are going to
hunt. Remember that you’re in their element now and they have
the advantage. You can reduce their advantage by increasing
yours. Study the terrain. This can be done anytime of the year.
Know where the draws are and where the ridges, knolls and
“hogbacks” are. One of the most difficult places to hunt is
where there are a lot of small hills and ravines. Deer will
always be on the opposite side of you. That’s because they know
their terrain.
Easy to spot tracks can
make your still-hunt effort easier.
Photo by Milt Inman
Point 3. Your Movements –
The word “still” used in still-hunting is not totally accurate
as you can well imagine. It should more accurately describe your
movements while hunting a “hot” area than just hunting. As the
title indicates, when deciding to still-hunt a favorite area
your movements should be slow and limited. The next point I will
discuss is about senses and these two really go hand in hand.
First let’s talk about the movements of a deer. Deer aren’t
stupid but they do act on instincts. Their instincts become
developed over time from their own experiences. An example maybe
a young buck escapes certain peril by choosing an escape route.
His instincts will tell him next time that that was a pretty
good thing to do and he should repeat it.
Deer also don’t want to expose themselves to wide-open spaces,
especially the big buck – which is why he is big. The crafty
ones hang back in the thickets and remain as stealth as they can
for protection. When deer make a move in the woods to escape
danger, they general have a route planned and are gone long
before you get there if you don’t use good techniques while
hunting.
Knowing deer movements will help you in being able to spot a
deer in the woods and also to recognize subtle movements and
sounds. If a deer is standing unmolested in the woods, its
movements are limited. If a deer is feeding, their head and neck
will be moving up and down. When a deer puts its head down for
food, it will pick its head back up and at the same time is very
much aware of what is going on around them. They are looking
around, smelling the air and if you have ever had the
opportunity to observe a deer doing this, you’ll see that their
ears are constantly twitching and rotating picking up sounds.
Along with the twitching of the ears, comes the almost constant
movement of the tail. When not in danger the tail of the
whitetail deer remains mostly limp but like most animals with a
tail, it flicks back and forth. As your experience grows as a
hunter, it becomes easier for you to pick up the slightest of
movements – the twitch of an ear or the flick of a tail.
More times than not, deer will be lying down when you approach
them. When a deer beds down, they don’t lay completely down.
Their hind end lays flat on the ground and they prop themselves
up on their front legs while keeping their heads up. They may
have their eyes closed but trust me, their senses are on high
alert and they hear all the sounds and smell all the smells.
While lying down, the only real movement a deer makes is a
rotation of the ears searching for sounds. You may also notice a
slight movement of the head from side to side but that is very
difficult to detect.
When a deer decides it is time to run, there are some things
that take place just prior to that. I have sat for long periods
of time during hunting season and watched deer. I have learned a
great deal about their habits by doing this. I am not a
biologist and I cannot accurately explain all the glands and
every location of them on a deer. These glands secret liquids
that have odors that other deer can recognize and deer use these
as a means of communicating danger to one another. They also use
their “white tails”, thus the name whitetail deer. When danger
is eminent, the deer raises it’s tail straight up and many times
it actually curls up onto their back. At the same time, the
white hair located on the underside of the tail and around the
butt area, flares outward and makes a large white area that many
times appears a big as an airport landing strip to a hunter.
Then the deer bolts and is out of sight. I have always said that
when you see the whitetail of the deer, your chances are pretty
much gone.
When deer run it is not always done the same way. The most
noticeable run by a deer would be the long graceful leaps. Their
legs are powerful and capable of jumping very high into the air
and can leap long distances as well. You need to know as well
that deer are generally short-winded and cannot run at high
speeds for long periods of time. It’s also something they don’t
care to do because while running the keen senses don’t operate
the way they do when standing still.
A deer will also trot. When they do this, the spacing between
all four feet is equal. Many times when you jump a deer in the
woods and they take off running they will run fast for a short
distance to clear the immediate danger and then slow to a trot
for a time before stopping completely. When they stop, they will
usually turn broadside and look back in the direction of the
perceived danger.
I have walked by deer before only to hear a noise behind me and
when I turned to see what it was, I saw that big old white tail
smiling back at me. Many times deer will stand still or remain
laying down and watch you walk past and then get up and run
away. I have also witnessed a big buck bedded down under a small
fir tree in a fairly dense thicket. We saw each other about the
same time and he knew I was much too close for him to just jump
up and run away, so he began to crawl on his belly attempting to
get away.
Deer don’t just run off for the sake of running away. That would
be unwise for the deer as they could just run into more danger.
Before they decide to run, they will recognize what they are
running from. I can’t say that a deer will actually reason out a
situation and determine they are dealing with a hunter. Most
times they just learn what is dangerous or abnormal to them and
their instincts tell them to move on.
If you see something you don’t recognize, what do you do? If you
are like me, you probably stare at it until you are able to make
a determination. Deer are the same way and I have seen them do
some odd things before to help them in their decision making. A
common tactic for a deer to use is to stomp their front feet at
an unknown object to see if they can startle it and get it to
move. They blow or snort very loudly as well and bob their head
up and down.
Have you ever come face to face with a deer in the woods? Maybe
a deer walks out in front of you while you are sitting and spots
you but because you are sitting and sitting motionless, the deer
doesn’t know what you are. The deer may stop and stand
absolutely still for a long time, almost playing a game of cat
and mouse. A deer is more capable of recognizing objects when
they are moving.
These are only a few of the movements and tactics that deer
utilize in their everyday habits and for escaping danger. As you
hunt more and more and have the opportunity to experience these
things, your understanding of the whitetail deer will grow. With
this knowledge you are more easily capable of recognizing a deer
in the woods sooner and thus increasing your chances of success.
Now let’s talk about your movements. As I stated above, deer can
more easily recognize objects that are moving. It would only
stand to reason then that the less you move the less likely you
will be recognized.
When you opt to still-hunt a section of woods and you have
factored in the weather conditions etc., you must move
painstakingly slow. Everyone who still hunts has their own style
and techniques that they use and I’m sure most of them are good
solid techniques and more than likely they use them because they
have worked for them in the past. As time goes by and you become
more capable at still-hunting, you will develop your own style.
Still-hunting requires a lot of concentration and with that the
sharpening of your own senses, which we will talk about in a few
minutes. As you begin to take steps, make them short and slow.
With short steps you are better able to control each step and
the pressure you put down as well. Short steps help you to
maintain a good balance at all times. All movements should be
slow. Pick the spot where you want to step. Try to use just your
eyes to look up and down as a deer could spot unnecessary head
movement. Finding a spot to step that will produce the least
amount of noise is certainly helpful but not at the risk of
compromising all the other good techniques.
This is probably a good time to talk about noise. We all have
hunted in “corn flakes”. This is an area in the hardwood forest
where the leaves have fallen and sit dry and fluffy and every
step you take seems to echo from sea to shining sea. There are
many theories about noise and how deer recognize it and I am not
going to second guess anyone else’s theories. Experienced
hunters can spend hours telling you stories of how they walked
up onto a deer and it was the noisiest walking ever and others
when they couldn’t begin to get close to game. I think there are
way too many factors to be able to narrow it down to any one or
two things.
What bothers me most about noise is it takes away my ability to
hear. When crunching down on piles of dry maple leaves, I
couldn’t hear if a deer blew at me. So most of my concern about
noise is my ability to hear and not whether a deer hears me. I
don’t believe that a deer has the ability to recognize a hunter
by sound only. The sound will put them on high alert and now
they are scanning the horizon in the direction the noise came
from looking for movement. So with that in mind, if you
mistakenly step onto a limb that snaps or slip and slide while
trying to negotiate a step forward, remain calm and still and
just wait.
One more tip that I have heard hunters relay to me about noise.
They believe and understand that a certain amount of noise while
still-hunting in unavoidable so they try to mask or decoy their
own noises and make them sound like other forest noises that
deer may be more used to. An example: Squirrels and chipmunks
are always rustling in the leaves. If you listen to them for
awhile you will notice that very often there is constant
rustling followed by a short span of quiet and then rustling
again. One hunter told me he shuffles his feet through the dry
leaves as he steps forward trying to mimic the sound of
squirrels.
There are a few things you should keep in mind while
still-hunting that will help to minimize your movements and keep
you in a position of readiness. If possible stay out of the
bright direct sunlight. With the sun shining on your exposed
skin or on hunter orange, it reflects greatly to the deer’s
eyesight and helps them to be able to see your movements much
easier.
Try to move behind cover when possible. Instead of moving
through wide open easy to maneuver places, try coming up behind
low growing shrubs and evergreen trees. You obviously don’t want
to block your own vision nor do you want to put yourself in a
position where you cannot shoot. Any objects within your
surrounding that you can use easily to help camouflage you will
help tremendously. When I am in the right spots, I like to squat
down and stay low but remember when getting into those
positions, move slowly. Try if you can to blend in with your
surroundings. Use rocks, limbs, brush piles, blow-downs and
anything else you can that is part of the woods to hide
yourself.
In your exhausting attempts to blend in and camouflage yourself,
don’t compromise your position so you are not able to shoot when
you want. Carry your rifle in a way that is comfortable for you
yet will allow you to easily, with the least amount of movement,
raise it to your shoulder and take aim. I prefer to cradle it in
my arms in front of me keeping one hand at the grip near the
trigger.
The excitement of
finding a rub during
your hunt sure gets the blood pumping!
Photo by Milt Inman
Point 4. Senses – Yours and
theirs – Your senses cannot compare to that of a deer. Your
biggest asset that you have over that of a deer is your brain
and that many times gets you into trouble. Let’s look briefly at
a deer’s senses.
A deer has remarkable eyesight but it may not be their keenest
sense. As I understand, a deer sees in basic black and white. If
this is true then the hunter orange that is required in many
states now, would appear white or at least very light to a deer.
One of their biggest assets is there ability to pick up
movement. I have had several “staring matches” with deer over
the years. By sitting perfectly still, it is very hard for a
deer to spot you. One little movement though and you’ll be
seeing the whites of their tales.
Hearing is in my opinion their strength. If you were to study a
deer in the woods, you would notice that their ears are big and
shaped to collect sounds. A deer’s ears can rotate at least 180
degrees quickly. Once a sound is detected, a deer now knows in
what direction to watch.
Let’s not forget about the sense of smell. We have discussed
already the importance of odors and trying to mask them in some
form. Down wind a deer can pick up aromas from a long distance.
Mature deer learn over time to recognize certain aromas and know
which ones can present danger.
When a deer puts together all of their senses, it is difficult
for any hunter to get very close. I will be the first to admit
that more times than not when I got close enough to a deer to
get a shot, it was because of the deer’s mistakes not my
cleverness.
Now let’s look at your senses. Some of us have good hearing and
many of us don’t. The same holds true for eyesight as well and
forget about our ability to smell. We think because we can smell
out a blooming onion at the fair that we got good sense of
smell. Put them all together and we can be decent but fall far
short of those of a deer.
If we combine our senses with our power to reason and our
chances go up considerably if applied properly. The human is
lazy when it comes to using our senses. Because of our
intelligence, we rely on that so much we don’t exercise our
other senses enough. Combine with that an inability to
concentrate and many times our trip to the forest for a day of
deer hunting could be considered a waste of time.
So what can you do? First is to work on improving your powers of
concentration. When you decide to still-hunt an area, choose a
small section that will not take a long time. Initially the
shorter time spans will not require long periods of
concentration and then you can build from there.
With the concentration comes focus. Think about what you’re
doing and how you are doing it. You must continually convince
yourself that behind every bush and around every corner, stands
a trophy. If you don’t believe that, the task at hand becomes
that much harder to achieve.
With an increased ability to concentrate and focus, you can now
apply your knowledge to your hunt. Of course knowledge comes
from experience and the only way you’ll get that is by going
into the woods and learning. It helps to read stories and
articles from experienced hunters but until it happens to you,
often it won’t be remembered.
Use your brain. That is the strongest element you can use for a
successful hunt. Learn the sounds of the forest and know what
causes them. Learn to distinguish between a red squirrel
foraging for beechnuts and a deer walking through the leaves.
One mistake we have all made is passing off a noise as being
something other than a deer. Many times it takes several minutes
of listening before I can tell exactly what a particular noise
is. Here is a scenario that is played out time and time again
while hunting. You are still-hunting your favorite area. Part
way through your hunt, you hear a noise. You listen and wait.
You’re not sure what it is and after a moment or two the noise
stops. You wait for a few more minutes and because you now
haven’t heard the noise again you take one step forward – crash,
crash, crash! You watch in disbelief as a nice deer has taken
off out through the thicket. Often that noise your heard was a
deer standing up from its bed. They were standing perfectly
still and waiting to see if they could detect any movement and
when you moved, they were headed in the other direction.
Even though you don’t have the eyesight of a deer, doesn’t mean
you shouldn’t try to use it. Again, we have a brain and what we
see we can reason out in our minds and our ability to recognize
objects far exceeds that of a deer. The key here is the
recognition factor that comes with experience. I stated earlier
how I had been witness to many a tree or a blow-down that turned
into a deer and ran away. It’s true. As you are still-hunting,
you spend much time standing still. This is the time you should
be scouring the forest for any kind of movement or objects that
may appear out of place. Many hunters have good eyesight and a
relative uncanny ability to pick up a flicker of deer’s ear
several yards through the woods. Not all of us can do that but
we can do other things. I learned from experience many years
ago, to look for horizontal lines. About all the trees that I
know grow toward the sky and that means the edges of those trees
create vertical lines. A deer has a long body and across its
back and along its belly, they create a horizontal line when
standing in amongst the trees. That’s why I said I have seen
blow-downs run away.
Another thing to look for is a dark object or blobs I call them.
In dense growth a deer would first appear as a dark, muted and
perhaps unrecognizable object. Their brown and black hair gets
darker when out of sunlight and in between the forest trees,
shrubs and undergrowth.
Some hunters prefer to carry binoculars to aid them in spotting
game in the woods. This of course is individual preference and
sometimes the good can out weigh the bad. You need to decide for
yourself what you are comfortable with and go with it.
I would like to summarize this by saying that still-hunting is
only one aspect of deer hunting. To be a good hunter I believe
you need to practice all aspects of it. When you go into the
forest, open your mind up to the world around you. There is so
much to learn but you have to be receptive to the idea.
What I have shared with you here are my experiences and some
that have been shared with me over the years. I hope you can use
some of this information as a guideline to help get you started.
Get around experienced hunters and ask questions. Most are
willing to share their knowledge and you can begin to apply it
to your own hunts. Over time, you will develop a style and
techniques of your own and hopefully will help you in bagging
that trophy whitetail.
By Thomas K. Remington
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