Contributors to this thread:
How many successful whitetail deer stalks have you had
I just put one on for 6 bedded does… had the wind had the sun, got busted at 30yds, just not enough cover..
Didn’t blow them out, they got nervous and walked out…
Couldn’t get drawn…
Fun way to kick off the new year !
Sounds like you had a blast! Congrats to you on what I'd consider a successful hunt!
No clue how many times I've stalked up on an animal. I've taken deer and bobcats that way, never a yote or pronghorn. For some reason I just can't get closer than 60yds to a antelope.
My UP 8, still tracking at 75, ML kill. Got young guys to help me, to get em out.
My UP 8, still tracking at 75, ML kill. Got young guys to help me, to get em out.
Nice!
If I would set up and have waited they would eventually came across, wanted to seal the deal on a stalk.. was damn fun either way…. Would have had a muzzleloader head shots if I wanted to…. Wanted a bow kill though!
Happy new year everyone!
I stalked a big doe to about 90 yds with a muzzle loader and when I took the shot I flinched terribly, missed her by a mile..lol. it was fun tho. Don't get to do that in Ohio very often.
Snuck in to 30 yds and killed a big doe out in some CRP several years ago. Super windy conditions was probably the main reason I was successful. S n S on a whitetail is not an easy feat, IMO.
Haven’t had much luck stalking whitetails, but I did manage to spot a really nice buck Mulie — for an OTC unit, anyway — during a snowstorm one afternoon. He had bedded in a little depression, about the size of a big bathtub and half as deep, and he all but disappeared into it. Lucky for me, he had his head up, looking around a bit.
I leopard-crawled to within about 60 before he seemed to have somewhere else to be; didn’t scare him off, exactly, but that’s lion country, so he may have seen enough. Would’ve been a slam dunk with my .54, of course. No tag either way, so it was all fun and games… and it sure was fun.
I bumped a doe and then hid behind a tree as she began to slowly make her way back to see what it was and I shot her head on and she dropped. The second one I stalked in some high brush and arrowed at 20 yards.
Shot plenty that way. More like see them and angle closer without eye contact until within range
Great technique, especially in areas where the deer are exposed to a fair amount of Clueless Human traffic….
My first season, I almost stepped on a doe. One of five which I never saw until they flushed like so many hen pheasants…
Duh. LOL
Got within 10 yds a couple times but she saw me and finished her drink both times and left. Of course was younger then. Just sit in a tree now hoping something comes by.
Who Cares, that's what I've always been told. "They're all 10's at closing time"!
Corax that seems to work well in wolf country too. Seems like deer would rather stand motionless hoping the danger passes & run only as a last resort.
Exactly. Running like hell is a tremendous waste of energy!
Maybe this is a Q for the OP, but does intercepting a Bumped deer count as a “stalk”? I did that on a pretty little 7-point one year on my last day of ML…
When he high-tailed it back the way he’d come from, I sprinted like Last of the Mohicans about 60 yards down and across the wind so that he would end up in my lap when he tried to circle downwind of “whatever that was”, and was able to drop him at 10 or 15 yards….
That is the only way I know how to hunt any species.
I love it
Good luck, Robb
Living out west we get lots of opportunities to stalk deer. I like killing them on the ground.
I stalked in on this buck a few years back……had to wait a bit for him to stand. I love to stalk whitetail where applicable.
IMOP whitetails are by far the easiest species to stalk. With their tendency to hold tight they are extremely stalkable. The biggest problem is most whitetail country is heavily wooded and a hunter is not able to spot and bed a buck.
Half the deer I kill with a bow is on the ground. I’ve found whitetails in cattle country, that’s cut up and steep, are remarkably dumb in comparison to when they are in the woods. When conditions are right you can move on them easily in more open ground.
When they are locked down its not tuff.
Ben, that's an accomplishment to stalk that close. Where I hunt it has to be wet or enough wind blowing to attempt it. I've stalked within 30 yards before but that's about it
For those who hunt this way…
Do you ease straight in, very slowly, hoping to avoid detection, or — once you have located an animal — do you do the Clueless Walk, allowing them to figure you’ll blow right past them, none the wiser?
Seems that I have had a lot of encounters while still-hunting, in which the deer have stood up to get a better look at me once I got within about 30 yards. Does not work real well on heavily pressured animals, IME, but for the ones which see people only rarely, or very frequently (but don’t get shot at too often), it’s almost as if walking straight into a bedding area is a high- productivity tactic…
Of course, I have no idea how many animals I have pushed out of an area doing that…..
Stalking is my favorite way to hunt deer here in PA with my flintlock in our second season. I like my shots 50 yards and closer.
The conditions have to be just right as far as wind and how noisy the ground is. Plus, I can’t hunt in the rain or heavy snow so I can keep my powder dry. It’s challenging in many ways but when it all comes together it’s awesome. I try to use the terrain to my advantage as much as possible especially when I’m approaching a bedding area.
This hunting method also provides a lot of scouting info especially when there is snow on the ground. Great exercise as well.
Haha. Clueless walk.
The clueless walk, is thinking you have a clue, when in fact, you’re completely clueless. Pretty sure I’ve done this walk, but by definition, I can’t be sure.
Deer in timber don’t tolerate much. If they pick you out or see movement, it’s a done deal.
Deer in ground that the sun illuminates well, can be fooled. They simply don’t see as well when it’s bright. They don’t see as well when snow is on the ground and it’s sunny either. They don’t see as well when the sun is bright, and the wind is moving everything around a bit. Etc….
It takes a little doing to learn what you can and can’t do when stalking them. But, anytime you get them in the sun, the better your odds of sneaking up on them are.
But, you ain’t going to kill many deer trying to walk by them as a tactic. Sunny or not. In the woods, they come unglued when they see you. In more open country, they run because they know they are in the open and more vulnerable.
It’s really not something that can be described. It’s just something you learn as you do it.
If I’m able to watch a whitetail bed in timber or I’m lucky enough to spot one bedded from a tree stand. I ve found that they let you get the closest when they’re tucked in deep in the brush. All the whitetails I’ve stalked will let you continue into range even if they’ve spotted you if you do a nondirect stalk. When I stalk them I go at almost a paralleling line that tapers closer. But in any country they are by far the easiest animal to get into 15-20 yds.
No, the Clueless Walk is when you keep tabs on an animal out of the corner of your eye while appearing to be looking everywhere But. It can also be accomplished by just keeping your head down and making good time, because the deer think you’re going to blow right past them, as many people do…..
Heavily pressured deer (such as we have on all of the Public land I’ve been on/near out here won’t stand around very often, because they’ve Learned. And I wouldn’t ordinarily recommend it as a way to get your name in any kind of a book. But it surely DOES work, at least some of the time.
Think of it as a HECS suit, without the suit. If you’ve ever seen a lion walk through a herd of Wildebeest without all of them running off, you’ve seen it work.
A lot of different species for me as I'm not squirrelly enuff to get in a tree and too nervous in a blind. Spot and stalk is great for most critters that won't eat me.
Many times……certain farms are conducive……wind and rain are your friend and being familiar with where an animal wants to go when they’re on their feet is much easier than being undetected by a bedded deer.
I’ve had very good success in corn fields. If conditions are favorable it’s pretty easy to get close. The issue I’ve had has been the body angle in the corn row. Especially when they are bedded. They like to lay like a dog. Butt pointing down the row and they bend at the belly almost 90 degrees with the head into the stalks. Or into the next row.
Getting close is easy. Getting the shot is tough. If they are meandering and feeding it’s tough to stay on them.
Have you tried tossing a dirt clod or something a little ways past them to get them to stand up? Make just enough noise to arouse curiosity without sounding an alarm….
I have tossed snow balls and rocks to get deer to stand but I think the best if the wind is steady is to just wait or shoot bedded. It a satisfying way to take a whitetail. I have taken maybe 20 stalking them. I think moving like a sloth is key. Like others have said wrong movement kills your chance. Going in higher wind tips the hunt in your favor.
Never killed one stalking a corn field. Always wanted to
It's my preferred method of hunting. This ravine had 7 bucks in it. Got within bow range of all them, spooked 2. To hunt dense timber, a strong wind in my face, snow, or spitting rain is preferred. If I hunt cedars, any day will do especially if there is a lot of cool season grass growing in them because it is quiet walking. Might as well forget trying to stalk in dry oak leaves or hardwood timber because they hear you from a mile away.
Better view of two of them. The bigger buck was preening himself in the video.
Better view of two of them. The bigger buck was preening himself in the video.
Any time I’ve thrown something to get a deer to stand up, it has always ended badly. Last fall - for the first time ever, I sat tight and waited. When that deer stands up to stretch, fully relaxed - he’s all but dead already.
Imagine someone throws a rock into your bedroom at 2 AM. We might jump up too
Used to stalk alot before the knees got bad, hips wore out and feet needed pins. That said, the slower the better seemed to do the trick. Talking 100 yds in the woods in maybe 1 1/2 hours. You have to have a lot of confidence that the animals will be there. Either cause you bumped into them previously or by long range scouting.
If you can combine a stalk with a few guys on the other end of a swamp or deep thicket that works too. A stalk, not a push as you don't want to shoot at running deer.
Stalking through a cattail swamp is just as fun as a cornfield sometimes.
“ Imagine someone throws a rock into your bedroom at 2 AM.”
Well, YEAH, if you’re a knucklehead about it…… LOL
Seems like a lot of people are less than 100% on the differences between stalking and still-hunting, though…..
Like Tony Bear in the 70's most my deer were taken by stalking but now my balance won't let me stalk effectively. My last few times have been on windy days in cornfields.
In cornfields…. I guess that’s a different KIND of “stalking”…
