Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game The art of still hunting.

When I lived back east deer hunting was crowded, on relatively small pieces of ground. Everyone had their stand, and sat there. Occasionally, small pushes would occur but for the most part it was sitting. The only still hunting that went on was in the middle of the week if you had the place to yourself. Rarely practiced is rarely successful! I was touched several years ago when my father apologized to me about for "never really teaching you to deer hunt, we never taught any of you kids. It's just all tree stands these days."

But now I can say still hunting is alive and well in Southeast Alaska. Around here a fellow can hunt about as far and long as his legs and patience will carry him. There are no fields, no food plots; for the better part of the season, if you want a deer, you go find one. I hunt a mix of big timber and brushy stuff. It's a real thrill to ease up on a deer that has no idea you're there, or have one wander by oblivious to your presence. It's an even bigger thrill when it happens with a brown bear instead of a deer.

I've found the following to be very helpful with still hunting:

1. Slow down to the pace of God's creation. This is a real mental challenge for most, me especially. I try to act there's a deer within 50 or 100 yards of me at all times and evaluate how I'm moving and watching by that standard.

2. I make a conscious effort to look near and far and really pick the scene in front of my apart bit by bit looking for pieces of deer and little bits of movement. Binos are a plus. I know I've failed at this when one runs from about 20 yards out which in retrospect had to have been watching me for 10 minutes at least.

3. Be ready to shoot at a moment's notice. For me this means being intentional about placing my feet and standing as to shoot at a moment's notice. How I'm holding the gun is important as well. It's either in my hands or in the Kifaru gun bearer so I can use the binos. The gun bearer is fast. It basically makes your rifle like a holstered handgun. I've jumped deer up and shot them from it.

4. Don't waste time in barren country. If I'm not seeing sign or "feeling it", I dump some layers and take off for greener pastures, then slow waayyy down when I get there.

5. For shooting, get a rifle you can shoot well, fast, both for the initial shot and followups. Fit and balance are important. I use both scopes and peep sights. Forget high velocity stuff! They ruin meat and lack penetration.

I really started as a still hunter here in AK with a .375 H&H, due to bears. As you can imagine, a 300gr Partition will through-hole a deer from any angle. I came to realize this is a very handy thing. I generally avoid raking shots on does since it can get messy, but it's a nice capability to have with you're really hungry or a big buck up and takes off. One time I had a guy come unwound when I spoke of raking a big buck from behind. Then he admitted taking shots at deer directly facing him, but looked puzzled when I asked what difference does it make if you bust a ham or guts with the bullet coming or going? Then, I'm biased since I used medium bores at moderate velocity bullets that aren't especially destructive.

The latest buck I killed worked like this: I hunted along a stream for awhile. The water noise was a nice cover. I passed on two does and a little buck before getting into a flooded mess of an area which had no deer sign whatsoever, but plenty of brown bear sign. Power walking for about 30 minutes took care of that problem. Looking ahead there were six or eight very fresh looking rubs and I realized it was time to slow down. The next 75 yards took me about forty minutes to travel. I ended up at the edge of a muskeg, a wonderful muskeg with edges brushy enough to appeal as edge cover but open enough to afford me a decent view of things. "Slow down!" I say to myself. Seventeen lifetimes later (or so it seems, but maybe 45 minutes) I'm about fifty yards further along and still really watching that edge. A peripheral movement on the right soon manifests as the rear end of a deer popping up as a big buck stands out of his bed. Huh? He was bedded in the sun out in the open behind a little spruce tree. Made sense in retrospect since it was the first nice day after a run of horrible weather. Anyway, it's time to shoot and he's taking off, straight away. I see his antlers are quite a bit past his ears, and his got a third point on at least one side. "Shoot him now!" At about 35 yards he starts to turn for the cover as the crosshairs settle on his fanny. Adjusting for his slight turn as the trigger press finishes, the shot breaks and he crumples. The 286gr Nosler from the 9.3x62 entered just forward of his hip and blew out the front of his chest. As the last of a big puff of hair drifts down, my nose catches that pungent smell of fall, rutty buck. Here he is, as he fell:

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