Miles,
Much of what you describe is easier to do in areas where you and I are likely to hunt as opposed to these where the OP hunts.
Where I hunt deer can die in places you almost have to step on them to find them. An aspen clear cut can be so dense that you can clap your hands to your side and tip over and you wont hit the ground. A willow swamp is 4-5 feet of grass and brush up to ten feet. A deer two feet away can be impossible to see. I have literally found deer by crawling on my hands and knees until I bumped into them. Yeah, sometimes they run under a stand of maples and it's easy. Sometimes they run into a blow down area and you're sorry when you do find them. At deer camp we had a blow down and it was quite possible to walk a couple hundred yards and never touch the ground.
