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

I like that term, totally get it.

I have tried to teach a few younger guys how to do it. My biggest problem was getting them to slow down. Then it was getting them to stop and look and using their binoculars more.Binoculars are not just for looking at things far away.

I always still hunt, might sit for an hour morning and evening but that's about all! I've never owned a stand, I do make blinds to watch areas, then move after a little while! Someday I would like to try a stand, I have been getting more patience as I age! Blind making while scouting keeps me occupied. I've hidden in the same blinds for years in certain areas, some seem to stay, others need rebuild every year! If I'm not seeing animals within an hour I'm usually moving. I've never killed an animal from a blind!

The first time I used a binocular in heavy cover it was like a light going on. What huge difference it made.

I learned to still hunt pretty much on my own. My early mentors were mostly eastern drive hunters. One old guy I hunted with kind of got me started on still hunting but I was always moving too fast and too much. It took a lot of years to figure it out. I still move too much sometimes but find it's way easier to move slow and deliberately the older I get. I still don't like to sit. I'll do it occasionally but it takes more determination on my part to sit on a stand than it does to still hunt properly.

You can, with a cc and the internet, hunt a waterhole in Zimbabwe, or others. Controlled by a joystick, cleaned and gutted by others and shipped to you by mail ready for the freezer or the wall mount.
intended for the handicapped but anyone can do it. ( common name is remote rifle)
As for high fence, I will not hunt in a cage no matter how large it is.

I think it's a dying art. Many of the younger hunters have grown up with such a short attention span, a "microwave" type mentality if you will, that the concept of still hunting is lost on them.

My Father & Grandparents were all from Minnesota, so stands and deer drives were what they knew. We were living on the foothills of the Cascades in Southern Oregon, so hunting west was for blacktail or heading east was mule deer. I had to learn much from reading Outdoor Life, JOC, Fred Bear, etc. My Dad's skill set wasn't working out so well.

One summer I did some odd jobs for an elderly neighbor. It started out me stopping to help him when passing by and seeing him struggling to push a wheelbarrow. He started asking me to come by and offered money. At first I refused to accept the cash, enjoying his tales of hunting the area. Over time he wanted to "hire" me and insisted on payment. The more I was around the more he revealed.

His most valuable lesson was probably about still hunting deer. He had much to say and when that fall came around I started using his tips. I blew a few chances, but bagged the biggest Blacktail I've seen in the area two years later. Still hunting, emulating his storied examples as closely as possible. I was not only proud of the animal, but of the way I had gotten it.

This fall my Son shot his best Whitetail so far still hunting in heavy timber. To me it was a proud accomplishment.

His buck as posted in the deer hunting forum.

I'm with mart, The older I get the more patient I have become. Almost all of the deer I have shot over the past 20 years are the result of still hunting. I move at the speed of a very slow "old man" shuffle, especially in snow. My 30 minuted deer hunt here on the fire was the result of still hunting. I catch myself wanting to get to the next spot often enough to stop take a deep breath and then proceed.

I love to still-hunt, and most of my blacktail deer hunting has been like that. I had access on some great private land for about a decade that held a lot of deer, so days typically held multiple close range encounters and lots of adrenaline.

I use my 8x30 Swaro's obsessively and move really slowly if at all. Nothing wrong with being still and just watching for a while. My favorite weather for this is a light drizzly rain.

This will probably get laughed at, but in my opinion, you can't really be too camouflaged when still hunting. I used to use a turkey-hunting face net and even on warm days would wear mesh camo gloves. While duded-up like that I was within 20 feet of deer many times, under 10 feet a few times.

I hunted this way with a number of rifles and cartridges, but by far my favorite is my 20" Model 7 in .358 Win. Kills them flat dead without jellying and bloodshotting too much meat.

HOWEVER, I've found that still hunting is difficult in areas of lower deer density. It's hard to stay on point all day if you aren't seeing deer. If you get sloppy and start moving too fast, if you DO cross paths with a buck, you are unlikely to win the encounter if you are moving too fast and not minding the details.

When I sit on a stand I start thinking to much about stupid stuff.

I have had some nice time still hunting. Older now and more or less disabled it is becoming difficult. Now, also, we have a lot of cut overs in various stages of growth. These are extremely difficult if not impossible to still hunt so areas are limited where still hunting is practical.

Best thread I've read in a while !
I did some hunting scouting Friday while setting some snares -I love still hunting but I can sit in a blind or treestand all day too .
The comments about using Binos is correct -they work great .
Here in the deep south it is VERY thick and the wind swirls in every direction every 15 minutes .
I try to keep an eye downwind because my scent will spook an animal into jumping up and running so I keep the rifle on ready that direction .
Read an article many years ago , the author stressed the importance of moving SLOW [drive yourself crazy slow] and looking everywhere . He said you might be standing in the spot where you could see a trophy bucks rack if you looked really well or you could take a step and not be able to see it . I try to always keep that in mind .
Another thing that I have found important is to carry a lightweight rifle , a heavy gun will drag you down and you're more likely to set it down etc. .
Lots of good camo is a big plus also .
I'll be still hunting east river island here locally real soon ---can't wait !
I gotta get rigged up like those Australian/New Zealand guys who pack a whole pig out on their back .

done right, you have just as good a chance of one coming in behind you, so watch your back Trail as well.

I'd have like to shot all the Bucks that I walked by, and didn't see, while they watched me walking by.

One thing though.I have never worn camo in my life, except for a few jackets and they were promptly covered with blaze orange,or a pair of old BDU's. The BDU's I wear in ML season because I want the cargo pockets. It's the movement that gets you,not the color

5 steps forward stop look back, 5 steps forward stop look back. Guys that have walked with me always ask why I look back so much. Simple, the mulies won't bolt on you so much as the whitetails. They will let you walk by and then run out behind you, never giving you a shot unless you turn and see them.

I've killed a few stillhunting, and counted coup on some others during squirrel season, which is a great time to practice. The problem around here is finding a place where it is safe and effective due to hunting pressure.

My best buck ever was taken by following up after a miss with a handgun. I was hunting with my son and we followed the tracks verrry slowly down the narrow ridge the little herd had taken. After a bit, I spotted some deer below me and then the buck, at about 75 yards. My son couldn't see them in the heavy cover, so I said, "Gimme that rifle", rested it against a tree and shot him through the shoulders. He reared up like a horse and fell over backwards. When we got close, we couldn't see antlers and my son said, "Dad, what did you do?", since only bucks were legal. I walked over and pulled his head out of the leaves, revealing a nice 8-point rack, not great, but solid, and better than any I'd taken before or since. The rifle was a J.C. Higgins Model 50 .30/06 with a Williams receiver sight and a front blade I made by cutting down a brass sight made for muzzleloaders and painting it orange. Probably the toughest shot I've ever made on a deer.

This is just the thread I've been looking for! I've been teaching myself to still hunt over the past few years. I've read few a things by Larry Koller and the Benoit's. But I still have a few questions.

I started using binoculars last year, I feel this gives me a huge advantage. I have a pair 10x42 Leupolds. While I like them, sometimes they almost feel to big. What size do you feel optimum for still hunting?

When hunting do you guys sling your gun over your shoulder? I do because I feel it's easier to use my binoculars and to move a twig/branch out of the way. But yet at the same time I feel I need to be ready to get my gun up quickly. I'm just wondering what you guys have found best.

Thanks for any help.

The rifle should be in your hands; not slung. Take the sling off and loop it on your belt behind you. You an attach it later of you need to drag or something.

( the reason I say this is to remove any tendency you may have to sling the rifle and for sure that's when you will have a shot opportunity that you will blow because the rifle was not where t was supposed to be...in your hands.)

The bins should be 7-8X; no more. 6X is great if you can find them.

Keep your head moving side to side,use your eyes. Don't get married to binoculars. Too much tunnel vision is not good. Things can happen closer and faster than you think.

I love still hunting. In fact, it's how I bagged a nice 6x6 bull the first year that Arizona offered a November archery hunt. Nowadays it's especially fun with a decoy. I was still hunting through dark timber with my decoyed cousin about 20 yards behind me. I looked back and watched a young muley buck cross our path directly between us. I'm not sure I'd use the decoy during rifle seasons, however. Like others, I'm not programmed mentally to sit still for long.

Saddlesore is correct; movement gets you busted, not color.

Back when I was learning to hunt in the late 70's early 80's everyone just wore blue jeans and a flannel shirt/jacket. I like my camo, but it's more marketing and a fashion show than anything.