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

I don't think that concept applies to elk hunting. Too many times when I'm crusing,I jump or run head long into elk,where one would never think there is one. Unless I am standing in a wide open meadow or trees so sparse I can see 500yards, I act like there could be elk right around the bend,over the next little knoll or bedded in the next little thicket of timber.

This past ML season,I was bird dogging for my hunting partner ,but moving slow, I glimpsed a few elk butts, I gave a cow call and in about6 0 seconds,I had a cow down. In about 15 minutes,the elk I pushed out walked past my buddy. Unfortunately he missed the shot

Conversely, I have spent a few days each of the last few seasons in an area where there are high deer densities. Hunting the way I do here would be counterproductive as you'd be bumping deer constantly. In my case, it takes me a day or so to calm down and poke rather than "walk". Totally different deer hunt but it is all good.

I think it applies to elk hunting 100%..

Saddlesore.I think you forget you are experienced, and are likely starting in an area that has a very high chance at holding elk. again your experience takes you there,be it habitat,time of year, sign or just familiarity with the area.

Joe blow wondering "still hunting" elk at random in the forest? lol, I hope he packed a lunch.

Cover ground till you have a reason to slow down.

Or run out of ground to cover, which is pretty much the east. I've melted through a lotta little pockets that get completely ignored and found my share of whitetails. Can't tell you how many little cat naps I've taken only to wake up when the birds stop chirping.

Barbecue hunt......low and slow.

Of course. I was referring to big country.

This is exactly what I'm trying to get at. If you're where they aren't, there's no point in creeping along.

And again, like JDK just said, the game changes depending on the location. I hunt very differently near home in Concord NH then I do in northern NH or northern ME. In big woods with sparse deer populations, I can cover a lot of ground in a day. Down around home, sometimes I may only move a couple miles a day creeping around where I know the deer are and some days I only move from the house or truck to my stand spot and that is all.

First time I ever saw big county I thought "holy schit, it just keeps going?"

You guys probably get a hoot outta easties...

At my age all my movements are still hunting, except when hiking uphill w/ a pack when it becomes slo-mo still hunting. I do see a lot more good stuff when moving slow and quiet. My 8x20 binos help me see before being seen.


mike r

I was talking to an older gentleman today and he still hunts later in the season in PENN when most hunters have called it quits for the season. He told me very few guys still hunt, most take there gun for a walk in the woods and never tag anything.

I'm not talking about elk hunting...Im talking about hunting whitetail bucks in big woods in the northeast.

Maybe I should have made that more clear.

No problem here

I have been trying to "Indian up" on a whitetail for 40 years. I have killed pigs, turkeys, rabbits, you name it with my bow on foot. I've have killed a dozen or so out of tripods, but not a deer on foot.

I heard a shot about 11:30 this morning....mountaintop in Connecticut. My buddy had walked up on a doe that was herself meandering around. He was still hunting despite poor conditions of dry, crunchy,frozen leaves ,windy, cold....not conditions considered good for still hunting .

She never saw him.

Yep, same here.

I read a study a while back that that found out blue is a color that can deer can see. I quit hunting in bluejeans and watch to see that I have no blue outerwear.

I really took up still hunting- or slip-hunting as I like to call it- in the early 80s for moose. Of course I had done it mountain hunting for sheep, goats, caribou, etc.

Unit 15A on the Kenai Peninsula was by then filthy with moose after the '69 burn, which left "islands" of timber from a few trees to much larger acreages in a mosaic pattern across the burn area. Prior to that, the several times I had moose hunted was spot and stalk, or stand hunting.

The first season in 15A I spent over 2 weeks from dawn to dark on stands overlooking various real good spots. Saw cows a couple hundred times, and 3 bulls, one of which my partner shot at dawn on opening day. On the last day I had to hunt, I packed my camp 3 miles out to the road, but learned I still had several hours left (my watch had died in the rain 2 days before, and my extremely pregnant wife had to pick me up in our only vehicle). The 4 day rain storm was just ending, and clearing was coming in from the west. No one had been down the oilfield access (no vehicle traffic allowed) since before the storm according to the guy camped at the gate, so I still hunted the road and off-edges 3.5 miles back to it's end, then started back. Within 300 yards I found fresh tracks crossing the road, stepped to the edge, and promptly had a 40 inch bull down 50 yards away, down in the hollow below.

I got to thinking, why watch one unproductive place for all day, when I could hunt multiple potential bedding areas (those "islands" of timber). Hunt where they are, not where they aren't Such a concept! The bulls were obviously not using the edge areas and open feeding areas much during daylight, but I knew they were bedding in those timber stands, and not in the low second growth of the burned parts. So that's what i did - travel fast between timber pockets, then still-hunt real slow through the bedding areas. At that time any bull was legal, so when I found antlers, I had meat on the ground, meat being the objective.

For the next 15 yearsI never spent more than 2 weekends hunting before I had my moose - by then the second growth was big enough the bedding areas were less concentrated, and the regulations had changed to spike/fork, or 3 brow tines on at least one side, or 50" or larger. My success ratio took a big dive at that time! But for those 15 years or so, I was in hog-heaven! In an area with a 20% success ratio, I ran 100%, but then, I hunted a mile to 5 miles off- road, which 95% of the others didn't.

I had to go back to stand hunting, and calling, with a much reduced success ratio, tho I got to see a lot of sub-legal bulls in the course of doing so.

Still hunting is a lot more fun, except when you have a bull coming into your call. Or a cow for that matter. Sitting on the ground while calling, I learned a lot more about moose bellies than is really necessary.....

Oh well- here we go again.... Animals that are "color-blind" are not, really. Apparently they see many shades of grey, some shades of yellow, and some blues- tho not as we see them.

The color blue is pretty far downtime list on what will get you.

Motion, noise, scent are the top 3. Take care of those and you are largely golden.

Fourth is Ultra-violet ( a form of blue, sort of) - it is readily seen. That's what those reflective eyes are for - seeing in dim light in the ultra-violet range. Regular detergent and new clothing has "brighteners in it - i.e., UV enhancers. You can't see it except that it makes the colors seem sharper and - well- brighter. But it really stands out to nocturnal animals eyes in low light! It glows to their eyes. In bright daylight, it probably doesn't matter. Not that I've found anyway.

So UV "kill" your clothing, including blue jeans , and camo!! - and the problem is mostly solved. Any color will "glow" to a cervids (and other nocturnal animal's) eyes in low light if not UV killed- blue probably more than others. I've proved it to myself many times over when moose hunting. Got nailed one time in mostly dark conditions. The ONLY thing not UV killed was a brand new that afternoon camo day-pack. I was fully clothed in camo as well. Every cow moose gave me the stare-down stink-eye as soon as they ( 3 out of a dozen or so in the group) got to an angle where they could spot the pack. They were passing all around me within 20-40 yards. Only those that got an angle on the pack did so, and scent/movement /noise were not factors.

That's mainly why I have camo - it is dedicated UV and scent "killed" clothing not used for anything else. For my convenience - not because it is a secret color to keep me unseen by big game animals. Although it does blend you into the background somewhat so does a bush, tree, or rock fore or aft. Camo - all colors in fact- is far more important in turkey or waterfowl hunting than in big game hunting as birds and fish have full color vision nearly identical to ours, and far better acuity. At least birds do.

We refer to it as "nothing but miles and miles of miles and miles".

What BobinNH said. The 10X42 are likely better used in more open country, or stand hunting. In heavy cover/shorter range situations a 6,7,8X is better. But the 10X42 will work if you have nothing else.

Second best for readiness to shoot to already having gun in your hands ( but then what about using the binoculars?) is one that is something similar to Cabela's "Safari" sling, which is what I use. Being right handed, the sling runs across my left shoulder, cross body, to the rifle at my right side. I can let go of the rifle to glass without putting the rifle down. It stays right there on my hip or slightly above, within ready reach while I glass with both hands or otherwise use the right hand, which is normally controlling the rifle, tho the weight is on the sling and left shoulder. I've seen this type and variations of sling also referred to as a combat or modified combat style.

Not as fast as one already in both hands, but not too slow either, and it takes minimal movement to bring it to firing position. It can be rigged to carry the rifle across one's back, front, or over the shoulder, as well as used as a shooting sling. I'm not generally in favor of compromises, but this is a pretty damned good one for my uses.

I haven't quite figured out anything as convenient for that walking/shooting staff I usually have in my left hand... which is a great aid in keeping ones balance while moving very slowly over difficult ground. I often use it as a binocular steady rest as well.

Here is a question that will surely raise a heated discussion.

When still hunting and slowly working thru thick timber where a shot would be quick,do you have a round in the chamber?