JB has a great article on stalking big game in the May-June issue of Successful Hunter. I hunt deer and antelope and sometimes elk in Wyoming each year and his article made me a lot smarter. It is five pages long and typically of John, it contains detailed advice and options for those who want to be better hunters.

Steve

Cool. I should read it. Most of us seem to like to talk about buying or building better rifles, scopes and loads/ammo, and not so much about how to be better hunters.

Guy

Someone feel free to come down to SC and teach me how to stalk these deer.

ringworm,

The examples JB uses are almost all for western hunting. Like a lot of us Eastern hunters, I've used some stalking for deer hunting in the East. But not very often and not very successfully.
Like most of us in the East, I hunt from a stand and let the deer come to me.

But I would be glad to come down to SC and help out with your deer population!

Steve

ringworm,

The article is indeed mostly about Western hunting, because that's where more open terrain lends itself to stalking--which means spotting animals at a distance and then sneaking closer for a shot, whether because of distance or cover.

Whitetails tend to live in terrain and cover that doesn't lend itself to stalking, but as I state in the article, it's certainly possible to stalk them, given the correct terrain and conditions, and can even be the best way to hunt whitetails in some areas. I've successfully stalked whitetails in several states (not all west of the Mississippi), a couple of Canadian provinces, and Old Mexico, so know something about it.

But if conditions aren't right for stalking, then it makes far more sense to use another method, no matter the animal. It makes little sense, for instance, to sit in a stand when hunting some species. I could also suggest, "Someone feel free to come out to Montana and teach me how to put up a stand for black bear." Especially since we can't bait bears here. Though I do also know something about finding a place to sit and glass for black bears.

But the article isn't about choosing the best method for hunting different species in different areas. It's specifically about stalking big game when that's the most effective method to use--and also about how so few big game hunters know how to do it anymore, partly because so many rarely hunt from anything except a stand.

Right on, JB, guess I'll have to buy a copy.

I grew up hunting whitetails in hardwoods back east, tough to sneak up on them there but it can be done. You get conditioned to hunt by letting them come to you.

The hardest thing for me to adjust to when I moved out west was the whole idea that sneaking up on animals was not only not that difficult, but the best way to go. The first year or two, I'd find areas with lots of elk sign and want to sit at a good vantage point and wait for them to come to me. Didn't work very well.

Once I got over my mental block, I did a lot better.

On the other hand, I've also known several Western hunters who didn't believe anybody could stalk any sort of big game except from a pickup, known in some circles as "the old F250 sneak"....

You must run in better circles...we always referred to it as the F150 sneak......

Naw, just mostly ranchers who could actually use a little heavier-duty pickup.

You can tell the really high-class hunters because they call it "the Escalade stalk."

Haven't heard that one in my circles. But I did use a red Dodge Dakota as a blind once.....

I'd eat a bullet if the only way I was allowed to hunt was in a stand.

I hunted this year for a few days from a stand for the first time in 20 years or so and remembered why I hate the frigging things. No mobility. Sometimes being able to move 3 feet is the difference between a shot and no shot.

Stalking deer in the hard hunted east is a tough one.. Have managed it a some... Now with the amount of tree houses, it is even more difficult.. But a very satisfying way to hunt.. About 50 years ago, I had one neighbor who was deadly in the art of stalking whitetails.. Rumor was he had been a sniper in WW2. Dick often killed his annual buck stalking and tracking.. He shot several whitetail bucks in their beds..

I think I've killed less than a half dozen walking. Just not feasible here.

Did he stalk or still-hunt? In some parts of the country the two terms are used interchangeably.

The kind of stalking I discussed is first spotting game, and then sneaking up to get a shot. Some people call it "spot-and-stalk."

Still-hunting is moving quietly through cover until game is spotted, but that point its usually in range, or at most requires a few careful steps to get a clear shot. In the South I have also heard it called "slip-hunting."

I stalked this deer in Florida. First spotted him bedded in a grass field about 450 yards away.

Got on my belly and crawled till I was 240 yards from him (that took an hour). I had to lay there for 1 1/2 hours till he stood from his bed.

Great article! I like the way it starts by referring to youths stalking small game with an iron sighted .22. BTDT.... Then there's stalking woodchucks with said .22's. My dad did all his woodchuck hunting pre-WWII with a Mod. 67 Winchester .22. Had to get to about 50 yds. or less for a head shot that would anchor them right there. It wasn't until a few years AFTER I bought my first centerfire varmint rifle that I started using the .22 LR and stalking techniques in sort of a "retro", "old school" approach to culling woodchucks based on the stories I heard growing up. Even used my dad's old Mod. 67 among other things. That's when I got interested in stalking bigger stuff, like deer. It can sometimes be done but you had better not move very often or very fast; and note the wind direction. Made my first antelope hunt in 2003. That was my first time stalking in wide open spaces. It was exciting!! I even brought along knee pads; It's amazing how good those antelope are in the eyesight department. Never shot one using my daypack as a rest though; always went with the short Harris bipods. I've filled 3 antelope tags in my life; every one prone off the bipods after a long stalk. But I had a guide laying next to me each time so all I had to do was tilt the rifle sideways so he could reach out and deploy them for me.

Nice buck, especially for Florida!

Yep, if you can spot whitetails in open country, it's certainly possible to stalk them. I've even done it on a herd of deer grazing in the open, by pushing a daypack ahead of me, slowly, while crawling behind it. I dunno what they thought it was, but it sure didn't look human--and one of the deer didn't survive the experience.

I've probably stalked more turkeys than I have deer in my lifetime. I have the cow shiet covered clothes to prove that you can put a sneak on them...

Lots of things work with game, like your daypack trick, just that I find too many people are afraid to get outside of their comfort zone.

The worse that will happen is you will not get the critter, not a big deal.

I've always said good things come to those that move.

Yeah, I'm not fond of sitting and waiting either, though I can force myself to do it if it looks like the best plan. Would much rather move, or at least call--or both.

Have also stalked quite a few turkeys, and not just Merriams and Rios but Easterns.

There are opportunities to stalk Whitetails here in farm country where there are small woodlots, CRP ground, water raceways in ag fields and fence rows.

When a deer is spotted entering and not exiting, the stalk is on.

On a couple of occasions I cheated and closed some of the distance with a farm tractor and manure spreader.

The "Deere" sneak?

Love this thread.

Tell the guys at Wolfe, you earned them an online subscriber with that article.

Actually, at 19,97 $ per year it is a steal. Thank you.

I know it's a time-honored technique for elk hunting in Montana. Shrapnel even made a video of it, awesome!!

John,

As you know better than most of us, language evolves. I have always thought of "still hunting" as a kind of slow, blind stalking -- moving only one or two steps at a time into the wind in the woods, hoping to see a deer before it sees you and getting a close shot. Increasingly across the South I see the usage becoming "the opposite of hunting deer with dogs." You are either a "dog hunter" or a "still hunter." (And there is increasing tension between the two because still hunters don't want someone else's dogs running across their private property or lease.)

Regards,

Al

Good one John,

Is it a modern version of this....."Elk don't know how many feet an F250 has....!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFePYTa0xwY

Mule Deer, the guy I was talking about, was still hunting.. In those days after opening day, the woods were quite until Sat.. So still hunting was quite deadly if you had the skill.. He also tracked his deer IF there was snow.. Haven't seen the article yet.. Will pick it up when we leave for our turkey hunt.. In that country spotting a buck then stalking would have been a tough deal.. I would guess more difficult that still hunting.. The spot and stalk you mentioned, we used to use on a couple mts. north of town.. A guy could spot a buck or bull then put the sneak on him until we were with in shooting range..

Those farmland deer really get used to tractors. Over 20 years ago my boss was coming down out of his woods on a tractor hauling firewood; he saw a buck bedded about 20 yds. away and never even flinched as he drove right by it. Got down to the house, parked the tractor, grabbed his slug gun, and stalked in from the opposite side of the woods where he had heavy cover. Shot a nice buck right in his bed at what was later measured at about 35 yds. IIRC. Don't worry.... it was deer season, he still had a buck tag ; it was all legal.

Ready,

Glad you liked the article!

I have had occasion to stalk,or stillhunt a few deer in my 43 deer seasons.
I have found it works better ( for me)in less than ideal conditions for stand hunting,like when the wind is blowing,or snow is falling,and the wind is blowing.
It makes enough sound,so that the deer cant hear any better than we can,and I can get within range of them.
I find it much more enjoyable than stand hunting,and usually will when condition are favorable for it.

Al,

Good point.

The original meaning of still-hunting was a slow, blind sneak through cover--as detailed in hundreds of pages in W.S. Van Dykes classic book, THE STILL HUNTER. From what I can gather, the "still" came from the hunter moving with the illusion of stillness, like the hands of a clock.

I have heard that some people (especially further east from Montana) now use it as a term for stand hunting. But also admit I haven't hunted in the South for a couple-three years now, and then not in an area with any dog hunting.

Westerners are quite familiar with traditional still-hunting, especially those of us who grew up in the mountains. I have used it to kill quite a few deer and elk, including whitetails. Snow of course helps, but one interesting thing about hunting the mountains out here is that often deer and elk will hang out just below the "snow line" after early-season storms, the elevation where snow turns to rain. Evidently the realize their hoofprints are very obvious in snow, and I've often found them in the rain-zone just below, where the moisture makes still-hunting very quiet. Deer in particular like to bed under conifers in those conditions. I've ended up close to bedded deer of both species, but couldn't get a shot due to low brush, so had to make some slight noise to get them to stand up.

WyoCoyoteHunter,

Yeah, in thicker country it's tough to spot and stalk. Snow sure helps!

It is important to recognize that the ability to successfully still-hunt/ stalk, is inversely proportional to an individuals beam.

You can't buy enough technology to overcome the negative effect of being way out of shape.

Happens all the time down here in plantation country (SW GA). Many farmers are locked and loaded during fall harvest. Especially cotton picking.....the deer think they are invisible in cotton fields.

I have often thought that a cardboard blind shaped and printed to look like a rusty mud-splattered 1/2 ton pickup would work as well in the midwest as anything like a Double-Bull from Primos.

I think that my FIL shot most of his whitetails from the seat of his pickup. He'd go so far as to wear his hunter-orange clothing and turn the engine off before shooting, but he parked in the same place year after year and seemed to have the ranges locking in.

Godogs,

Happens all the time here in the West too, and not just in farm fields. Both mule deer and pronghorn on ranches aren't very nervous around haying equipment, trucks or even pickups, because they see 'em all the time--one reason many outfitters learn to "stalk" in pickups: Animals get far more spooky when somebody starts hiking, because they're not used to seeing people walking around.

John,
Someone, I can't remember who, described still hunting as "stalking the cover"; an exellent description. You hunt as though you had game in sight, even though you don't. The technique requires a certain amount of territory unoccupied by other hunters to be successful (and safe), a commodity in pretty short supply during deer seson in this part of the East. I've taken a few deer this way and count those as my greatest achievements in the field, even though the deer weren't anything special.

Once, during a gentle rain, I discovered a group of deer slowly feeding their way through the woods and managed to work my way close enough for a shot at about 20 yards. In my mind, I had that doe tagged and in the trunk, but the wretch ducked the string on me.

Great pieces on still hunting can be found in Sell's "Deer Hunters Guide", "Whitetail", by George Mattis, and of course, Koller's wonderful book.

Still hunting...is there any other way? Deer, hogs, turkeys, coyotes, bobcats and such. Gave up on stands decades ago, mostly a waste of time IMO.

OTOH, I know a fellow out in WY that stalks speed-goats with a flintlock. I've done something similar, disguised as a Chevy Impala.

JB, I haven't read your article yet but remember one from Ross S. in S. Hunter/Rifle/Handloader (don't remember which) probably 15 years ago about still hunting Elk. What I got was, go slow and ALWAYS move into the wind and stay in the shade. I have hunted w/a couple of friends in wheelchairs who taught me about "road hunting" for quite a few years. They couldn't walk but could see like eagles. BOTH of them said don't get away from the truck where they could see you! I put in a lot of hours skinnin, draggin, guttin, hangin, smokin, eatin, and fishin w/em. BTW went 27 for 28 on Colombian G. squirrels today w/an old K Hornet.-Muddy

That is rather a nice image.

The other explanation is that the word "still" is used according to a broader meaning here, which includes "silent" or "quiet". "Still" as a synonym for "quiet", has a history going back to Middle English, though it isn't widely used that way nowadays other than in this context and one or two others.

FWIW "both loud and still" was at one time a common phrase to mean "in all conditions".

I do like your explanation though. It does seem to capture the need to slow it right down as well as keep it very quiet.

I don't remember where I read this little rhyme but I always liked it.
"Don't tell me how far you shot, brag about how close you got".

In the East you would have a better chance of finding gold than always still hunting into the wind. It just doesn't work that way.

Still hunting: taking a walk with a rifle/bow and seeing game before it knows you are there. Quiet is good, but sometimes it surprises me how much noise you can make and still win the game. There is a time to move like a Turtle and there is a time to cover ground.

Stuff you read today also gives me pause. Like never invade their bedding area. Sometimes you catch them and most times you don't, but they usually don't go that far and that place will always be their nest. They will return. Tomorrow is a new day. Go back in with what you have learned.

I've found one of the best times to sit is after you have bounced them out. Or make a big loop and try to get to the front. For the most part they will be within a 100 yards if you are in the wood. And now they are moving, which is to your advantage. Moved many pickups of Deer and it doesn't take them all that long to forget about what happened 30 minutes ago.

Addition: have always wondered about the number of Bucks I have still hunted past, within easy rifle range that I just missed seeing.

Noise doesn't matter to me, most especially 'natural noises' not blowing a tuba.

Deer seeing me, doesn't bother either. Deer scenting me though, that bothers me.

I've killed more than a few deer I'm bumped, simply because the wind was favorable. I'm talking about deer I've jumped that made a hop or 3 out of sight, a few snorts etc etc.

Just because you jump them, doesn't mean much. It happens to them all the time. I truly believe they don't fully trust their eyes/ears.

So long as the wind is right, I'm happy to jump deer.

I

Most quit and try to find another standing broadside when they move them out.

I have shot north of 40 deer out of stands, some I hunt with have shot north of 75, I just don't shoot as many as some I hunt with. My family does eat venison year round.

Pretty much stand morning and evening. Amount of land permitting, rest of the day I'm moving from stand to stand.

Addition: deer can be the most patient of creatures, but like people every so often they like to move around and stretch their legs. Perhaps like us, they get bored of looking at the same set of trees. I think they like to go for a walk the same as us.

I consider it game on once I bump one.

It came to me after moving from AK to FL. It was my first go at whitetail and everyone said you needed to hunt from a stand, so I did.

I hated it and one morning while sitting in the stand I said 'Screw this' and went out looking.

I bumped into a buck and doe together. Off they went, snorting. I immediately blew my deer call and waited for a few. Sure enough, the doe came back to me. The buck was in tow but I didn't see him and he snorted and off they went again.

I made a little circle, blew my call and waited again. I saw the buck start to move in on me and killed him.

I've had many like situations since. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it works enough to know that wind matters.

No doubt it is better to have the wind in your favor.

However, unless it is a steady drift and the ground is level, I'm not sure what I feel is always what they smell.

Addition: wind at my back, hill and Deer in front. Either on the hill to the front or on a side.
Wind hits hill. Does it go up, right or left. I don't know and sometimes the Deer is screwed.

I'm no great Deer hunter. I just try and walk around long enough in the right places until we eventually cross paths.

One of the points I made in the article is the difference between stalking animals that don't know you're there, and those you've "bumped."

When bumped, they ALL go a ways, then stop and watch their backtrail to see if anything's following. But how far they go depends on the animal, terrain and hunting pressure.

Whitetails in average cover usually don't go all that far, but I have also hunted whitetails considerably on the high plains: They're the same animal, but they go a lot farther when jumped, because they feel the need to get someplace they feel relatively secure before stopping to look back. I've watched a buck run close to a mile before finding another brushy draw where he felt safe enough to stop. In typical woods they might not even go 100 yards before stopping.

I've hunted whitetails in at least 17 states and provinces from Old Mexico to Alberta and Quebec down to Alabama. (There may have been more places, but that's what I can remember off the top of my head.) The hunting has been both on private and public land, and guided and unguided. The most interesting thing is that everywhere they're the same animal, with the same defenses and habits. It's just the terrain, vegetation and hunting pressure that changes.

Steelhead

What kind of deer call do you like?

Did you use the same call for whitetails as you did the Sitka blacktails?

Yes and no.

In the 'story' above I used a grunt tube, which I didn't use in Alaska.

I do use deer bleat call, which I did use in Alaska. I have several different ones, some made there locally. The one I do use that you can get is the Faulks D50.

Another example, last year when hunting in KY for a few days, every time I blew the D50 I'd see a deer within a few minutes.

Coincidence? I don't know, I just know what I saw and what I've seen before.

My last morning there I jumped a doe, then immediately blew my D50. I then got into the stand (which was literally 10 feet from where I jumped the doe) and blew the D50 2 more times. A few minutes later an 8 point came in off my starboard side and I killed him.

Dad always said that a good still-hunt turned into a stalk. A good stalk turned into work.

Thanks

Pretty interesting.

I have used the grunt calls with good effect but never played with the bleat calls. Think I'll give one a try.

To my mind what I'm trying to do is make the deer think I'm an ugly deer. When I jump one I will immediately blow a call. I'm hoping they think 'Hey, was that another deer and I'm just overly paranoid again from too many soybeans?'

Not invading bedding areas is for bow hunters and stand hunters who depend on undisturbed movement;or outfitters who don't want disturbed deer or lost hunters. Good strategy in the midwest with small woodlots, but in big woods you die on stand before you see a buck doing that.

In big woods, I want to know where they bed,and with snow will make a swing around to see if a buck has moved in over night. He may have cleaved off a hot doe and herded her someplace where he can breed her without competition.Now he's vulnerable, and if I see that situation,I get very aggressive.I have killed them when they knew I was around but thought they had given me the slip.

Explain this to many mid western bow hunters or people used to stand hunting they will think you're nuts.

Even a buck that is alone, knows you are there,may never have been tracked,and will swing downwind on his back track,watching for you, in range. When I see the track starts to swing,time to make a move.

Like Steelhead said this stuff does not always work but then neither does stand hunting....and it's a lot more fun.

With mule deer I will frequently move into bedding areas and have killed a lot of bucks doing that. Big ones ,too that I am convinced I would never have seen otherwise. The evasive tactics of a big mule deer in open country will leave you sort of dumbfounded.

fwiw as to them not trusting eyes/ears...I don't know

For us, when we are on snow, with room to roam, tracking a particular animal and you jump him, you can get seconds if you stay on them--which may take hours....or more. Thinking maybe: they get to a point that they have things to do and are sick of you on their butt, they may want to weigh just how much of a threat you really are, or they need to lay down and chew their cud. Winding you extends the tracking time, but you still can get a look-see if persistent and have the time and room to follow.

Have heard from a couple different old-timers that they would trot after them, to get another shot. That has never appealed to me, no matter how large a track.

Your Ak posts on using a bleet got me to trying them here in Pa. Sat down one morning and after letting things settle down got the call out. Wind was still moving down to the low ground and I was on top.

Blew a couple bleets and put it away. A little later looked behind me and a Buck was on higher ground looking right at me from the other side of some brush. He had to see me me move, but he was sure there was a Doe down there close. In a little while he walked straight down to me all the while obviously looking for another Deer. He would take a few steps then look. Repeated same over and over. Shot him at around 20 yards.

Eyes/ears can be fooled, which is the reason I immediately blow a call. I believe they fully trust their sense of smell.

As with me, there are plenty of times I've said 'I think I heard something', occasionally smell something, but I always trust my eyes.

That along with moving etc is they type of deer hunting I enjoy. Being proactive and making things happen as opposed to sitting in one spot all day reading a book. I can read a book at home.

Scott, its my favorite method as well, but we use an elk call here. Elk are very vocal and I keep an ELK Inc call in hand or in my mouth 100% of the time. Anytime I make a tiny noise I give a little cow chirp. Anytime I think game has spotted me and don't recognize me, I give a mew or a chirp. It instantly puts them at ease, and has put a bunch of them in the freezer.
But you are right...you can never fool their nose...

I've used a cow elk call with success on Sitka blacktails as well.

The o ly techniques I've used with any degree of success is to take 5 steps, lean against a tree and you to 100, repeat.
Short of that your wasting your time here and stepping all over next weeks hunt.

I'll have to find your article and read it Mule Deer. I spent quite a bit of last year's WI gun season still hunting or following a track and it was very enjoyable. I read Shots at Whitetails and The Still Hunter a few times after season and now I can't wait for this November. I hope there is a little snow again! I've enjoyed reading this thread and everyone's experiences.

I had my rifle on a little fork buck before it got out of it's bed on opening morning. Too small for me. That was over a clear cut and at about 60-70 yards and it is not common to have an open shot that long here. I saw the south end of one other adult deer a day later. It had made a semi-circle and bedded to look across a grassy hole downwind at it's track. That was where I was coming from. No shot and I chalk that up partly to my inexperience. I also jumped an adult deer I never saw on a different day after about two hours on its track. I saw quite a few does and fawns. Ended up shooting the only deer I've shot at for a few years later in the season during a four man deer drive. This was a moving buck that showed me ribs in an opening in the brush at about 20 yards.

The overwhelming majority of hunters here sit in a stand or blind. The majority of those are over a corn pile. I don't bait and don't like to sit for long. Getting out and moving around gives me a chance to see some of those deer that other guys might only have night time pictures of. There haven't been a lot of deer around here for a few years and I thought I saw quite a few compared to most guys I talked to. Even thought he buck I did shoot was in a drive, the still hunting or stalking or whatever you want to call it is a real thrill too.

Does that work if you rip one?

Never mind, you already answered.

I love to still hunt whitetails on mountain sides. Pick a tree, hunt to it, then glass...and glass everything. Like someone mentioned, it often turns into a stalk. Happens a lot when a buck is chasing a doe and you've got to catch up to them. If it's raining or windy I love to still hunt. I've had 2 bucks walk in looking for me during the rut just from leaves crunching where I was walking (I was downhill and downwind from them in both cases). It's just deer, but it's exciting to me when a nice one comes in with his hair up.

I do enjoy stand hunting as well. I kill more deer while on stand and I hunt from stands more but the main reason for that is other hunters...another reason I like the rain is that it thins out the hunters.

Still hunting is a lot like stand hunting; the stand just moves a few feet every so often. More often than not while still hunting, the deer have come to me in the course of their normal travel while I was paused.

Had an interesting experience on whitetails 2 years ago. I had my 15-year old son with me and were trying to rally up something for him to see or shoot at. So we decided to push downhill through a small canyon with some trees and brush in the bottom. My son lost sight of me so he kept walking rather quickly downhill through the middle of the trees and brush trying to "catch up to me." Obviously I was behind him.

I thought maybe he had gotten turned around in a little side canyon, so I went over there to look around. Realizing that he had taken off downhill without me and might get himself "lost" rather quickly, I decided to head down the canyon at a good clip while yelling out his name as loud as I could. I kept hollering it up with quite a bit of echo, and he never heard me, and I didn't catch up to him for at least a half mile.

The oddest thing are all the deer that were still bedded down in the trees and brush, past which he had walked, and which all laid there just fine when I was yelling and moving. Not one of them broke from their beds until I would stop and stand silent for a couple of minutes trying to hear my son. Then they'd get nervous and break from cover.

Once I got my son, we turned around and went back uphill through the canyon again trying to get one of those deer, and we pushed a bunch more out of their beds that had apparently tolerated us walking, yelling, and spooking them all two times previously.

Still hunting, for deer has worked for me in the Midwest. I have the best luck when the woods is wet and there is a good wind to keep my nose pointed into. It also helps to know the land your hunting so you know when to go into super stealth mode and when to cover ground. The best advice I have heard is to look as far as you can in the woods or cover, you will see the stuff close.

Your eyes adjust their focus from far to near much more quicky than the opposite. Try it.

Rain is good. Soft, wet snow is better as it doesn't squeak underfoot or crunch and you can see everything.

George Mattis wrote in "Whitetail, Fundamentals and Fine Points For the Hunter", that a gentle falling snow combined with a soft cover already underfoot was "it", and anyone who stayed inside then was more interested in comfort than venison.

That book is a real sleeper. I can't recall ever seeing it mentioned among the hunting classics, but it is well worth reading. It's kind of old school, but full of great info and well illustrated with line drawings. I got it, along with many others, as a member of the Outdoor Life Book Club.

I never could seem to send those little cards back on time.

The biggest thing I've learned is that like humans, deer are individuals. They have different personalities. There are smart ones. There are dumb ones. There are jumpy ones. And there are laid back ones. Yeah, there are general rules to follow while hunting, but you can just never flat out say that something will or won't work.

I've had deer within ten yards of me with the wind at my back blowing directly into them, I know they smell me, be completely unconcerned. I've had others bolt off after winding me and I can't figure out how they do it at all.

I haven't killed but one deer out of an above ground stand in the last ten years. All of mine have been on the ground. I like to set up in a lawn chair and then get up and move after a couple hours. Even, so most successful still hunting involves moving slow enough that deer come to you instead of you going to them. But, on a windy day or a drizzly day, you can have enough of an advantage to actually sneak up on them. Once bumped a deer will almost ALWAYS stop and look. If you have binoculars and follow them, you can many times get a shot right there.

It is tough to hunt the wind where I live. I remember one morning getting up and turning on the Weather Channel to get a wind direction. I drove forty miles to where I hunted. On the way I passed paper mill, I could see the wind was blowing the opposite direction of where the weather channel said it was. Got out to open the gate when I got to where I was going and it was blowing another direction. When I got to the stand, another direction again. Hell, I couldn't even pick which stand to hunt, much less plan on still hunting with the wind.

That is another reason I'm big on scent control. Yes, I know that it doesn't work to the point of eliminating human scent. It just doesn't. But the deer where I hunt are acclimated to human scent. They smell guys checking cows, messing around in the woods, and all that. I figure where I live the deer ALWAYS smell humans. If they bolted at every smell they would do nothing but run. So, they have to be able to judge how strong the smell is and base their level of alarm on that. So, even though the scent control might not "work" in the sense that it completely eliminates smell, if it lowers it enough that the deer thinks you are a quarter mile away instead of fifty yards, then it has done its job.

I've never gone in for scent control, partly because it's a major PITA, but mostly because I figure a rifle is advantage enough.

I'm not being judgemental; it's just how I choose to play.

Lately, hunting on public ground, I spend a lot of time in ladder stands for safety and visibility. I don't want them too high though, as I'm chicken. I really prefer to hunt from the ground in hilly country which gives you the advantage of a little elevation and is much more comfortable. It also is a lot more flexible.

I mostly bow hunt with a longbow these days. I need every advantage.

Indeed you do. For traditional archery, everything short of Claymores and heat-seekers is pretty much okay with me.

I spend most of my hunt days, Still hunting and jump shooting. Mostly Jumping with not a lot of shooting.

+1 John delivers a well thought out and logical article with new information and ideas that can help experienced and new hunters alike.