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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 64
Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 64 |
I was a still hunter in Northern California and hunted the Cascade Mountains for blacktail. I shot dozens and all were taken on the ground while walking or sitting. The first thing is to know the wind, second move slow, if you think your moving too slow, slow down some more. Third, never walk with a rhythm. Forth move tree to tree and bush to bush and don't stay upright. Practice scent control, use what is local. We had Bay Trees in the area so I carried a spray bottle with Bay Tea and had bay leaves to rub myself down. Finally keep a squirrel call where you can get to it. Those little sucker will rat you out and get to make all the noise they want in the woods. Let me move a leaf and everything is looking at me. That call gets everything in the woods to relax thinking "It just a damm squirrel". I can't tell you the number of times the call has saved my hunt.
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Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 7,757
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 7,757 |
That squirrel call deal is very interesting, can’t wait to try it out.
Thanks
"Shoot low sheriff, I think he's riding a shetland!" B. Wills
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 64
Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 64 |
There is another advantage to the squirrel call. If you hunting with someone else or a group it's a great location spotter. You can say I'm over here on the radio all you want but where is that? You you sure don't shout "Hay Bubba". Hit your squirrel can and you know where each other is.
My son swore by those fancy GPS map things. One day out hunting I asked where he was, he said two hundred yards above you. I knew that wasn't right but he insisted. Finally he hit the squirrel call, he was two hundred yards below me! Probably was holding the damm thing upside down.
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 3,003
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 3,003 |
There is another advantage to the squirrel call. If you hunting with someone else or a group it's a great location spotter. You can say I'm over here on the radio all you want but where is that? You you sure don't shout "Hay Bubba". Hit your squirrel can and you know where each other is.
My son swore by those fancy GPS map things. One day out hunting I asked where he was, he said two hundred yards above you. I knew that wasn't right but he insisted. Finally he hit the squirrel call, he was two hundred yards below me! Probably was holding the damm thing upside down. Gps doesn't work well when moving slowly in cover. You can stay in one spot a long while or move at a run.
Living in a world of G17s and 700s, wishing for P7s and 202s
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 46,745
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 46,745 |
My uncles were hanging some stands a week before then WI about 20 years ago. One was strapping the stand in and the other was whacking limbs off tress with a machete and 2 bucks came in looking for the buck making the rub.
Camp is where you make it.
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 12,534
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 12,534 |
When Dad was running a bulldozer for a neighbor's excavating business, he told me deer would often come out and watch him work, digging a pond or whatever needed doing. The deer seemed fascinated by the machinery, and maybe they liked the smell of freshly turned dirt. Or, maybe, they were just curious.
I have had to stop shooting on public rifle ranges, to let deer move across the range, same deal with groundhogs and other small game.
Noise isn't necessarily a deal-breaker, deer get used to farm equipment and it's noises and smells, and apparently gunfire doesn't bother them too much as long as it's not aimed at them in particular. Sometimes the best stand you can sit in, is an old combine that broke down and was never moved from it's spot.
At least, that's how it works in farm country. I'd imagine it is different in "the big woods", but we don't have any big woods in N/C Missouri.
You can roll a turd in peanuts, dip it in chocolate, and it still ain't no damn Baby Ruth.
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Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 28,836 Likes: 6
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 28,836 Likes: 6 |
My uncle was building a treestand with another guy, cutting oak saplings with a chainsaw and nailing them together aloft. A very nice buck came in to see what was up. His shotgun was on the ground and the other guy couldn’t see the deer. You know the rest.
What fresh Hell is this?
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 32,135 Likes: 3
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 32,135 Likes: 3 |
I and others have had bull moose come to the rustling of a poly tarp.
One year, on the day after season, I was chopping down a birch tree that was interfering with a shooting lane view. "Junior", a 5 year old bull came and stood watching me from about 40 yards away. Jr. was just under 50", with 2 X2 brow tines, making him sub legal.
I did not hunt the next year and someone else got him I guess, as I never saw him again. I'd watched him from a calf. Bummer.
Last edited by las; 10/03/21.
The only true cost of having a dog is its death.
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 32,135 Likes: 3
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 32,135 Likes: 3 |
I think cadence makes a difference, I’ve had deer come towards me a number of times but typically I was motionless at the time of contact.
I’ve also had, and know some others as well, who have had deer come in while we were getting situated in tree stands. My Father in Law in particular has killed a couple bucks just after settling into a climber. He’s convinced the bucks mistake the scraping on bark as another buck. Like JCMCUBIC, these were in the peak of the rut. Agree - mine were moose which are basically magnum whitetail
The only true cost of having a dog is its death.
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 10,298 Likes: 1
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 10,298 Likes: 1 |
I've heard of pairs still hunting together, on a known route, about 80 yards in-trail, first guy typically moves the deer and as they tuck back in behind him the second gets the shot......
Off hand there ain't but one guy that I would even consider hunting with in that scenario...................
I said CONSIDER!!!
"...A man's rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box and the cartridge box..." Frederick Douglass, 1867
( . Y . )
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 4,231
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 4,231 |
I only know one guy who would be hunting with me in tandem. I did shoot a doe one year during deer and squirrel season. We were squirrel hunting and going down a trail in thick brush. We made as little noise as possible and up the hill came the doe. Well the Ruger Old Army came out of the crossdraw holster and I stomped to alert her. She just came faster. One shot at the top of the white patch and she hit the ground before the white cloud dissipated from the black powder. Thought somehow I had missed until the cloud left. It took a while as the trail was the only way to the bottoms from that thick brush. Oh, the RB went up the spine somehow. Thought it would go out or down. Be Well, RZ.
Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy. Its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. Winston Churchill.
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Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 2,325
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 2,325 |
I often hunt hoofed game in the bush by easing along, making as little noise as practical, and when I move I try to move like a deer/elk/moose would. Uneven footsteps, short pauses, looking and listening in-between. I can't walk silently, so I try to sound like another critter. I sometimes call like the game I'm after, using communication calls not breeding challenges. I've had many animals come check me out while doing this. It's one of my favourite ways to hunt. I used the method successfully again last whitetail season. A little fork horn buck sneaked in and was peering at me from 30 meters and I had a nice easy open shot at a standing animal.
Last edited by castnblast; 10/08/21.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 29,892 Likes: 7
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 29,892 Likes: 7 |
Always figured I was doing well if I spotted animals walking up behind me.
1Minute
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 67,754 Likes: 5
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 67,754 Likes: 5 |
I still hunt alone. Various calls, squirrel, deer can be used to put deer at ease, but yeah, I have walked up a number of deer, and have had deer approach me while hunting.
Sam......
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Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 4,813
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 4,813 |
I believe Ren50 mentioned a few that tried to run him over.
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