Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Who moves around...

Journeyman, since no one answered your photo/question yet, yes...and no.

Depends on the deer species, depends on the day, depends on the place.

Here, I can hunt whitetails and mule deer in the exact same places. But how they act is very different, and may require different tactics in the same place, or sometimes the identical tactics.

And even just with whitetails, this year my partner and I hunted different parts of the same tight creek bottom that was surrounded by classic mule deer country. The whitetails were in there alright. I saw more deer when I was moving (slow still-hunting), he saw more deer while he was sitting still. Go figure. We both saw mostly bucks because we had doe tags in our pockets. At the other end of the state in the ponderosa pine forests, there are places you can move fairly freely to still-hunt, in other places, it is useless trying to force your way through the birch thickets or scrub oak; can't see, you are really loud, and can't thread a shot through the interwoven branches reliably, even at short range.

That is why it is so fun.

Thanks for replying, and SPECIFICALLY for denoting whitetails vs mulies. I'm really surprised there are no more opinions based on all the seriously good replies above.

Blown out from pic one:

Killed on the scrape in pic two:

I am an old guy, so it is sit and wait and I am happy with that.

Nice bucks Journeyman!

Maybe no one realized the question you were asking with your two separate photos? I didn't initially.

I am no expert, but I have a general understanding of what deer and elk do (except I don't know much about blacktails having hunted Sitka blacktails only twice). When I get to a new area, I get into the habitat and find the trails and learn the terrain, then I start learning the "culture" of the local herd. I put the pieces together, and often do get something. Once I have learned a bit about an area, my percentages go up. It works with exotics like axis deer and aoudad, too. You do have to do homework. Now, a caveat, I am not a trophy hunter, really (most of the time). I just try to get nice mature animals in their living rooms. Not to say I wouldn't take a bruiser if I got a chance. I am more after a trophy of a hunt rather than a bragging sized trophy animal. Some of my most exciting hunts have yielded underwhelming racks.

Our opens here are mostly smaller...Will mostly hunt the edges ...but may be standing or moving when Deer show.




Powerline...May stand for move thru it...



Moving around the powerlines.



Have shot a couple moving or standing thru this area, and catching them below..




Not many will beat this moving...Couple miles from the nearest farm...A Goat and a Sheep hanging out together on the edge of this valley...




Putting boots on and walking up, down or standing on the edges and looking has produced.

It depends on the situation. I have killed more mature deer by not moving or capitalizing on someone else’s push than by still hunting. I have almost no expectation that I will catch a fully mature buck completely unaware in his bed. I will move if I’m simply trying to fill a tag though. I’ve killed many mature does during or right after a snow, especially the first snow of the year.

It all depends on many factors. Growing up, never had a stand or blind for a few decades. Some locations, conditions, & such may call for sitting, usually I like to be on the move.

Many overestimate the amount of moving & speed with ‘still hunting’, oftentimes it’s just a little different view for the next 15 minutes. There are times to move a little faster, & other time to hardly move at all.

Not anywhere near enough land to move around where I hunt, but that’s OK because I can’t crawl over the mountain like I used to.
Very fortunate to still be able to get out there.

I'm not necessarily a very good still hunting compared to most of the guys in this thread. If I'm still hunting, there is no way in hell I can only move 40-100 yards in an hour, might as well stay in one spot if I'm doing that.
I personally just like to stroll through the woods, not super slow, and I guess I'm not real quiet either, but I always kill deer.

But it is my favorite way to hunt, sadly in michigan there is basically only a 2 week period where I am allowed to walk through the woods with a centerfire rifle after game. Unless I decide to start hunting coyote, the 2 week rifle deer season is all we get.

Same here....I try to be quiet, but the woods isn't exactly a library.

Battue, I remember you taking a walk with your buddy, then returning to the box blind and killing a nice buck that came in from right where you walked.

What, you can't read sign?



Seriously though, sometimes it seems that when you're trying to be stealthy but still making a little noise, deer pick up on that and are hard to get near. Whereas if you're not trying to sneak around, just walking at a normal pace, they'll linger a little longer to see what you are. But I'm like you, I try to make as little noise as possible.

Hey!!!! Hope all is well!!

Yes, it was a little chilly, with a light mist, the Squirrels were driving Toby nuts and I had been in there for a good while. Got a little cold and was doing push ups and thought lets see if I can sneak up on something. Took that walk, couldn't leave Toby because he would have been barking...Then the sun broke thru and I thought I best get back...and it wasn't long. The story in pictures...



The view where the Deer showed up...I placed a "sign" on the edge that said "Deer Crossing"....and some think I don't know sign...humphhh!!!!....that must have told him where to go.



The result....



Great day, thanks for the opportunity to have it happen!!!!

Was moving around with an Elk guide once, and he wasn't trying to be all that quiet...I mentioned it to him and his reply was..."Sometimes it pays off to have them think there is another Elk joining up...The key is to see them first."

Que meatloaf's 2 out of 3 ain't bad.....

If they hear something and aren't sure what it is, it's not a given they'll run off.

If they see something and aren't sure what it is, it's not a given they will run off.

If they see and hear you they're probably going to run.

If they smell you they're going to vamoose.

Well, sometimes...

I've had the wind what seemed to be wrong...perhaps it was swirreling...and they ignored me. Other times they were gone. Have had the wind wrong and they looked but stayed...Others times they were just looking, but I was only seeing parts and thought they were going to move out, and I would flick my hat or hankerchief at them, and they would stay or even come closer to see what was going on.

I've seen enough odd things happen with Deer, that were not supposed to happen, it makes me question some of the truths...Who knows...

Yeah, I'd not call my post a truth....just a random thought on what's probably not a given.

There is a lot of truth to it....The odds are you would be correct most of the time..