in a recent perfect Whitetail scope thread...there are many....the question of moving around and staying in one place was brought up. If one has the ground to move, I see little reason not to do so. I think the TV hunters have influenced what many do, in that it is difficult to get good film when the hunter is moving. Some have difficulty in moving.
And some think Deer stay holed up for most of the day...Perhaps highly pressured Deer do, but I don't find it to be true here in the Pa hills. However, many think you can't be moving around and be successful, which I find to be in error.

What you can see moving around...There would be hundreds more pics if I took the time to take them.

Sometime you even kill something....and close...



She is in there...were's Waldo..



He is too....but was special so he walked on..



Caught him feeding in the wood in the afternoon at around 30 yards, he never knew...



Caught him out scouting right before the season opened...




Bud and I were moving around and he pushed this to me...



In this weather my advice is to move....because they most likely won't be out for a walk...



One on the left: Both of us were walking in the morning..He most likely going to bed. Didn't have a clue at around 30-40 yards.

Fortune favors the brave.

As long as the wind is in my favor, noise and motion aren't a death sentence for the happy wanderer.

Walking up down and around Pa hills the wind is fickle...

Too thick where I hunt, be hard to get a shot.

I used to do a lot of slip hunting when I was younger. I saw lots of deer. Killed just as many on the ground as in a tree stand. some nice Bucks too. If you know how, when, and where to move, and what to look for, Slip/still hunting is a lot of fun.

Of course it depends on your situation.

Where i hunted recently the private woods patch was small, so if i moved a lot i might chase the deer off the property. I didnt move much.

If the woods are very dry and crunchy and the day quiet we didnt move much at all.

Still hunting along establiished trails sometimes is quiet and productive.

Before deer season i used to practice still hunting by hunting grey/fox squirrels.

The advice i got about still hunting was: Get goin as slow as you can go--then go half that fast.

My favorite kind of hunting although in my area the vegetation is about as thick as in your fourth from the top picture. I'm just not much of a sitter!

Both statements are very true. I used to love to still hunt after a rain or even during a slight drizzle. The ground becomes a lot more quiet. Put the wind in your face, move slowly, stop and watch for a few minutes, move slowly to your next close spot with cover and repeat. Now a days I hunt on hunting leases that do not want anybody walking around. Got to sit in a stand or ground blind. I do miss still hunting when the conditions are right.

I try to go 1 yard a minute. Always watch my back trail too.

I just go for a walk in the woods and try to see what is going on. Sometimes just moving along, sometimes slow. Have seen many Deer move out ahead of me and surely there were many more that I didn’t.

However, I’m no longer surprised when I catch them while breaking all the supposed rules. Mostly it’s a time thing. Spend enough time in a good area and we cross paths. However, usually have found a spot to watch by 3:30PM. Have a few that have a reason to be there.

Bouncing them out of their bed, or catching them in it, or when they get up to see what is going on and finishing the deal, is what I consider a great day. Big, small, Buck or Doe.

Two walking along parallel to each other and maybe 50 yards apart, can often be successful or at least you see enough to make it worthwhile.

Stalked this one on my own land……

Twice.

First time I couldn’t talk my self into it.

It was snowing like a beach…..

As I was drying off I looked over what I normally drive 200 plus miles for, ride mules 3 hours a day and live in a tent at 7800 feet.

Decided to give it another try from a different angle of approach.

Ended up a 200 yard shot……a doe had spotted me and was alert ….. but this guy was oblivious.

In our NY/VT woods I’m pretty much non stop once we have snow.

Most of the time if I start out early, sun just rising , I sit tight the first hour or two then start my "walk". I may take 3 or more "sits" during my "walk" depending on the sign and weather conditions. Usually feel like I'm missing out if I sit still all day. I absolutely dread sitting in a box stand over feeders and shooting lanes all day.

There is no doubt moving around can be successful. I also take advantage of other hunter movement and stay put when conditions are right.

I’ve seen some of my biggest Bucks, and many Deer, while walking around Grouse hunting with a Bird Dog…. Not worrying all the much about the wind or being extra quiet. If it works there, I mostly do the same on the move. Do slow down considerably when getting into what looks like a bedding area.

I always enjoy being on the move with snow on the ground hunting the old strip mines in southern Ohio

After 40 years and 100+ deer killed....

I find that the most effective method of take for whitetail is to kill them when THEY move....

When I was living in Eastern Kansas and Western Missouri in used to hunt a lot of the public hunting in Eastern Kansas with my longbow. So naturally I did a ton of still hunting. Usually spent most of the day at it, most of the time I didn't move but about 40 yards in an hours time. Every step opened up an all new field of view. Beat the hell out of sitting in a tree stand hoping a deer would make it's way by the stand. Had some great hunts that will never be forgotten

It's my favorite way to hunt. It's not the best all the time, and I can't do it as much as I'd like, but it can work. A couple from still hunting I have pics of:

Awesomeness

Still-hunting forest whitetails is the best. Move and look, move and look, sometimes stand at a productive spot with converging trails for what seems the right time. This year's buck and I met at the end of a 2+ hour creep, over less than a half mile, at a special spot I know. There were other deer along the way that never knew I was there. Dry leaves, no snow, public land. It pays to know an area. I do love still-hunting in snow best because it is quiet, you can see deer better, you can track, and a buck slides well on snow, plus it is not so dang hot going up the steep ridges. Most of all, still-hunting is moving, not being riveted to a spot, and committed to only one location. I see and learn so much more.

Fred Bear believed tree stands were unethically used according to what I read?

Well done!!!!

??? You mean like dropping them from helicopters on unsuspecting game? In his Field Noes book, he tells of hunting from an elevated platform several times.

“When a hunter is in a tree stand with high moral values and with the proper hunting ethics and richer for the experience, that hunter is 20 feet closer to God.”

— Fred Bear

https://quotefancy.com/fred-bear-quotes

Thanks for that.

I dunno where I read he was against tree stands. It kinda bummed me out.

Battue: I hope this new year finds you and your well, interesting posts and pictures.

Living in Alberta I have access to Whitetail country which is too thick to still hunt, way too sparse (open grain fields with miles between trees that aren’t right next to a house) to still hunt and all points in between.

I prefer hunting on foot over fixed stand hunting but have a found the sneak sit sneak routine to work really well.

One thing I have found in opposition to your experiences is that of snow and whitetail deer. especially in our foothills when we get a heavy snow it seems to snow whitetail. They are up and moving although staying in cover and in my experience the best time to still hunt is during the snowfall. In screaming blizzards they are not out and about, no surprise.

I hope y’all have a good January

GRF

Were I in Texas where every plant bites and scratches, I'd sit. Elsewhere, sit early AM and late PM and still hunt midday.

I use to still hunt a lot but as I get older, I tend to sit more .

It's hard to move around much in CT due to the small pieces of private land most of us hunt on. I typically hunt out of a hang on tree stand but I won't hesitate to get down to make a move on a deer if I can make it happen. I would love to walk in the woods on a snowy morning cut a buck track and stay on it but it's not feasible for the most part when you hit a border within a few hundred yards. I saw a buck a few years ago from my stand in the snow walking off the property but I thought he might bed near a swamp mid-day at the edge of the border further north. I backed out and drove around to the other end of the property and cut his track. A few minutes later I spotted him watching his back trail. Not the biggest buck I've shot but one of the more satisfying considering it was 2 days before the end of the season.



Most public land areas are so crowded I think you're better off sitting up high or on the ground near funnels or edges and let others push the deer around. Sometimes it works out...

I sure don't learn much about my woods just sitting in a stand all day, but I sure do when I go tracking or moving around looking for sign. I've happened into a few deer doing that, but I've also found my best ever stand sites taking a big track to see where they are moving. It usually takes me a couple of hunting seasons to refine my hunting areas as deer do pretty much the same thing each year. People move deer and people and their access points are predictable too. I've watched a deer walk right around a guy walking through and I've pretty much decided that I'm in too much of a hurry and not stealthy enough to catch up to a shootable deer on any kind of regular basis. A man's got to know his limitations. What I need in my big woods is a guy who THINKS that he can sneak up on a deer and I'll get it when it comes past me. Who moves deer around... should be the title of this thread in my not so limited experience.

Love to still hunt.
Had a decent place if one got bored, could get out of stand and still hunt to a diff stand.
Killed a few that way.

Have looped small thickets going slooooow and popped em too.

But nothing great. 100 to 130" bucks

Have only seen one solid B&C doing that, and of course I was bucked out

I'll have to have a couple hunts in me to settle down and still hunt properly.

Bud and I have bumped deer to each other, scent bump they call it. Could kill some doing that but the focus is for the other guy to score.

Works well if one knows the area halfway decent.
May take a good loop to get one positioned to start the bump. Too many just march to the start and think that wont blow em out other ways......small.parcel you gotta think a little cause once you do it, the day is done.

I sure dont wiggle through stuff as well as I used to LOL

Ladder stands at pinch points are pretty comfy.

That's generally how I do it. Sat till 9:am opening day this season and only saw a few does. Started still hunting and killed a buck at 10:15. Done it many times over the years.

I hunt near Hondo and kill deer with no problem in the brush.

I rarely hunt from a stand these days. I move with the wind and as I like to say, no faster than the grass sways. When I’m in the brush I stick to game trails to stay quiet and be able to focus on what’s around me. I’ve learned that the slower I move, the more deer I find. I also key in on vegetation changes. There are several persimmon stands scattered amongst the thickets. Those are good places to slow to a snail’s pace as they tend to have a more open understory with more herbaceous understory on the ground that the deer love feed on.

Sometimes it makes sense to move and sometimes it doesn't. I usually move around by 10 or 11 am. If I sit in a place and while I'm sitting, I see a better vantage point close, I will sneak over to the better spot. I usually hunt on the ground, so it isn't too hard to get mobile.

Once u[on a time there was no one hunting on the neighboring farms, and I could move around without worry of pushing a deer to someone else, or messing someone else's hunt up. I killed a lot deer while still hunting, and it was my favorite way to hunt. Now days the neighboring land has all been bought up and there is someone hunting it, so I can't sneak and hunt anymore like I used to. I still kill deer while stand hunting, and it's the best way to take the grandkids, but I do miss still hunting.

I like when my neighbors are out walking around. Still hunting - slipping around is the #1 way to cause deer to go nocturnal and or leave your hunting property. Animals are not supposed to be able to reason, but I believe whitetail deer especially mature bucks have that ability.

IMO/IME, the very best and biggest bucks do stay holed up most of the daylight hours, unless it's a female that causes their downfall. Even then, catching the biggest bucks making a mistake is a rare occurrence. Most of the greatest TV hunters are a joke.

The one your buddy pushed to you is a hellova deer!

As one of the hunting camp kids at the young age of 52, pushing deer is kind of expected of me. It's not a hated task-walking is pretty enjoyable. The only deer I've ever taken while moving around was a meh sized doe during WI's second weekend. It dropped on the easy to get to side of the ridge, so not the worst time had packing out a bambi in the driftless.

I had a early season bonus doe short range weapon. Got sick of them winding me or spotting me in my tree stands.

So I put the bow in the tractor loader bucket went to placing tree cages in the meadow. The deer were oblivious to me and bedded in the willow patch. It was an easy stalk for a 40 yard shot.

I'm fortunate in that I live in an area where I can roam until my heart is content. For me, there is no better way or more satisfying, than stillhunting or tracking. I tend to hunt quicker than most but as quietly as possible and often catch deer flat footed. It is all good.

Maybe if I lived in an area with higher deer numbers I'd feel different but sitting here can be a long cold ordeal.

When Fred Bear started his hunting "career" in Michigan it was not only considered unethical but also illegal to hunt off the ground. It was also illegal to use bait or salt blocks. With the invention of the compound bow, and the subsequent explosion in the numbers of bowhunters, along came the whining that it was too difficult to kill a deer on it's own terms and they needed "advantages". The DNR, wanting more license revenue, acquiesced and here we are. A majority of hunters that started in the '80s and later know only to dump a pile of bait, get up in the air and wait for 'em to come in.

I have still hunted for over 45 years. Hunt a lot of unbroken big areas and have had a few 2 day drags. I still shoot open sights. My kids will use a scope if they're standing in an area that I am hunting......nothing over 4X though.

Lucky day for sure...None had seen that Deer until then, and he came out on the trot from a nasty tangle with 5 or 6 Does. As Raider mentioned, a Doe in late heat was most likely his downfall.

Still we made it happen in the middle of the afternoon, instead of waiting around, or only coming out in the evening hoping something would show up.

Great pics!!!!...Camera or IPhone???? I have a hard time getting pics that sharp on the campfire..Other forums, they are much better..

Getting it done when the season is closing up always makes for a great memory. Congrats!!!!

Just saw this...And the same to you...

I ran into a guy from your country and the Bucks....dead.... he had on camera were beyond impressive...Had a farm and said much the same as you...Right before a good snow he said they were up and moving...Which is the same as here. I also mentioned that it looked really cold in some of the pics..He replied that in the real cold he had the best hunting suit one could have..I asked him what that would be? He replied a Ford F250!!!!

Also Deer don't usually run too far off if you bounce them out...Have more than once walked a circle back to where I was standing...went back to the same tree and in a little time Deer showed up...Coincidence???? Or did I get them up and moving, they didn't go far, and I caught them going back to their safe spot...Who knows????

Without question, conditions vary throughout deer range, and by deer species, as to what you can do locally. Eastern hunting versus western hunting versus coastal rainforest each has its individual conditions and challenges. I have had the great good fortune to be able to hunt larger tracts of land from Adirondacks and Green Mountains, to Texas ranches, to western National Forests and Bureau of Land Management land, to Alaskan coast and montane, that have allowed one to still-hunt by cruising or oozing through woodland, sagebrush, or willow, or to use spot and stalk that sometimes ends up with slithering on your belly. (These can be applied to elk, pronghorn, sheep, and goat as well.) All of these hunts have lacked the boredom I suffer from when I am stuck on a stand for long hours. Can't sit still well. However, there are places where stands are really the only option, and I have certainly been in some: eastern second-growth forests, Alaskan rainforest, and deep south Texas being some of those places, also small tracts of private land. There are places where you can't force your way through, and certainly will see nothing.

That said, it is always easier to see moving game, and it is easier if you are yourself not moving fast or if you stop frequently to look. That coupled with optics allows you to see game in thick cover where otherwise you might miss it. Moving versus staying stationary is to a great extent personal preference, but one has to adapt to local conditions. Sometimes where you might normally be moving, you can't. The it certainly pays to have learned the movement patterns in an area.

Studying the land and identifying likely "deery" areas: bedding, feeding and watering, ingress and egress, scrape runs, etc., then moving between them and sitting and glassing for a while before moving on is how I was raised, and I really enjoy it.

I'm a mover, man. Though at time I will sit/stand for an hour, maybe 2.

Bowhunting I'm trying more to be a sitter.

I suppose, more than anything, whatever terrain you hunt in dictates your hunting style.

Ain't that the truth?

Everybody I know has seen more and bigger bucks pheasant hunting than they've ever seen deer hunting.

Mention jump hunting deer on the Campfire and somebody is likely to start a diatribe on the "ethics" of shooting at running deer, blah, blah, blah.

I've shot a bunch of 'em on the run, and near as I can figure, ain't much different shooting a running deer than a flying pheasant.

I see nothing wrong with giving the deer a sportin chance!!😉

Now start talking about shooting pheasants on the run and see what happens!!

So some of you are saying you hunt this:

Different than you hunt this?:

I hunt northern PA and almost never sit still. I constantly still hunt and have killed some nice bucks doing so. In fact every buck hanging on my walls was killed by still hunting except one. Still hunting is truly hunting and my favorite way to hunt!!!!

Whatever it takes. And that depends on circumstances.

In 1981 I spent the 1st 13 days of a 20-day moose season (unemployed! . ) on various stands, from can-see to can't-see. (18-20 hour days) After the first day I saw only cows ( about 50 - some the same ones) , and one bull too far away to shoot. On the last day I had to hunt, after 3 days of pouring rain, I hiked my soogy camp and bod out to the road where my wife was to pick me up, if she wasn't in hospital giving birth. I could have hunted the whole season, with 12 days to spare at the end, but she was getting pretty uncomfortable.

After 3 days of soaker, even my "water-resistant" watch was drowned out. A camper at the closed-road gate told me the time. It was early enough that I had time to slowly walk the 3 miles back on the closed road " hunting" off both sides to the drilling pad there, and still meet my wife at the gate at the scheduled time. The camper told me no one had been down the road since he had arrived 4 days before. The rain was ending, with clearing skies moving in from the west - all good signs. Just after turning back from the pad at the end, I found fresh tracks crossing the road, put there after I had previously passed less than 10 minutes before. Stepping to the shoulder, it was an easy shot at the 40" bull 50 yards away in the hollow below. He was mostly dressed out in time for me to meet my wife on time. He was good until morning, then 2 days packing.

I never sat on a stand again for over a decade and half after that. The hunting area had burned in 1969, and was now a mosaic of second growth (feed!), and "islands" of unburned timber, which the moose used for bedding areas. At that time, it was "any bull" regs, so it was a simple matter of slip-hunting through the bedding areas until a bull stood up, with fast passage to the next through the second growth, where the moose weren't in day-time. At least not the bulls. I don't believe I ever spent more than two weekends hunting to fill the freezer. I had 100% success ration (and a lot of packing time!), in an area recording 20-23% success, overall. Antlers coming up off the ground stood virtually no chance. . Then again, I didn't hunt closer than a mile from road access. No one else back there.

Then the chit grew up, moose population started declining, antler restrictions were put in place, moose started bedding just anywhere, as they now had good shade and cover even out in the second growth.. The previous strategy was no longer effective, so it was back to stand hunting, near lakes or bogs (feeding areas) with calling, especially a couple hours before and after light.

Success went way down......

It's been more than 10 years since I've hunted out there, and probably won't, again, except to poke around. 8 of those years were spent living up north, and the last 3 we have killed sufficient caribou out of Fbks, before moose season, that moose hunting was not a priority. We'll likely do a half-ass effort for moose out of our remote Interior cabin again, after the caribou hunt 2022. That too will be mostly stand-hunt, probably, at least until I figure things out more extensively. "Hunters" now infest the river, roaring up and down daily, so float hunting, possibly with success 20 years ago, is no longer feasible. I'm going to have to get away from the river, I think. I got maps.....and these other guys don't seem to get 200 yards from the river. The moose, of course, know that.

Moose population is probably 15% or less than it was in the 80's and 90's, in my old area here, the winter feed is a small fraction of what it was, the bedding cover is heavier and wide-spread, the bear and wolf populations haven't declined. Slip hunting out there is now is mostly a matter of exercise and snooping, with a small, small chance of success- about, in my estimation, of ass-plant hunting.

I prefer slip-hunting, btw. But one does see some interesting stuff in an all-day ass-plant.

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..

Additionally, I'm fortunate enough to live in a place where there is a lot of Deer....Which significantly increases the chance of throwing one the "lucky" card. And I've been very lucky.

A friend who is an excellent wild Pheasant hunter, says one of his best advantages is that he is always ready for a flush...I look at it the same with Deer hunting..When opportunity presents you have to be ready to make it happen. Being around Deer frequently helps one to quickly recognise different situations.

Addition: I grew up in a clan that drove Deer regularly...and one thing you quickly learn is not to be afraid to miss. You would get some trash talk when you did, however that was an incentive to do better. Have another friend who kills Deer on a fairly regular basis, but if everything is not perfect he hesitates. It has cost him some nice Bucks.

Battue,
Really cool pictures of some country that I have only had infrequent visits to. Thanks for sharing.

Regarding your question on who moves around, out here in AZ, the game populations densities are low. Like say i deer per square mile (that’s the Statewide average). Some hunters have developed a strategy of spot and stalk. Get on a hill or mountain, glass your eyeballs off, spot an animal, then start your stalk. Shooting distances can be great. We sometimes spot an animal miles away, and then head in for the stalk.

Some hunters have been known to sit on that hill or mountain all day while others move to different hills or mountains or mountains during the course of the day. Just depends.

My experience in other Western states is variable, but spot and stalk is the most common hunting method.

Harry, those are pictures that I never get tired of seeing! I guess I’m doing as well as can be expected at my age, thanks for asking. That house blind is still producing, by the way. I hope all is well with you.

That is without a doubt the nicest blind I ever was in.😉

I get the wind right and pretty much stay on the move. Probably 75% of my deer and 100% of my hogs were taken on foot creeping around.
Foggy days are one of my favorites. Also when the leaves are wet from a weather front moving out…Hell, I’m going in to work late or maybe not at all. Those days are magical.

A bottle of water and a couple pb&j sammiches, I can stay all day and enjoy the woods. It’s my happy place!!

Yeah, it’s pretty comfortable and easy to get into. I plan on using it a lot more in coming years as I get older.