Gooooo Slooooooooow.... I have also always wanted to try a really good tough pair of soft deerskin moccasin boots for hunting to see how much they may help with stealth.
Gooooo Slooooooooow.... I have also always wanted to try a really good tough pair of soft deerskin moccasin boots for hunting to see how much they may help with stealth.
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Quakee Surpee Neekoo
Interesting and following.
It depends what I'm trying to achieve. There are times I intentionally make noise. Zero tolerance for foreign sounds like talking, car doors, gear clicks/squeaks, food wrappers, water bottle sloshing ect.
I try to match my the energy of the forest to the amount of energy I'm contributing. I know that sounds like some tree hugger stuff, but it's true. When it's so calm out your stomach growling is loud it's impossible to move silently. If you not disturbing the area your in, your moving slow enough or quite enough in my opinion. Replicate the picture your painting. If your still hunting timber and snap a stick you better stop, wait and look .... that's what a deer would typically do. Game like us makes alot of noise, if I'm calling elk I'll purposely snap sticks ... like an elk!. I've stomped back at deer and barked at elk ... don't me silent, be realistic?!?!.
I still basicly don't know what I don't know so keen to learn
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Turn on your 'ninja' grasshopper
Never say whoa in the middle of a mud hole
Sometimes it is best not to try to be quiet. Just try not to sound like a big animal. Sit and listen to the forest for a while. It is a noisy place when the critters are about. Little critters sound big. Sometimes the deer are more alarmed by the sound of a big critter trying to be quiet than a little critter not trying to hide its noise. What I do in places where silence is impossible is scurry the bushes with my hands to cover my movements. I try to mimic the sound of a bird or squirrel in the undergrowth. I do my best to move unpredictably and avoid snapping branches at all cost. Only big critters snap branches, it’s an instant alarm bell for both us hunters and the hunted.
Moccasins help with stealth over big lugged boot soles. Mostly they help you feel branches before you snap them under your feet. But they don’t instantly turn you into a ninja. Bare feet are even better than moccasins. But what is best is knowing how and when to be quiet.
This is well said, listen to what is going on around you and mimic it.I try to match my the energy of the forest to the amount of energy I'm contributing
I suck at being silent unless it is snowy or really wet. If it is dry I break branches with every second step. This is one of the reasons I enjoy hunting in the rut. I stomp around pretending to be a critter, calling as I go.
Moose hunting in the rut is awesome for this-- crunch and snap your way through the woods while grunting. I've fooled hunting partners more than once.
Is Justin Competent, or just incompetent?
There are times when it's impossible to be quiet, like in crunchy snow or early season when it's dry, so you have to move like a deer if you want any hope of getting close. A couple steps, pause, watch and listen, a few more steps, pause, watch and listen. Your pauses should be longer the louder the conditions. Also, try to use cover while your moving. As for moving through willows, I would try to go around if possible and set up where the animals are going in and out of them. Some types of terrain are not suitable for stillhunting such as thick regen., blowdown, willows... It really pays to learn how animals use the area you hunt so you can come up with an effective plan based on conditions at the time.
Wait for it to start pissing rain....
Another thing that I'll add is that I've only recently started "sitting" hunting where I basically move 100 yards or to the next advantageous spot and sit for an hour before moving to the next. In a 6-8 hour hunting excursion I could literally only move about 600 yards... It was really eye opening what you'd see walking around if you just sit and listen.
I didn't think I'd have the patience for it but a "still" forest can be surprisingly entertaining if you just stop to look and listen.
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