Still Hunting

[jim4065]

Joshua's thread on "Strange Bullet Behavior" made me get to thinking about what is meant by "Still Hunting" which I tend to equate with "Stalking", i.e. moving very slowly with frequent pauses to look and listen. When I stay still and hunt from one place for a goodly period of time, that's "Stand Hunting" or being "On Stand" (with or without a tree stand or ground blind). Seems like most of my friends use "Still Hunting" for being "Still" or in one place and "Stalking" for moving on foot while hunting. Am I wrong again? :confused:

[Beerd]

I voted for #1. To me "still" means being "quiet". And you have to move around to hunt.
But I kind of like answer #4 too ;-)
..

[BD]

To me:

"Hunting from a stand" means sitting or standing in one spot while you wait for the game to move past you. You go to your stand and then stay there and wait. Hopefully you've placed your stand downwind where you can see a game trail, scrape, rub line or breeding area, or between a feeding and bedding area. Or, looking over bait when and where it's legal to do so. For me this often involves a scoped rifle and a good book.

"Still Hunting" means moving very slowing through an area thought to contain game in a general sense. more time spent still than moving, but you're giving an area a good looking over hoping to see the game before you spook it out of there. I'll still hunt in bedding or feeding areas on ground where I don't really understand the game or terrain yet, or if I'm just plain tired of sitting in a tree. My favorite for this is my DW 744 with open sights. Still hunting often turns into stalking if you're moving to fast.

"Stalking" is attempting to walk up on game you know to be there. Sort of still hunting with a purpose. I do this deer hunting in the snow whenever possible as it's challenging and fun. I'll move through an area I know to hold a good buck until I jump him, or cut his track, and then spend the day playing cat and mouse, trying to get a shot. There's tricks to this, and sometimes they work. If you know the ground well it helps a lot. I'll also stalk hogs if I can hear them well enough, or caribou if I've seen them from a distance and need to get closer. I've killed less game this way, but had more fun! Hunting big cats, this can work both ways and the cats are better at it than me. If you want a challenge try stalking a cat in the snow. Wait and see who's following who by the end of the day. If you're really trying to kill the cat, it's best to quit trying to be sneaky and bring along some dogs :)

BD

[waksupi]

I still hunt until I spot game, then stalk it. The stalk can be anything from pussyfooting up on something, to a full out run, to try and cut off a herd of elk.
I have tried to teach people over the years how to still hunt. Only one showed any talent for it. It is impossible to get some people to slow to the necessary pace.

[Junior1942]

I still hunt until I spot game, then stalk it. The stalk can be anything from pussyfooting up on something, to a full out run, to try and cut off a herd of elk.
I have tried to teach people over the years how to still hunt. Only one showed any talent for it. It is impossible to get some people to slow to the necessary pace.Around here, still hunting is fast becoming a lost art. Almost everyone hunts in a box stand and uses a 700 yard rifle.

[bruce drake]

Junior,

A rare occurrence in that we agree on this one. I'm a lot more successful still hunting than the lazy cityboys sitting in their stand drinking coffee and enjoying a dip of Copenhagen talking to thier buddy Joe.

It's also nice that if you move slow enough, the environment accepts you into the noise of the forest. I've had squirrels and chipmunks feeding a few yards from me as I walk through the woodlots.

Bruce

[10 ga]

Still hunting means you are "still", if you are moving you are not still. If stalking, you have seen game and are attempting to approach for a shot. If you are moving around while hunting and are attempting to approach game that you don't know about, you are: "lucky", sneak and creep huntin, "bed shooter", or a "driver". At times I use all of the mentioned styles but like "lucky" the best. 10ga

[gon2shoot]

I thought it meant you didn't connect during season, so you was still hunting.

[NHlever]

I thought it meant you didn't connect during season, so you was still hunting.

:D :D

I voted #1. Two hours, 200 yards, shooting big buck in his bed........ is about as slow as it's gotten for me, but you have to have a lot of confidence in where he is for that, and that is borderline stalking though I view stalking as creeping up on game that has been spotted. Spot, and stalk is a lot more common out west than it is here in NH where some country is thicker than the area I served in in Vietnam! Waiting for game is "standing" or sitting on stand, etc. Tracking is just that, and sure is the old Benoit way. I've gotten deer like that too. Even got one with a bow in a snowstorm by figuring out that deer are often like big rabbits and will try to circle back to the bed you jumped them from sometimes. Lots of fun however you do it, but you have to stay warm around here to enjoy sitting all day!

[MT Gianni]

Still hunting means you are "still", if you are moving you are not still. If stalking, you have seen game and are attempting to approach for a shot. If you are moving around while hunting and are attempting to approach game that you don't know about, you are: "lucky", sneak and creep huntin, "bed shooter", or a "driver". At times I use all of the mentioned styles but like "lucky" the best. 10ga

That makes for a boring hunting video which is all some folks seem to care about these days. I voted #1 also.

[Glen]

Word to the wise: if you ever do come across an unattended still while out hunting, head the opposite direction as quickly as you can! Moonshiners don't like uninvited guests!

[cbrick]

Kinda my thinking as well Glen, can't say I ever ran across a still but then I wasn't really looking for one. Perhaps they bed down in thick brush during day light hours making them tough to find. [smilie=1:

Rick

[Four Fingers of Death]

I can't seem to get it through a few of my friends heads, that the only thing apart from a human that moves without stopping regularly to graze, sniff, smell, rest, fart, etc, is a scared animal, soooooooooooooo, if something is moving continually, it is either a guy with a gun or a fellow animal moving away from a guy with a gun.

We don't use tree stands here (illegal I think), but lots of guys sit ona stool with a huge spotting scope (Very powerful binos on a tripod are getting very popular) and take deer out at extreme ranges. The way my health is going, I will probably have to join this crowd in years to come.

Still hunting is a very gratifying experience however and gives you the real feel of the hunt. You 'hunted' your game, you didn't take advantage of it by sending a cruise missile from a long ways off.

[Leadforbrains]

I used to think Still hunting was being still at one spot.
Moving quietly through an area and stopping momentarily to listen was called slipping.
Now from what everyone tells me and what I have read that standing in one spot is stand hunting.
I guess terminology is all according to where you are from and who you are talking to.
I have killed alot of deer by slipping. Three or four steps then stop and wait 15 min before moving again.
Deadly on deer that are bedded at or before noon.

[runfiverun]

as far apart as the deer here are, if you are still hunting you would do better hanging out at the gas station to see what anybody else shot.
i usually put in between 7 and 9 miles for each deer i see. on foot, not truck miles.

[JeffinNZ]

Have two small children, a house and section to look after, work Mon - Fri but..............STILL HUNTING.

Howzat?

[bcp477]

I've always found the term confusing (misleading really). Of course, the correct answer is the first choice - moving slowly and silently while hunting..... with alot more time spent NOT moving, than moving.

As an aside, it is by far my favorite style of hunting....even if less successful than using a blind or a tree stand. I hate tree stands.....and I'm not much for hiding in a blind either (though I do sometimes use that technique). But, for me, "still hunting" feels like the real deal (and I truly enjoy it) ..... the other techniques mentioned seem "fake" to me, somehow. Just my opinion - which has no bearing on anyone else.

[jim4065]

Did ya ever run down a deer like Daniel Day-Lewis in The Last of the Mohicans?

(Me neither.)

[legend]

still hunting whitetails is what my father taught me in vermont growing up,it was the late 50s and deer were scarce..

now i hunt the blackhills of wyoming,with great success,still hunting.
here in wyoming i COULD hunt muledeer,but,i love whitetails..

i am 61 and i hope at 71 i am "STILL HUNTING"

[Four Fingers of Death]

Did ya ever run down a deer like Daniel Day-Lewis in The Last of the Mohicans?

(Me neither.)

ScheeeoooooooooooooooooooooooTTTTTTTTT! I couldn't run out of sight on a dark night.

'Slipping' sums it up better than the term still hunting. I still hunted for years before I realised thats what it meant. I'm usually pretty quick, but sometimes I ain't.

[Charlie Sometimes]

It's not "stills" that you have to worry about now- it's them marijuana growers and booby traps that are of greater concern now a days.

[mroliver77]

Around these parts land is divided up and you would not be a wandering into unknown areas. I call still hunting still hunting because thats what someone what read it in a magazine tole me its called.;)
I use stand sitting, still hunting, stalking and occasionally shooting from the bedroom window as hunting tactics. I carry a gun around the place a lot because we are over run with nasty raccoons, rabbits, ground hog and feral cats. Hard to take an opportunistic shot when one arises without a gun.
Jay

[Red River Rick]

I'm alive....................so I'm STILL hunting!

[buckshot&brass]

I always considered anything besides running deer with dogs a form of still hunting.

I do believe there are sub categories at play here.
If my buddy says were going still hunting I'm going to ask if were stand hunting or stalking.
If it's a stand hunt and it's cold I'm wearing something warm and may bring a climber or seat.
If were stalking I'm traveling light.
It also helps me decide if I need a scoped rifle,open sights,or just a trusty shotgun.
( I suppose that's where my handle came from .....should have been Buckshot "or" Brass. LOL)