First Stalk Questions

[CEliason]

Question for the group is, is there a way to know when its best to hold up and be patient vs being a little more aggressive? How Crucial is it to be able to see the deer your stalking in on?
Some back story from last night;
Had my First real stalk on a buck last night. Glassed a buck up from a way off, while I was watching him he ended up bedding out in the open in a really good stop to put a stalk on, so off I went. I ended up getting within 40 yards of where I thought the buck was. Wind was good, but I had some brush in front of me blocking the view of where I assumed the buck was still bedded. At this point I told myself I should be patient but I wanted to know if the deer was still there. I worked my way a few feet to my left, and when I looked up to find the buck, he was staring right at me. I unfortunately didn't have a shot and he ran off.
Buck was bedded in the brush on the opposite side of the Pine.
Feel free to give any input!

 

[zmatters]

Speaking from the perspective of a similar experience recently i think if you’ve put yourself in what you believe to be a comfortable range, theres no reason to force the issue. Either he’s there and will eventually stand or he’s not there and you’ll sit there til dark. But id rather sit there til dark then bump him and not see him again. I dont think you need to see the deer, hough some part of him would be ideal. I think you just need the right landmarks which is easier said than done.

 

[CEliason]

Speaking from the perspective of a similar experience recently i think if you’ve put yourself in what you believe to be a comfortable range, theres no reason to force the issue. Either he’s there and will eventually stand or he’s not there and you’ll sit there til dark. But id rather sit there til dark then bump him and not see him again. I dont think you need to see the deer, hough some part of him would be ideal. I think you just need the right landmarks which is easier said than done.

Thanks! I agree, I knew if he was still there I was within range. lessons learned!

 

[KsRancher]

If I knew that if he didn't move that he was within range. That's when you pull up the binos and absolutely look till you are 100% sure you can't see him. Then take a small step forward and back to the binos. Do this until you find him. Or gets dark.

 

[Dos Perros]

"That was some of the best flying I've seen yet. Right up to the part where you got killed."

It sounds like you did everything right until you didn't, @KsRancher had a nice post. I use my binos to stare through the fringes of the brush, almost like you're looking through the tree, looking for hair, antlers, movement, etc. I would still make moves to verify he's there unless I was absolutely sure he was (how could you be?). Creep to the outside super slow until I picked him up. Binos, lean over, glass, take a half step, repeat.

 

[CEliason]

If I knew that if he didn't move that he was within range. That's when you pull up the binos and absolutely look till you are 100% sure you can't see him. Then take a small step forward and back to the binos. Do this until you find him. Or gets dark.

Thanks for the tip! I was trying to do that on my way in to see if he was up moving. I will remember to slow down even more and keep that tactic up!

 

[CEliason]

"That was some of the best flying I've seen yet. Right up to the part where you got killed."

It sounds like you did everything right until you didn't, @KsRancher had a nice post. I use my binos to stare through the fringes of the brush, almost like you're looking through the tree, looking for hair, antlers, movement, etc. I would still make moves to verify he's there unless I was absolutely sure he was (how could you be?). Creep to the outside super slow until I picked him up. Binos, lean over, glass, take a half step, repeat.

Thanks for the Info! Hopefully I can put this

 

[KsRancher]

SLOW is the name of game at that point. Like Dos Perros mentioned, you won't see but an ear, gray patch that looks funny, tine that looks like a branch, a branch that was there a second ago but now is gone, etc.

The deer in my profile pic was killed that way. Dad and I sat up about 200yds from a small group of does to eat some lunch. We would occasionally pull up the binos and take a look at them. We had been there about 45 min when I looked and noticed one of yucca they were bedded by had 2 of the tree like tops sticking out of it and it had only had 1 for the last 45 min. We sat there looking thru the binos for another 15min before it finally moved back to like it was originally. I made a stalk and got to 37yds and all I could see was about 6in of one main beam. I sat there for 20min until he stood up. For 1hr and 20min we were 200yds and under from that deer before we seen anything other than a small little bit of one antler. And the tallest thing within half mile was waist high yucca

 

[Rich M]

If you have onx on yer phone you can drop a pin where the deer bedded. Kinda takes the question out of “is that the correct spot?”

Sounds like you did well. Keep getting that close and you’ll kill sooner than later.

 

[KsRancher]

If you have onx on yer phone you can drop a pin where the deer bedded. Kinda takes the question out of “is that the correct spot?”

Sounds like you did well. Keep getting that close and you’ll kill sooner than later.

This is a great tip. To add to this. I range the distance from me to the deer. And then use the "line distance" on OnX from my location and drop the pin at that distance.

 

[CEliason]

If you have onx on yer phone you can drop a pin where the deer bedded. Kinda takes the question out of “is that the correct spot?”

Sounds like you did well. Keep getting that close and you’ll kill sooner than later.

That is a great tip as well! Thank you!

 

[selkirk21]

Solo can be tough to know when the best route involves being out of the line of sight. But as other guys already said, I error on the side of caution and going extra slow. Would rather take hours then accidentally bumping it. I will also mark his spot on OnX if there are obvious land features to take note of, and if I get a little thrown off during the stalk (because it always looks different) then I'll check my current location compared to where I marked the waypoint of the deer.

If there is service and you have a buddy, it is always nice to have them watching from a vantage point for you. I put my phone on "do not disturb" but check it if I start to wonder if something is off. If there are never any texts than that means the deer is still where you last saw it. If he spooked, then my buddy sent a text telling me. Obviously, the checking of the phone adds risks because that takes movement, but I do it very slowly and when/if the deer can't see me at that given time.