Still Hunting Whitetail

[Jermh]

Let's hear some stories from guys still hunting/rattling/decoying whitetails from the ground. Bonus points if it's archery. I started messing around with an Ultimate Predator decoy last year and had some luck and now I'm hooked. Stuck here patiently waiting on Septmber just shooting, fletching arrows, and getting anxious and thought it would be cool to hear some stories.

 

[George Hamrick]

Been able to get on quite a few bucks the last few years still hunting. Really prefer only still hunting in the rain in October, but most of my luck has been the first week of November. Makes rattling and calling more realistic in my opinion with kicking leaves around etc. I hunt hill country hardwoods on public, so I don’t have any experience with the decoying though.

Last season I decided to still hunt Nov. 1st. It had rained overnight, but was going to be perfect that morning. Probably my favorite conditions. You can get around without making much noise, but still hear deer moving if you’re slow enough. I still hunted into an area I knew was a doe bedding area. I heard a buck grunting and chasing a doe across the hollow. Snuck over there when he went up the ridge. Came back through a few minutes later and shot him at 12 yards. Tough to beat getting them that close on the ground.

 

[B.kilpatrck]

Let's hear some stories from guys still hunting/rattling/decoying whitetails from the ground. Bonus points if it's archery. I started messing around with an Ultimate Predator decoy last year and had some luck and now I'm hooked. Stuck here patiently waiting on Septmber just shooting, fletching arrows, and getting anxious and thought it would be cool to hear some stories.

Thanks bud for the thread. Good stories

 

[Lowg08]

Ok I’ll give it a try. Considering I just still hunting last year. It’s not a successful hunt but it was for me.

We were on our opening weekend archery camp. we were still hunting through high elevation balds. Was up and through the bald to a glassing point before daylight. As it broke day light I had a large Doe walking towards me as I slipped down a trail to a rock I had picked out to glass. Came to full draw and proceeded to attempt to close ground. Well she figured me out and bolted. I continue on to this rock. Stop and pull up against the rock with some water and a breakfast bar. As daylight allows for glassing. There was four does at 250 yards. I sat and watched them trying to nail down which way they were feeding to plan a move. I believe I watched for 15 minutes and came up with a plan. I am all this time taking wind and noise into account. It’s time to put my move into action. I pack up my pad and slip my pack back on and begin to slip. 5 yards into my slip, I here a blow behind me. Well low and behold that same doe had came back around. I had already nocked an arrow because there is a very good chance you could bump a deer in mid stalk. She blows at me and I simply draw and turn at the same time. As I draw I have no time to range or anything. Thankfully she gives me the dumb look like what are you and it allows me to anchor and acquire the pin I thought was right. I turned it loose and in slow motion I watch white fletching sail 6” below her belly and 6” behind her front leg. She bolts and I’m hooked on still hunting. I didn’t kill a deer but man it’s a story I love to tell.

 

[Forestryguy]

I have had a lot better success calling and rattling from the ground. This is more of a ground hunting story than still hunting.

Few years ago on a farm there was a draw that came up to a crop field. There was an old skid road that was over grown coming up it. I sat just off it on the down wind side where I could shoot the skid road or a side hill trail that was through 2-3 inch saplings. I sat between a larger white oak and a downed log. Since I made noise ruffling the leaves while walking in and getting set up I went ahead and did a calling sequence. I started out with a few grunts and then a snort wheeze. On this farm I knew that there were several older and dominate bucks. I let loose with an aggressive rattling sequence, slamming the horn together as hard as I could. As I continued rattling, I kicked leaves and branches back and forth to make it sound like to pissed off bucks where in a serious fight. This was getting towards the end of October with a few does showing signs of being in estrus, over cast and it had cooled off the night before. Not long after kneeling down and watching the skid road and side trail, I caught movement at the bottom of the draw. I got myself ready to draw and shoot fast. Walking up the road, it was cut lower than where I was sitting and had a decent amount of brush along the edge. When the buck came into view he had decided to take the side trail through the smaller saplings. This was to be expected since he was an older deer that I knew of and was at least 5 yrs old. He was a non-typical that I think was 12-14 points, mass throughout and a tighter rack. He was on the down hill side of antler growth, from what I had seen in the previous two years. As he got to where I thought I would get a broadside down hill shot, he turned and came straight at me. When he stopped he was about eight yards and looking straight through me. I had managed to get my bow up but there was no way to draw. Behind me it was more open timber for about twenty yards to the field edge. The stare down lasted for about five minutes, feeling like it was half an hour. Neither of us moving and me trying not to look at his eyes. I kept contemplating a frontal shot, but was not sure about taking it since I had an expandable broad head on. If I knew that I would hit him right in the crease I would have taken the shot. After he decided that there was no other deer in the area he turned and walked straight away and back down the skid road he came up. That is the day I decided I was switching back to fixed blades. Unfortunately, that was the last year that I hunted that farm.

 

[buckchaser]

Big woods deer story for you from Eastern Ontario late November last year during bow season. Classic big woods hunting - thick cover, low deer density.

I was a couple kilometers deep from the truck and still hunting through a major hub of buck activity around noon. A brisk NW wind covered most sound and movement, although the cold temperatures made the leaf litter crunchy. I was moving very slowly - a couple steps, grunt, glass.

I caught of glimpse of movement about 40 meters away and the Swarovski binoculars showed tines - big, tall tines.

I grunted and he began moving my way before stopping quartering to 35 meters out. Over the next few minutes he alternated between staring in my direction and moving slowly back and forth - grunting. Ultimately he moved off and was gone.

So close. I literally just needed another 5 meters until he was in a shooting lane.

Over the winter I did a post-mortem of sorts of the encounter.

1) I believe he hung up as he could not see the “deer” that was grunting at him once he closed to 35 meters. There wasn’t enough cover between us to make him come in closer to see.

2) I grunted quite aggressively at him and mimicked scraping. Perhaps his falling testosterone levels as the rut wanes meant that was too aggressive.

Exhilarating encounter and unquestionably one of the coolest moments in nearly 30 years of hunting.

Just heartbreaking to be that close to arrowing a mature buck in the big woods from the ground. I know how rare these chances are.

Pretty sure it was this buck …

 

[Randle]

2015 I was still hunting and rattling softly as i moved. As I topped a small ridge I caught movement then 2 tails flagging at 100 yards, Oh man busted deer right out.
I decided to sit and let the area calm down for a few minutes
After about 15 or so I started towards the next ridge , as I scanned the area I saw a buck bedded with his neck stretched high looking right at me.
The mental gymnastics in the next few seconds was crazy. Oh man thats a good buck, shoot he's on high alert, crap he's going to bolt, No he's not he thinks he's hidden. I dropped to my shooting sticks, settle the crosshairs on the shoulder and slow squeeze. Holy smokes I pinned him to where he laid.
One of my best bucks to date.
This is a picture after i walked up to make sure he was dead and the walked back to where i shot from to take a picture of the shot

And as he laid when I walked up to him (I did prop his head up for the pictures)

 

[rayporter]

i really like walking up on them. low success rate but its fun.

 

[rayporter]

once when still hunting i jumped 2 bucks and they were sneaking away from me on a knob. if they followed the contour, they would cover quite a bit of ground going around the knob which i figured would take several minutes. i ran up and over the top of the knob and set up at the junction of 2 trails. still winded and barley able to hold the shotgun i seen them coming just as i kneeled to catch my breath. there were now 3. and the first one was limping. he was not the largest but i decided if he was wounded i would finish him off. as he entered my scope i fired a lightfield slug and hit him in the brisket. i found blood right off and began to track.

i jumped him after a hundred yards but got no shot in thick brush as he ran up over the knob. back to tracking. near the top i jumped him again but he was literally at the top and was out of sight in a blink of an eye. smart cookie. now i slowed down as i reached the top and entered a thick briar patch. one step, look. one step, look. 50 feet. 60 feet. this time when he jumped i was ready and got a good shot. but he went over the other side of the knob out of sight again.

tracking again. more blood. one step, look. 100 feet go by. i am now looking at his prints in the leaves and looking ahead for leaves out of place. horns. he is standing. i lean around a tree and drop him. as i approach there are 2 dead bucks 20 ft apart. one i had been tracking and an unlucky passer by.

 

[Jermh]

Thanks for chiming in fellas, I love reading stories like these. It doesn't get much better than being on the ground with them

 

[Dave0317]

My absolute favorite hunting memories are from still-hunting. I’d say a successful still-hunt kill on the ground is what took me from finding hunting to be an interesting pastime to it being an absolute year round obsession.

I could tell a few good ones. And every single one feels like a great adventure in my mind. I need to write them all out sometime.

I started hunting seriously about 7 years ago. I didn’t have much of a mentor so I learned field dressing from books (Gut it, Cut it, Cook it, I think was a good one). I didn’t have a climbing stand or any box stands. Was hunting public land only. And, this was before I had heard of OnX, so finding legal public was a challenge in and of itself. I stumbled upon Stalking & Still Hunting: The Ground Hunters Bible, by G Fred Asbell. I started hunting in that style and scaring away probably more deer than I ever actually saw.

Eventually one day, things clicked, conditions were perfect. It was a cool November day, the ground was just a bit wet from a prior rain and a cool front was moving in. I walked into a dry creek bottom about 3-4 feet deep and with a sand bottom with no leaves. Perfect for sneaking along quietly.

I crept through that ditch at a snails pace, scanning with my binoculars after every couple steps. Occasionally I would make a quiet doe or fawn noise if I stepped on a stray leaf or made other noise. After moving maybe 75 yards in an hour I was coming to a point where the brush around the ditch got thicker, and then ran into a underground gas line lane that made a linear opening. Now I would recognize that type of transition as a hot spot, at the time I simply thought “well my nice ditch is coming to an end, I need to find some other direction to walk”.

I leaned my iron sighted single shot 45-70 against a tree and took a leak before deciding what to do next. Right as I finished, I heated rustling coming from just beyond the thickest brush ahead. About 4 does meandered out right in front of me, maybe 25 yards away. I grabbed the rifle from next to the tree in as smooth of a motion as I could. I cocked the hammer, positive that the noise and movement would have them gone before I could shoot. Much to my surprise, they just kept walking. I picked one in the middle of the group put the front sight just behind the shoulder and squeezed the shot off. She bucked and then sprinted a winding route out to the gas line and then into the woods beyond. I reloaded, and then sat down to wait about a half hour, just in case.

After waiting a while I went out to follow the blood trail and found her about 70 yards away. This wasn’t my first deer, but it was my first on my own, and my first on the ground. It was such a different feeling than just killing one from a box stand a hundred yards away. I was hooked.

Since then I have gotten a tree saddle, which is a blast to use, but I will always make it a point to wait for those perfect days. When a light rain has made the leaves quieter, a breeze creates enough of a rustle to cover your footsteps, and when I want to become a part of the woods again. I’ll grab nothing but my rifle or bow, binoculars, and a knife, and I’ll simply hunt along wherever the sign takes me.

 

[*zap*]

Still hunting is a pretty low % success hunt with a bow but if you enjoy it then go ahead....

 

[Randle]

But success is oh so good, the 2 times I shot bucks on the ground at 15 yards on their turf at their level.
But yes very difficult

 

[*zap*]

Hunt for the hunt or hunt for the kill.....that is the #1 question when it comes to tactics....

 

[FLATHEAD]

I'd say 90% of my kills have been from still hunting, on the ground.
And by far, the most rewarding.

 

[Dave0317]

Like I mentioned, I still hunted for several years largely out of necessity. I didn’t want to mess with a climber and hadn’t heard of saddles yet, and I didn’t know the area or deer behavior well enough at the time to pick a specific spot to sit. But the simple idea of move slow, keep wind in your face, and follow the deer sign, made sense to me. I actually had pretty good success those first few years. Maybe beginners luck. I took two or three deer each season doing it, including a couple nice 8 point bucks.

I mostly saddle hunt now, but I’ll never forget the thrill of being 12 yards from a deer on the ground and seeing every muscle of the shoulder move right there at eye level in front of me.

It’s not high odds, but it’s an incredible experience when it does happen.

I haven’t had success on the ground with a bow before, but I’ve only had the bow for a couple years now. I did take a shot at one that I closed the distance with, on the ground, to about 25 yards. My arrow glanced off a sapling on the way to her. Just being drawn back on a whitetail after having snuck in so close on the ground was enough of a rush that I will absolutely try it again sometime.

 

[Jermh]

Still hunting is a pretty low % success hunt with a bow but if you enjoy it then go ahead....

I'll usually kill a hand full or so deer with my bow every year. Getting on the ground with them is a fun way to shake things up and just feels so good when it all finally pans out.

 

[Holocene]

I dorked around with still hunting whitetails back in South Carolina when I was first starting to hunt at age 24 -- bow, shotgun, and rifle. Got on a few deer, but never killed one in that situation. My only chances from the ground came from posting up on natural high points and either shooting across timber bowls or shooting down on deer that were upwind/crosswind.

Best stalks were always in the rain, but I bumped so many deer and certainly layed a ton of scent down that compromised future hunts.

Whitetail are so cagey. Best to play the tree stand game and learn that game well.

I shot dozens of deer from elevated tree stands placed in smart locations. There's a reason boys down South either hunt from stands or hunt with dogs (where still legal in the lowcountry).

 

[pk_]

Old story, copy/paste. Wish I still found time to write. I have killed a pile of bucks with each weapon from the ground, don’t let anyone discourage you, it is a very viable way to hunt if you stick with it. Most people just don’t have the patience, stealth or the grit. The stalker decoys are a lot of fun, but once you fool them with it, it’s almost like cheating

11/30/13

Somewhere in Florida.

The cold predawn air sent an uninviting chill as I followed an old logging road deep into unfamiliar country. Being unsure of the trail that lay ahead of me, I used a dim light to pierce the light fog that hung as a cloak over the damp forest floor. The sun was gaining victory over my descent into the great unknown as the tree line on the Eastern horizon became backlit by its first glow of the day. I realized I would not reach my intended destination by the break of day. I stood for a moment, watching my warm exhales fade towards the sky.

I contemplated the lay of the land that I had dissected on screen so many times prior to my journey. I made a reluctant decision to change my course from SW to SE and head for a small knoll that looked to hold some large oaks only a couple hundred yards away. I figured it was worth a chance, but deep down I knew that any buck worth his hide would be found deeper into the swamp by daybreak. Although it wasn't my desired location, I enjoyed the beautiful sunrise as it's golden rays split the mighty oak limbs and the Spanish Moss slow danced as the still air began to gently push and pull before settling into its desired flow.



A few young deer graced me with their presence, topping off what was already a stellar start to the day. It wasn't long after 7am that my feet became restless, for the swamp was begging for my intrusion and I humbly obliged. I gathered myself, got my bearings and then headed to the area I had been anticipating for months. Several swamps nearly converged at one point, which looked to create land bridges connecting lots of habitat and I imagined endless nooks and crannies for a stubborn old whitetail to haunt. This should set the perfect stage for a game of chess with a wary buck.

When I neared my area of interest, tracks and rubs confirmed that I had arrived at the threshold of a bucks home. The wind was perfect. I moved ever slower and never without purpose, straight into the very jaws of the swamp...



I found a few small peninsulas and islands where a buck took a lay and rubbed some small trees within the cypress bottom. However I didn't feel as though I had found his bedroom, so I pressed on. Less than an hour into my search I found what I was looking for, a lone rub at the waters edge that seemed to be reworked several times. The majority of its scarring was facing a tight trail winding back into the tangled bog. I studied the trail and beyond where it wanted to lead me. As my eyes crawled towards the canopy I noticed large pine trees hidden within the cypress. This is it! My eyes widened as a spike of adrenaline raised the hair on my neck. Knowing you are within a buck's wheelhouse suddenly brings a certain 'over awareness' to a deer hunter. All at once every flicker of movement was magnified and each sound around me was amplified, each becoming ever important.

The below freezing temperatures that morning prompted me to lace up my calf-high insulated boots in place of my usual 18" rubber ones, a choice I would soon regret. With high hopes and sheer determination I took up the trail into the bottom. The water was clear and still, resembling a mirror laid beneath the towering cypress trees. Upon further inspection, the trail I was following was darker in color. Perhaps my adversary has stirred the mud and turned the trail to a rusty brown.

It took what seemed an eternity to cut the short distance between myself and the pine island. I was now more than 3/4 of the way to the buck's lair, I could see much of the dry ground ahead and had yet to spot a deer or any further indication of this area being used by one. The water has now reached its highest point. My boots sunk deep into the ancient peat soil. For a moment, there came a sudden realization of the perceived futility of what it was that I was attempting to do. I began tugging on my legs to break the grip of the swamp. The only branch within arms reach was lifeless, suspended in the air only by the strength of some small vines. A few small vines which my right arm, seemingly by its own volition, had become entangled with. So there I am with a heavy slug gun in my left hand, a right arm elbow deep into a knot of vines and both feet held snug in the muck. At that moment I felt vastly inadequate at accomplishing the task at hand.

I paused for a moment to analyze the situation and question what little sanity I thought I possessed. I was a split second from ripping my arms out of the vines and violently twisting my feet out of the holes they were in and marching right back out of that mudhole. It seemed as though this buck had laid every obstacle between He and I, but that has never stopped me in the past. I was far too stubborn to allow myself to give up. A quick calmness came over me, I took a deep breath and contemplated my options. That's when the game changed. A flicker about 50 yards distant and close to the ground caught my attention. As my eyes quickly focused in, I made out the rear end of a bedded deer sticking out from behind a large tree. I quietly, yet feverishly worked to free myself from the grasp of the mud and tangles. I pushed my feet forward slowly under the water until I felt the ground become firm again.

I took a knee in the frigid water and got the deer in the scope. So there I was, balls deep in freezing water with no clear shot at an unconfirmed buck. Now what? I knew he would outlast me in a standoff, so I decided to give him two soft contact grunts with my mouth. This brought him straight to his feet and on a string. I watched him get closer and closer, until the scope was full of his chest. The first time he showed me his shoulder, I squeezed the trigger with confidence. The buck lost his feet immediately and expired within seconds. I stood in disbelief of what just occurred. I racked another round through the 870 and stuck the empty in my pocket as a souvenir. I walked over to the buck, knelt down and placed my hand on his side. I admired him for his beauty and thanked him for the sustenance he would provide, as well as the lessons he had taught me. Patience and persistence. A buck wise to hunting pressure almost never comes easy and he was no exception.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I love still hunting with my bow. I also have the patience of a gnat on crack so stand sitting is not my jam. I have had more success with does and younger bucks. I think the places big bucks are Hang out during the day - thick cover - are harder to move through quietly. It can be done but it isnt easy To sneak up on a wary old buck in the day light.

one place I used to do it was in the flight path of a smaller airport. Mostly private with some commercial flights. Planes were great cover for movement noise.