/out/ - Outdoors » Thread #340460

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Anonymous Sun 29 Jun 2014 21:13:15 No.340460 View View Reply Original Report

Quoted By: >>340463 >>340471 >>340501 >>341038 >>341887 >>341909

Hey /out/, how the hell do I stalk prey (say, deers)? How do you find the animals innawoods?

I am a beginner animal photographer, and most of my shots are done from a camouflaged tent, and yet I see people going out and shooting deers from like 15 meters.

Any piece of knowledge about hunting is welcome, for example: Do you walk slowly, trying to be quiet and notice everything around you, or do you walk briskly and cover more terrain?

Picture is the closest I've ever got to a game in a forest.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 29 Jun 2014 21:19:55 No.340463 Report

Quoted By: >>340464

>>340460
once you spot them
walk slowly and quietly
dont move at all of they are looking at you
dont walk directly twords them sort of zigzag your way closer without looking at them like pic related dont be uniform about it
i normally walk fairly quickly and apparently quietly because i often walk right upon deer all the time

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 29 Jun 2014 21:23:20 No.340464 Report

Quoted By: >>340466

>>340463
and before you spot them? how do you cross the forest? fast pace or slow?

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 29 Jun 2014 21:26:47 No.340466 Report

Quoted By: >>341910

>>340464
like i said i usially tend to walk somewhat quickly when not paying attention and i come upon them
im not usially looking for things like deer
just go at a normal walking pace while being conscious of your footsteps

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 29 Jun 2014 21:58:52 No.340471 Report

Quoted By: >>340473 >>340971

>>340460
You don't. You honest to god don't.

The only people who "stalk" prey have been doing it since birth and have a lineage of it going back more generations than you can track.

The majority of non "city dwell'd" prey animals have better sight, hearing, smell, and six sense than any human could dream of.

Sure you may be able to tree a squirrel or a raccoon or jump a pheasant, but stalking a deer, moose, or other meet providing animal is highly unlikely.

That's not to say all animals are like that though. I've literally stumbled on boars in Texas, but only because they are used to fucking with humans.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 29 Jun 2014 22:02:18 No.340472 Report

Quoted By:

Be chill and don't be nervous. Other animals can sense that sort of vibe better than we can, because sensing it is a matter of life and death to them. Like the other anon said, don't move when they look towards you, and most importantly, think like the creature you're stalking.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 29 Jun 2014 22:02:24 No.340473 Report

Quoted By:

>>340471
you can "stalk" animals and get a good bit closer maybe not closer than 10 ft but its still closer than op has got

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 29 Jun 2014 23:29:54 No.340501 Report

Quoted By: >>340502 >>340505 >>341035

>>340460
Wildlife photographer here.

For deer (and other mammals) look for tracks to get an idea of how much activity is in the area. After a snow shower is god tier for this, but mud works too. If it looks like a good spot, post up and wait, and wait, and wait. Early morning and dusk are the best times to see them on the move... day time is down time.

As for stalking them if you know where they are, you gotta be in tune & in ninja mode. Think about how chameleons move; no fast motion, steady and deliberate . Every time they twitch an ear, sniff, look your way or pause, you fucking FREEZE, even your eyes. When they resume eating you can go chameleon again.

For reptiles & amphibians (my specialty): don't make eye contact and move paralel to them, rather than walking straight towards them.. They think their camoflague is hiding them and they'll usually stay motionless until they know their cover's blown.

Birds are pretty straight forward. No sudden movements or loud noise. Go on youtube on your phone and find some bird calls for the species you're observing, some will come check it out. Also, you can chill near a bird feeder and they'll learn you aren't a threat.

Also consider building/buying a blind. Trail cams are great for figuring out what's in the area and when they move.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 29 Jun 2014 23:32:11 No.340502 Report

Quoted By:

>>340501
Disregard the blind recommendation... you already took that step.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 29 Jun 2014 23:53:09 No.340505 Report

Quoted By:

>>340501
post pictures of herps

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 30 Jun 2014 06:27:04 No.340668 Report

Quoted By:

You need to be spending more time looking through glass than walking. like way more. Walk only to get a new angle to look from.

Always be aware of wind direction.

Deer will often hunker down and not move if they think you can't see them.

at least that's what I do for blacktail, but I only need to get within 300 yards or so.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 30 Jun 2014 07:00:07 No.340681 Report

Quoted By:

Imagine if you are standing at the corner of a building. half of your view is obscured by the wall in front of you.

By stepping away from the wall, you expose more of the view of the area in front of you. if you do this in small enough incriments, you can expose the area past the wall in small amounts and only expose a fraction of your body.

This is the basis of the long lost technique of still hunting. (I don't know why its called still hunting if you're moving)

imagine doing this with a bush, the curve of a hilltop, or the cut bank of a road. Advance around hard cover with baby steps, to expose areas infront of you a little at a time. You will expose animals, or fractions of animals, with only your head or 1/4 of your body exposed.

Like the poster said above spend more time looking through your glasses than not

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 30 Jun 2014 07:02:15 No.340683 Report

Quoted By:

Also major points for hunting blacktails to the poster above me. Not those wack excuses for deer they have in the east.

Mule

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Mule Mon 30 Jun 2014 07:16:16 No.340687 Report

Quoted By:

Get further out.
And be patient.
Long glass and a remote trigger helps.

Buddy does a lot of wildlifey photog'n, he's got a pretty sweet radio trigger for his camera, uses FRS radios. Sets up his camera, box interfaces between his Nikon and the headphone jack on a two-way, then from 200-300yds away he'll park with binoculars waiting for whatever to show up and trigger the camera from another radio.

Honestly though, I've seen far more animals since I started riding my motorcycle than I ever did when I was into hiking/backpacking. Sounds weird, but honest to $DEITY I see deer, bats, all sorts of birds-of-prey damn near every time I ride. Elk, porcupine, wild turkey, foxes, 'yotes, skunks, about every other time. About once a month I see a bear, pine marten, or owl.

I need to get my bike runnin again so I can go do some of that. Fuck it, maybe I'll just drive out there and truck-camp one of these nights.

Pic somewhat related. Hauling ass ~80m/h on this county road middle of nowhere one evening, saw something move... get on the brakes, approach it, and it's a fucking chicken.
Later that night I got to see an owl.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 30 Jun 2014 20:33:56 No.340888 Report

Quoted By: >>341916

If you insist on stalking then I'll tell you what I was told when I first started hunting:

Heel to toe walk as slowly as you can... and then walk even slower. Move from tree to tree and when you get to the next tree wait as long as you can... and then wait even longer.

I've followed this advice and every deer (and one elk) I've taken was less than 50 yards away, often much closer. Twice I've had deer come within 10 feet. Unfortunately, when they get that close, you can't move a muscle, blink, or breathe without them noticing. That's why blinds are better. You can get as close as you want but unless you want a lot of photos of deer asses you just post up in a blind or treestand.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 30 Jun 2014 23:16:17 No.340971 Report

Quoted By: >>341913

>>340471
Bull-fucking-shit. Maybe that's true for chucklefucks who are used to hunting food plots from tree stands and elevated blinds but out west still hunting and spot-and-stalk are the most common methods used to take game.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 01 Jul 2014 01:25:41 No.341035 Report

Quoted By:

>>340501
>don't make eye contact
this is key to lots of smaller animals. if you make eye contact they think you think they are food.

also for deer. take an odd number of steps and stop frequently. it mimics the way deer move.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 01 Jul 2014 01:33:43 No.341038 Report

Quoted By:

>>340460
Get a remote battery operated auto camera, they got good quality now, find a trail used by whatever game you want to shoot. they have been finding new species in the rainforests this way, humans probably smell like very large sacks of shit to most animals.

If you like stalking, telephoto and tripod is the only way.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 02 Jul 2014 20:45:04 No.341887 Report

Quoted By:

>>340460
What camera & lense(s) are you working with?

Anonymous

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Anonymous Wed 02 Jul 2014 21:07:09 No.341905 Report

Quoted By: >>341915

> Watch the terrain, use small hills, divots, creek-beds whatever puts you out of the sight line of whatever you're trying to kill when you're closing the distance.
> watch the wind always be downwind
> Use the sun keep it to your back as best as possible, if you're trying to stalk something with the sun in your eyes you're gonna have a bad time.
> Move slow, move irregularly, zig zag.
> Don't stare at what you're stalking, look through it (You know that feeling you get when someone is staring at you? Yea animals too).
> Use tall grass, tall grass is great when closing distance, get low, slow crawl, keep quiet, you can really scare the shit out of deer...
> jump up in down in your equipment, hear anything rattle or jingle anything fall out? If so; fix it, somehow someway it will fuck you over at the least opportune moment.
> Use camouflage, paint your face use charcoal dust if you don't have anything, disguise your smell as best possible.
> Use shadows, standing in bright spots makes your figure pop out.
> Don't stand on the top of hills, your silhouette will show.
> Wear shoes that are light, boots are really fucking loud (at least for me).
> Plan your steps, you should always be thinking where your next step will be.
> Always consider where your quarry might move too next, and plan for it.
> Practice..

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 02 Jul 2014 21:10:41 No.341909 Report

Quoted By:

>>340460
When it comes to deer, slow.
At one time it took me nearly two hours to move ~100 yards. You take a short step or two, freeze and scan, then continue.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 02 Jul 2014 21:12:19 No.341910 Report

Quoted By:

>>340466
It's the way you walk, when you aren't stalking you have an entirely different walk, and animals ignore it more than you breaking a leaf in complete silence.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 02 Jul 2014 21:17:41 No.341913 Report

Quoted By: >>341952

>>340971
It's not as easy when you aren't in big open areas.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 02 Jul 2014 21:18:47 No.341915 Report

Quoted By:

>>341905
>not dousing yourself in sweet sweet doe piss

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 02 Jul 2014 21:18:53 No.341916 Report

Quoted By:

>>340888
Closest animal I've taken was a black bear at ~15 feet with a bow.
Wouldn't recommend it for those who can't control themselves.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 02 Jul 2014 22:06:50 No.341952 Report

Quoted By:

>>341913
People stalk elk and deer innawoods all the damn time. When they're in their summer range (usually from archery to first rifle) they hide out in the thick bush and dense trees high up the slopes.

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