Because I'm out daily I encounter deer. I use these opportunities to practice my stalking skills. Today I had a neat encounter with a fawn. She was bedded in tall weeds just feet from a cam I was checking. She spooked after I turmed the cam back on. She went 50 yards to a nest blind and started feeding on brush. So I stalked to within 10 yards of her. When I decided to go up the ridge trail and leave her be. She, though decided to go back to her hiding spot . When I was in the middle of the intersection of the two trails she trotted tward me. There I stood in the wide open when she stepped into the trail. 10 yards away she stared right at me bobbing her head , pretending to look away, sniffing the air. She kept stepping toward me at about 6 yards I decided to just walk up the ridge trail away from her. She never moved, just stood there watching me walk away...that was fun
Young deer are so curious! One day while rifle hunting a couple Septembers ago, I got into the woods after daylight. I had to get in a ground blind at the edge of a food plot with a corn pile about 150 yards away. Had to stalk to the stand carefully because there was a yearling eight point and a spike already on the corn pile. Apparently, the 8 point saw me enter the blind or movement inside of it, not sure. Instead of being spooked, he made his way straight towards my blind and came within 25 yards before calmly turning left and working his way back into the timber. I was hunting a spot that has serious buck restrictions, so his life was never in danger, but it was one of those classic illustrations in why so many yearling bucks are harvested each fall. Their curiosity and inexperience makes them vulnerable.
My daughter had a cat named tubby he was rather stupid and obese. He was an in and out cat every spring I would watch him play games with fawns chasing in circles batting at them. Fawns are funny
Your so right about that but they make for fun practice. Slow movements or no movement when bugs are biting. Foot work in controlling all those muscles to not snap twigs. Developing that ability to stand still while eyes are on you. I managed to stalk a group of doe in the wide open in camo. They fed and would look my way as I moved closer. I stayed close to the wood line. As I got closer I waved my hand down by my hip so it looked like a tail flip. I got 30 yards away, a 100 yrd stalk before they caught my scent.
I have a bit of a weird method/suggestion for you folks. When still hunting...basically stalking...I've started to make sure I carry a reed in my mouth that I can turkey call on. I've had several instances where I was still hunting and ended up being spotted by deer I didn't see. Many times they haven't fully identified if you're a threat, they just saw some movement and are in that "alarmed but not going to run away just yet" stage. I drop to one knee and then give them a couple very soft clucks or yelps. I'd say over 50% of the time they will settle right down because they saw movement but then heard a non threating noise to associate the movement with. I never still hunt with a bow, but do with the sidelock quite a bit. I "discovered" this one spring when turkey hunting. I had a Tom respond and was working my way closer to it when I suddenly heard an elk "bark", and noticed a herd of about 16 elk about 60 yards from me. They were all mostly bedded and about half of them stood up when the one barked. I dropped to a knee to make myself smaller and watched them for a few seconds, and thought I'd see how they responded to my turkey calling. I yelped 3 or 4 times at them and couldn't believe it when half of them immediately bedded back down.
I'm lucky enough to be able to call turkey with my natural voice. I call very often when moving through the woods especially in heavy brushed areas where I can't see as far. I also set up turkey decoy when ground hunting deer. I use a turkey decoy or two with my deer decoy.
A nice big doe allowed more practice today by the time I got to her 20 ft away say allowed me to walk by get to my car and drive away. Trick is once spotted keep a steady pace head down and arms straight at your side. I've had deer allow me to walk by them close enough that I could reach out and touch them if I wished. Though the second I slow down or stop they bug out.
Last spring turkey season I was in Virginia and went to the Chickahominy WMA. While there, I found an amazing field and decided to beat feet through the woods, fairly close to the wooden around the edge of the field. Well, I had to climb up this steep Ridgeline so I could peek over to look for gobblers. When I got to the top something quickly jumped, after getting startled, about a foot from me and took off. At first I was spooked just as much as the fawn. I wasn't stalking deer, just being quiet and trying to maximize my chances for a spring gobbler. That was a first for me.
