Curious to hear what you guys do to decrease the noise you make while hunting with clangy equipment, walking in crunchy leaves, breaking twigs, noisy clothes, etc. Here's a video with my thoughts, curious as to what you guys do!
I typically will use all of those methods to reduce the amount of sound when I head to a stand. My favorite method is to use a creek bottom or ditch so that my sound is concealed in the ditch or projected upward. Some places I hunt, it doesn't really matter because the deer are no where near the stand when I'm getting to the stand as those areas are travel routes. If I'm hunting near a bedding area or a staging area, then I will take more precautions about how much sound I'm making. This year, I shot my buck out of my tower blind. I drove my UTV right to the base of the tower blind. Two hours later there were a dozen deer in front of the blind before my target buck stepped out. My point is that it really depends on how you are hunting them. If you are trying to catch them close to the bedding area then you really need to conceal your sound. If you are hunting them on a travel route, it's not quite as important and if you are hunting them over a food source, it probably doesn't matter too much because you are there way before the deer and they are traveling from a bit of a distance to get there.
I walk lightly and use my toes and ball of my foot to lightly touch the ground before committing to that step. If I feel a twig or something unsteady, I lift and go somewhere else. Wearing quiet clothing is a given, just the same as clothing that I can draw my bow back without making noise. One of the main reasons Indians were such good stalk hunters is because they wore animal skins which are quiet when drawing a bow or using a spear and moccasins to feel the ground with their feet at ease when walking.
The farm that I hunt is cut in half by a large creek connecting to the river so half of our stand locations as accessible by canoe so scent free is easy, the problem we are encountering now is the realization of how much work it is to canoe long distances, and the occasional oar against the boat clank. Really thinking about maybe a small trolling motor to try and nip both problems in the bud.
Yes! And doing this will eliminate 50% of the noise you produce walking in. It takes longer to get in (leave earlier), but it's worth the effort! I also remove ALL twigs and branches from the trails I use to access my stand sites. I'll do this when I go in to check trail cams. I'll also use wind noise (if there's any) to my advantage going in. These couple of things make a big difference. Also, before I forget, I use hockey tape on ANYTHING & EVERYTHING metal that can make any kind of noise from contacting other objects. Especially my LW climber, this was most important.
Hard work but a great entry/exit route! I may be able to help you out this summer with your clunking paddle issue.. if you want sign up for "team membership" on our website below and I'll let you know about our new product this summer! weblink below my name..
Last season I raked a trail to my stands. I waited until the wind was right and blowing pretty hard to cover up the noise. I did it around noon and that afternoon just before dark I had 3 deer within 25 yards. It didn't bother them at all. Actually, the deer started using my trails! This year I'm gonna do it early and just maintain it rather than doing all that raking during season.
Haven"t hunted deer yet, but as far as hunting moose, I use sound and noises to my advantage... Using only wool or polar fleece for clothes there is no synthetic noise. For boots, I only wear Maine Hunting Shoes they are a modern day version of the Indian mocassins and very good for stalking. I've learned to walk pretty much in a manner that ressembles the way moose walk. They weigh over 800 pounds so they make noise. It's impossible to walk in the woods without making sounds, so the next best thing is to make sounds thay will fool the animals into thinking you're one of them long enough to get within shooting range... I've approached dozens of mooses within 100 feet that way and filled the freezer almost every year since I started that type of approach back in 2010. ...
there are a lot of turkeys in the area I deer hunt and have used a mouth call to talk a little turkey if I've made some noise. Seems to help.
^THIS^ It makes such a big difference when entering and exiting your stand. Also clear debris and ground clutter from the base of the tree you are hunting. This helps reduce noise when entering the stand early in the dark and leaving after dark.
Every season I start mowing a path to my stand at the in-laws. The stand is in a hedge tree which presents a problem with lots of little tiny twigs that "snap" when stepped on. The deer see the path as "normal". It definitely helps with my getting to and from the stand. I forgot to mention, years ago I purchased a pair of "booties" that went over my boots. They were fuzzy and soft. Made a big difference when walking in the timber. Not sure where I put those. I believe they were a Scent-Lok product.
I definitely clip and trim my paths to the tree so I'm not hooking on branches on the way in, also cleaning sticks and twigs off the path prior to season and as I walk in and out during season. But there is no way in hell to keep a path clean of leaves in the fall until the trees are bare. Good thing is as the leaves are falling they make a heck of a lot of noise themselves. Once there is a rain or a good wet night the leaves become pretty quiet to stop on it is the fresh dry leaves that are really noisy. Hardest time I have found to make a quiet entry is in a good snow cover on a cold morning when the snow is crunchy.
Exactly. I do this religiously. Where I hunt, I also have to start clipping the wild rose (which is a *****) along part of the trail I use to access my hunting area starting in August. And I've got to do this a few times before season, because it grows so quickly. This stuff will tear you up!!!
1#practice walking silently through leaves. 2#use mini bungee straps on my packpack/gear. Thats all I can think about right now.I hunt public land so I dont really like the idea of blazing a trail straight to my spots so clearing leaves isnt really an option.
I'm usually hunting out of my climber so I usually wrap a jacket around the seat portion to eliminate any metal on metal contact. I also use mini bungee straps to buckle loose items down as much as possible. I take a longer way into my stand, one that avoids getting anywhere near where the deer will be coming from...and it allows me to walk along a creek which further masks my approach. Climbing the tree, I really take my time hooking up my climber and I take it very slow to ensure no extra noise.
I hunt public land as well and I don't clear the leaves, just twigs and branches. Clearing leaves just makes the trail obvious to others. You can always start your trail further in from your initial access point, so it's not visible where you entered . There's a lot of tricks to hunting public land successfully.
As mentioned I usually rake the twigs and some leaves off of the trail going to my stand and I trim the paths out too. I don't make a bare path tho, just clean some of the sticks and stuff off. I also will walk 10 steps, stop for a minute, and then walk another 10 -15 steps, stop for 30 sec. and so one. Turkey calls work well if the bush you are hunting has a lot of turkeys in it. I never use a light when I go in, take my time and I travel light, no knapsack. I carry my bow and everthing else I need is in my pocked or around my neck. That being said I don't self film so I don't need all kinds of equipment in the stand with me and I realize that if you do self film you need to take a knapsack in with you.
