Thread: bush stalking for dummies

a few years back I wrote this and seen as though someone asked what definition of bush hunting is...I sort of feel its relevant...
we have some absolute bush stalking machines on this forum...even if they do use EBRGs they still manage an animal most times they go out....
if you ever get a chance to go out with one of these gurus...shut up and watch/listen and you will learn lessons learnt the hard way over years.
hope it helps someone trying to work out how to get the first deer or even a nudge in right direction for a tops /open country hunter.
30 years of doing it and Im still learning.
Milky


Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 6:28 pm
After having a great week stalking recently it occurred to me that the method I used/use may be of interest to others and if I can convey it correctly a learning aid for new hunters...a big ask but here goes anyway.

first up you cant drink whiskey from bottle of wine
if there is no deer in an area you are wasting your time and energy doing a full on stalk of barren ground,find an area where you have fresh sign eg poohs on the ground,foot prints/spoor,tree rubbing or evidence of grazing and THEN get into mouse mode

WIND is vital or fatal depending on your ability to read it,a red deer has been said to smell you from over a mile away,so hunting with a breeze blowing up ya jacksee is not going to be very productive (besides which those baked bean farts will linger longer) there are different ways to find/check the wind,wet your finger and hold it up to find which side gets cold,shave hair from behind your ears to feel breeze,powder puff pottle,piece of cotton tied to your barrel (Suz??? was this why your lot added feather to bow???) a quick flick of the trusty Bic flick..cigarette lighter to you non down unders, drop handfull of leaves or dust.
which ever method you use hunting into the wind is best as it keeps your scent away from quarry,you CAN hunt across the wind eg sidle around contour of land with a breeze blowing uphill(thermal breeze on sunny day will do this) but you will be scenting up area above you so eyes need to cover area infront and above you well,main area to find game will be below you,which leads nicely onto how to see game

I put up a poll on another forum recently to see how other people got a 100% positive ID of an animal (due to recent hunting accidents)
biggest % of guys use 3 or more things to do this.
personally I normally spot colour Im looking for/movement/horizontal solid line or something just "out of place"
which then gets double checked..and triple checked if ticking boxes at that stage
seeing head and neck of live animal doing LIVE animal things is MY PERSONAL final box to tick off.
with modern electronic callers getting better and good old cow horn magic in right hands sound is OUT as an ID factor...other than to start process of checking something out,that includes roaring/croaking/bugling and general moving around noises like brushes rustling ,foot falls or antler rattling
they are great to get your attention and focus it but not enough to tell what it is you are hearing...it could be a human..infact it is a human untill you can 100% tell otherwise..right thats enough on that one FOR NOW.

ok so we are walking along with wind right and some fresh deer sign on ground...but HOW are you walking????a heavy booted plod just wont do old chap...wont do at all
take a break from keyboard,go outside in bare feet and walk across ashfelt/tarseal/stoney road, you will find that you cant walk heel toe heel toe any more as it hurts Sad
so you will by default start to place your foot flat..well sort of flat,outside of foot touches first then rolls down till big toe hits,your foot is down then your weight goes to that foot and then and only then will back foot move and repeat sequence. same goe for crossing a river,each foot goes down and solidly grounded BEFORE other one moves
when Im in hot sign its 3 steps then stop and look..another 3 and look again etc etc etc if you in really hot sign and think you going too slow well Mates SLOW DOWN SOME MORE and then you are still going too fast.
deer live there all the time,if you sitting in lazy boy chair in your lounge reading a book or eating a han n cheese sammie and some one walzed into your house you would know it straight away wouldnt you????? same goes for a deer except they know if they not really alert they will get one way trip on back of ute.

k so we have
wind
walk slow
find area of sign

feeding area,sleeping/bedding area or moving between the two are main places to find your quarry
food is where you find it
bedding will be warm with light breeze to carry scent to bedded deer and be close to heavy cover...usually

down here downunder we have warm faces on North side of ridges being best bets as warmer = more plant growth and better bedding areas.


that will do for now...have a read and feel free to ask questions
and Ill have a think on what Ive missed
clothing and footwear come to mind.

_________________




clothing,well if you have the $$$$$$ Swazi is really good stuff,made by a hunting man for hunters,tested and it works and lasts but as said it costs
me Im a cheap bugga and have a real mix n match wardrobe of polar fleece garments from all over the place,normally bought cheap by SWMBO on trade me auction site.
in warm weather its polyprop short tights (think above the knee long Johns) with rugby shorts over top..to protect/preserve modesty.
and usually a polyprop top or fleece Tshirt.
in colder weater we "layer up" eg keep adding layers till we warm enough and top it with a shell layer
if in the bush quietness is paramount so fleece is king.
back in the day it was the good old Swanni or Lambi woolen coat but now fleece wins out as its so much lighter and dries quicker.
a hat of some sort ,fleece gloves and a fleece neck warmer top off my list of cloths
boots are a personal thing,lace up rubber gumboots win hands down for me.
after years of sore red feet from hunting in leather boots my Brother got me onto Bullers and I havent looked back since,Ive got a reasonable pair of leather hunting boots and they do the odd day trip in hot weather but gummies are the shite in the bush,really easy to step quietly and they grip well so you dont spend half the day falling on ya bum and other half picking ya self up again.

on last trip I would find area with sign and follow any spoor present if wind was right or just wander along SLOWLY in direction of travel taking path of least resistance picking deer trail where possible.

rifles are again personal choice but for my money big n slow beats light and fast projectile wise (that said Ive hunted successfully with .223)
a good old .308 is still hard to beat.
but scopes are a different matter
your 4x16 ziess or 8x24 might be the ducks nuts out in open country where long shots from rest are the norm but in the scrub the lower the magnification the better wiht 4x being MOST you want and lower still is better.mine wear vari powers with 3x as lowest and other rifle a fixed 4x
tried mates smit n bender and it was plurry hopeless, even on lowest power the field of view was like peering down a drain pipe!!!!

Thank you Micky Duck for sharing this. It really saves people like me from learning the hard way.
First thing I learned from my own hunting experience was moving slow, previously spooked too many animals by crashing through the bush like walking down the street.
Then I got in the habit of moving at 2m per minute everywhere I went, and soon realised it isn't worth it if there is zero sign.
Still trying to learn the importance of wind, at the moment I have the tendency to ignore it and hope for the best.

Originally Posted by Synthetic

Still trying to learn the importance of wind, at the moment I have the tendency to ignore it and hope for the best.

Have found that looking up will often give more info, tops of trees, cloud movement, pollen blowing etc.

When spying I try and see if there is any discernible wind movement near the animal or on the path to it.



Above is a well-filmed example of how deer (elk in this case) can spook from wind scent alone (around the 5min mark), if you watch further they go back to the same place and shoot it later. I think if they had been seen the first time it would have been a no-go!

Cheers for sharing @Micky Duck , curious if you use a dog when bush hunting?

Good one MD

On the stalking speed if in Sika country go even slower. I tend to stand still for 30sec to 2min between steps depending on how hot the sign is. It a hard thing to get used to as even 30sec feels like a long time.

I also look for sunny guys/creeks to sit and watch as they are feed areas and you can get a good field of view.

Damn auto correct "guts"

Nice timing, I took a 16yo hunting on Friday and told him some of these things (wind/scent, look for horizontal lines, etc).
I’ll get him to read this, at the very least he will think I wasn’t making it up!

Thanks mate!

Originally Posted by caberslash

Cheers for sharing @Micky Duck , curious if you use a dog when bush hunting?

I do now,Meg is rough enough trained and when we get our mojo on its a wonderful thing... when I hunt without her,its back to the basics above.the biggest difference when I hunt with her,once she onto something,wind becomes irrelevant to me....where she goes I follow...to hell n back if thats where she wants to go.....Ive learnt not to argue.....the bitch is always right.

MD what is your suggestion in the following situation: Me, quietly stalking through the bush a tiny noise ahead or sign so fresh I know the deer is right there but I cant see it. I wait and look and look and wait then move and 'crash' gone. When there are three or four deer in a gully they are easy to shoot all making noise and interacting but those single animals are my undoing

Any tips for really dense bush?

Originally Posted by MB

Any tips for really dense bush?

Call in an airstrike?

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Do you reckon the old swannie helped the bush hunter? Being overdressed and easily bringing on a sweat with minimal exertion is a great reminder to stay slow in the bush.

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A old swannie was quiet in the bush, you have to pick what your your clothing and even your pack is made from. Like MD said if you have a gravel drive you can here a car coming up your drive, if that person was to get out and walk you wouldn't know they are there until the knock on the door (gun shot for deer)
those highly hunted areas the deer a on high alert. Get in to a area where they hardly she a human they just stand a wait to be shot

Originally Posted by Ned

Call in an airstrike?

Better than expected. I thought someone was going to say find somewhere else to hunt.