The Lost Art of Stalking and Still-Hunting for Black-Powder
Bucks
Why Watch Your Back Trail
 Editor’s
Note: Deer hunting doesn’t begin or end at your
stand site. Instead, begin your hunt once you leave
your vehicle, and end it when you return to your vehicle.
The way to do this is to stalk hunt. When done right,
stalk hunting enables hunters to move quietly through
the woods without spooking their target bucks or any
other wildlife in the area, and also allows hunters
to look more closely at the surrounding woods and spot
targets they otherwise may miss. By following some strategies
I’ve learned and practiced during many years of
stalk-hunting for deer, you can learn to stalk-hunt
the right way to bag more bucks.
Once, during the middle of deer season, James Smith
and I drove deep into the woods before first light.
After parking where we always parked, Smith stayed in
the truck to catch a quick nap. I waited five minutes
befor e
getting out of the truck and then slowly stalked toward
my stand site. Twenty minutes after daylight, I’d
only moved 75 yards from the vehicle. I looked back
at the truck, the road and the briars beyond the road
and spotted a flash of white just behind the briars
and not 30 yards from the truck. But I couldn’t
decide what I’d seen. Using my binoculars, I looked
into the briar patch behind the truck. A fat 6-point
buck, which had apparently fed in the briars down near
the edge of the road, stood staring at the truck. As
I raised my rifle to my shoulder and braced against
a small sapling, the 6-point ducked his head and began
slowly sneaking away from the truck. A little creek
lay about 20 yards from the briar patch, and as the
buck stopped and prepared to jump the creek, I fired.
The buck went down, stood up again, then stumbled once
more and fell.
When I saw the buck fall, I also heard a racket from
the truck. Smith jumped out of the truck, gun in hand,
and ready to defend himself from whatever or whoever
had startled him. Spotting me, he said, “What
are you doing? You almost scared me to death. You’re
going to run-off all the deer in the woods by shooting
just to wake me up.” Smiling, I slowly walked
back to the truck. Then I told Smith I’d been
deer hunting and would appreciate him helping me drag
my buck back to the truck. When we walked through the
briars to where the 6-point lay, Smith said, “I
can’t believe you took a deer this close to the
truck. There’ s
no way that buck could’ve been so close to hear
us drive in and park without getting spooked. I think
you went and shot this buck somewhere else and dragged
it here just to wake me up.” Once I showed Smith
the short blood trail from the briars to where the deer
fell, he had to believe my story, unbelievable as it
seemed.
Generally you’ll find older-age class bucks where
you least expect to encounter them. During daylight
hours, deer can hold safely in areas where hunters park
because hunters rarely hunt there. Hunters think the
noise from opening and closing doors, talking and walking
to stand sites spook deer. However, mature bucks have
become accustomed to these sounds and have learned parking
areas are safe because these sounds mean hunters will
leave that area soon.
Tomorrow: Why Watch Your Back
Trail and Why Stalk to Your Stand
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