HOW TO BECOME A VERSATILE DEER HUNTER

Stalk Hunting

Editor's Note: Successful deer hunting involves problem solving and decision making. But to consistently succeed, you must know when to change strategies and why to abandon a hunt plan and have the flexibility to institute those changes. Weather, hunting pressure, the availability of food, the rut and your intuition all determine how, when and where you should hunt. You must be versatile.

Stalk hunting is almost a lost hunting art. Society has taught us all that the faster we go and the more ground we cover, the quicker we get whatever we're trying to obtain. However, you'll not find this philosophy true when applied to deer hunting. A consistently-successful stalk hunter often will cover no more than 50 to 100 yards in an hour. This man realizes that the slower he goes, the more deer he sees. The stalk hunter also must be conscious of hunting into the wind. If the wind changes directions, he generally will alter the direction of his stalk.

The successful stalk hunter hunts one-footed. He places his heel on the ground and then slowly rocks his foot forward, feeling every stick and branch under his foot. If he feels a twig that will pop, he'll readjust his foot to dodge the sticks. Then he won't break the twig before he shifts his weight to stand on that foot. Once he's shifted his weight to the foot he's just put down, he'll raise the other foot off the ground and slowly move it forward, repeating the same precise step that he has made before. Most of the time he'll have all the weight of his body on one foot.

At the same time the stalk hunter takes these slow, deliberate steps, he looks in all directions for the swish of a tail, the inside white of a deer's ear, the black circle of a deer's eye or the parallel line about 3 feet off the ground of a deer's back. Once he spots the animals, he slows his stalk down, analyzes what the deer are doing and where they want to go and determines where he must stand to make the shot.

The best weather conditions for stalking include. . .
* after a rain when the ground is wet and the leaves won't pop and crack under your feet,
* during a rainstorm when the wind and the rain can hide your movements and the sound of your walking and/or
* on wet, windy days when the wind will disguise your movement and the sound of your walking.

TOMORROW: MAN DRIVING