Do stalkers do much walking?
- Thread starter Bavarianbrit
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Stalker62
Well-Known Member
North of the Wall and it's mainly on the Hill or Forest in the morning and a sit up at last knockings.
South of the Wall, it is (for me) about 75% sit up and 25% Stalking.
For what it's worth - to the best of my recollection - every time I have seen a deer from a seat and have dismounted to go after it, it has never, ever, ended well.
I prefer a high seat or tucked in on a mat / Doe box for the evening shoot, particularly after slowly sweating my way around a beat, sometimes crashing the trees to regain the track back to the motor, gives me time to get all those needles from down my collar.
dartmoordog
Well-Known Member
I have sat in a high seat twice, and disliked it totally. I had a career on my feet roaming the rivers of Dartmoor and South Devon, so sitting around is not for me. I am 63 in three weeks and need to do at least 8 miles a day, did 10.75 miles today, yes, I do track, two dog walks and cutting up trees.
Start sitting around and you are on a very slippery slope.
Start sitting around and you are on a very slippery slope.
Like many Im out early with the dogs before work. Sets me up for the day’s battle at work. Then again post work for a wind down. Weekends bring on the stalking and I like a mix of walk and stalk or maybe chill in a high seat foe a few hours and let nature go about its business around me. Summer evenings I may also have look at the more local grounds.
themolecatcher
Well-Known Member
I enjoy both sit or walk. I enjoy just looking around and watching the wildlife from the high seat.
Walk the dogs twice a day.
Having spent years preferring "walk and stalk" I have found my success rate has been no worse - and often much better - by keeping still. Rarely in high seats, I prefer instead to just find a deer-y looking patch and stand there for some time. Admittedly this is mostly Southern woodland stalking, though with a fair degree of arable, on ground I have stalked for many years.
I was told early in my stalking career that "if you see the deer first, you have to make a mistake - if the deer sees you first, the deer has to make a mistake". Deer are particularly sensitive to movement and the way I see it is that if both you and the deer are moving then there is twice as much chance of any movement being seen. Stay still, and the movement of a deer becomes much more obvious, even if only the flick of an ear or the stamp of a foot. If I stand still for a few minutes I have found that my eyes become accustomed to what I am seeing, so that any change in the visual picture becomes much more readily apparent. I have lost count of the times when I've scanned back over the view in front of me and noticed something out of place compared to the last time I looked. Of course it could just be a pheasant moving, but I find it remarkable how quickly the brain becomes accustomed to distinguishing between the strut of a pheasant and the step of a muntjac, for example. Add the benefit of a thermal spotter and the success rate goes up further, allowing a more ready differentiation between bird and mammal as well as providing earlier indication during low light of something approaching.
To take a recent case, last Friday I went to a favourite spot that is in woodland but situated at the junction of two rides. I got there just before first light at 05:45. I stood there until 07:30 when I shot a muntjac doe. An hour and 45 minutes might seem unbelievable, but to be honest the time just flew. In the intervening period I saw several other deer, both muntjac and roe, either crossing the ride or within 200m or so, but none presented a shot. However I waited knowing another deer would soon be along.
On Sunday I went to a different area and walked. Within 10 minutes I got to a point where I stood still. After five minutes a roe buck made its way through the woodland to within about 5 metres before seeing me and the dog. After it disappeared I walked on and a couple of minutes later bumped a muntjac that was negotiating some heavy bramble. I should have stayed back where I was!
I never get bored standing there. Apart from the deer there is a host of other wildlife to watch. On Friday, for example, I had a hare come up to within a few metres and just sit there watching me and the lab. To me that is as good as it gets.
So these days I find standing still to be bordering on the therapeutic, as it provides a rare chance to focus on those senses that we sometimes take for granted. I am sure that, compared to the normal hustle and bustle of daily life whether watching a screen or listenting to background noise, our senses become dulled. However stand still and become more attuned to the natural environment and sight, hearing - and even the sense of smell - come into their own. Mentally this can turn out to be exhausting, as it invokes a type of exercise for the brain that is all too rare.
Having spent years preferring "walk and stalk" I have found my success rate has been no worse - and often much better - by keeping still. Rarely in high seats, I prefer instead to just find a deer-y looking patch and stand there for some time. Admittedly this is mostly Southern woodland stalking, though with a fair degree of arable, on ground I have stalked for many years.
I was told early in my stalking career that "if you see the deer first, you have to make a mistake - if the deer sees you first, the deer has to make a mistake". Deer are particularly sensitive to movement and the way I see it is that if both you and the deer are moving then there is twice as much chance of any movement being seen. Stay still, and the movement of a deer becomes much more obvious, even if only the flick of an ear or the stamp of a foot. If I stand still for a few minutes I have found that my eyes become accustomed to what I am seeing, so that any change in the visual picture becomes much more readily apparent. I have lost count of the times when I've scanned back over the view in front of me and noticed something out of place compared to the last time I looked. Of course it could just be a pheasant moving, but I find it remarkable how quickly the brain becomes accustomed to distinguishing between the strut of a pheasant and the step of a muntjac, for example. Add the benefit of a thermal spotter and the success rate goes up further, allowing a more ready differentiation between bird and mammal as well as providing earlier indication during low light of something approaching.
To take a recent case, last Friday I went to a favourite spot that is in woodland but situated at the junction of two rides. I got there just before first light at 05:45. I stood there until 07:30 when I shot a muntjac doe. An hour and 45 minutes might seem unbelievable, but to be honest the time just flew. In the intervening period I saw several other deer, both muntjac and roe, either crossing the ride or within 200m or so, but none presented a shot. However I waited knowing another deer would soon be along.
On Sunday I went to a different area and walked. Within 10 minutes I got to a point where I stood still. After five minutes a roe buck made its way through the woodland to within about 5 metres before seeing me and the dog. After it disappeared I walked on and a couple of minutes later bumped a muntjac that was negotiating some heavy bramble. I should have stayed back where I was!
I never get bored standing there. Apart from the deer there is a host of other wildlife to watch. On Friday, for example, I had a hare come up to within a few metres and just sit there watching me and the lab. To me that is as good as it gets.
So these days I find standing still to be bordering on the therapeutic, as it provides a rare chance to focus on those senses that we sometimes take for granted. I am sure that, compared to the normal hustle and bustle of daily life whether watching a screen or listenting to background noise, our senses become dulled. However stand still and become more attuned to the natural environment and sight, hearing - and even the sense of smell - come into their own. Mentally this can turn out to be exhausting, as it invokes a type of exercise for the brain that is all too rare.
I used to be a very active stalker. Used to love a good hike up to an open hill get to a view point then on to the next and shoot deer whenever it was green for go. If conditions didnt allow for open hill then I would try much the same technique on lower ground and most times end up for the last bit of daylight watching a good likely spot for killing. Now as I enter the autumn(ok winter) of my days and having had a cut and shut hip op I tend to use bike or pickup more to drive to vantage point then decide on what action to take. I still shoot a lot of deer with less physical effort.
mchughcb
Well-Known Member
Well you can ask them to try and build a free standing highseat by themselves with no tractor assist. Start in the morning and have it constructed before dark and they can then use it.
Trust me you will be that tired you will forget about walking and be thinking about sleeping in the high seat.
Repeat this every week in a new location and see how fit you get I've done about 30.
I prefer to stalk on foot. I do enjoy a good walk and have a good one, preferably in hilly, wooded countryside, for an hour ish most days. However when I have a rifle in the woodland or wood edge I move slowly and look and scan a lot. I quite like a high seat for the last hour in the evening having been on foot elsewhere for an hour before.
When I was running marathons I would run 50 - 60 miles a week, but vary the number of miles per day. The doc has definitely blamed that on my sore knees and ankles.
I well remember Richard Prior saying, ‘if you are in the right area you are as likely to see deer from where you are as from where you are going’. Patience is a virtue especially in woodland stalking.
Pine Marten
Well-Known Member
Having stalked a fair few times with W_G over the last few years, I've learned a huge amount from his "glacial pace" (his words, the first time we met). In those lowland woods, looking for a deer not much bigger than a hare, that can hide behind a decent sized leaf and never stops moving, letting them come to you, because they're a lot better at moving silently than you are, really pays dividends. It's different from climbing up and down hills and mountains to see what's in the same valley, but it's hugely enjoyable, challenging and effective. A couple of the muntjac I've shot there have been so close I wasn't sure the sights would even work. Once I remember willing a doe to stop before it bumped into me! One day last may, when I had my first day more than a mile away from my house after the first lockdown, we stopped on a path and a half grown leveret lolopped past W_G and stopped for several seconds level with me, I could look into its bright yellow eyes, before it suddenly clocked that it shouldn't be there and ran off, but not at full tilt. It wasn't panicked. I wish I could have taken a photo but I couldn't move.
So other than that I'd just started going back to the gym after having a baby when this damned pandemic hit, but the one thing I've kept doing is running two or three times a week, it's made a real change physically, as others have mentioned it's been a mental lifeline and I'm going to keep doing that. I used to walk a lot more without thinking about it when I was commuting but that's gone now so I have to make a deliberate effort most of the time to keep active. But I don't miss the Tube...
shooter
Well-Known Member
For sure.
Thats why i said they dont do it consistently throughout the year (like work). And later life joint pain and wear and tear is common in medium and long distance runners.
This reminds me of a lecture i once attended. ( i was forced to attend so didnt pay attention to his name or his research topic. But one thing he said stayed with me. He said he has been to various wilderness areas all over the world. He said show me one place where man can run for hours without changing speed or direction. His take was we wre not meant to nor built for long distance medium pace running/ jogging.
Dan Gliballs
Well-Known Member
I’m surprised by the lack of “patience” in this thread. Stalking is all about patience.
Utectok
Well-Known Member
Yep same here
I have patience and can walk very slowly through a woodland, in fact stalked up on 4 fallow bedded down 70 yards away on thursday. stood with rifle on sticks for 15 minutes but they didnt move, so in the end picked up a stick and threw it to my right wich made one stand up for a stretch and a look
Just dont have patience in a seat
There’s an enormous difference between the ‘patience’ required to stalk and the patience required to sit.
Sitting is unbearably boring. Actually stalking definitely isn’t - doing it properly requires intense concentration, and if you can actually see an animal, is exciting. They are completely different experiences.
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