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Posted: 9/24/2017 8:54:13 PM EDT
Was out varminting with a buddy under nods last night, and it struck me how much of the advantage I lose the moment I step out of the field and into the woods with a leaf-covered forest floor. Trying to stalk to my setup was an exercise in futility. Anyone good at moving quietly through leaves with no depth perception?
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Become a cat, other than that..
The good thing is most animals have short attention spans. Once you sit down and give the woods 15 min or so to normalize you are GTG. I much prefer night hunting in areas like you describe. I call, stop and listen to that trotting through the dry leaves. |
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Shuffle your feet, move slow and randomly, a step here, a step there...you can't avoid making noise, so sound like a critter instead of a human.
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Same as day, you don't look where you're stepping, you look where you're going.
Feel each step, slowly set your foot down and stop if you feel a stick underneath. Like anything, you just need practice, and lots of it. |
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Very slowly, and roll your feet from heel to toe on the outside edge. Never step flat on the forest floor.
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Ease your heel in slow, roll the outer edge of your foot down slow and quiet. You can get there fast or quiet, not both.
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Wearing a soft soled shoe helps as well and I know one bowhunter who has some fleece booties that he wears when stalking.
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Quoted:
Very slowly, and roll your feet from heel to toe on the outside edge. Never step flat on the forest floor. View Quote |
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In my experience under nods at night the animals don't react the same way they do during the day. As long as you aren't stomping around like a water head you should be fine. Also, good idea having a wingman, shit gets weird at night when you're alone. I thought having nods would make that feeling go away it actually made it worse.
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Quoted:
Shuffle your feet, move slow and randomly, a step here, a step there...you can't avoid making noise, so sound like a critter instead of a human. View Quote |
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For deer season I rake a path to all of my stands so I can sneak in quietly.
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You dont and neither did Natty Bumpo. I spent years as a kid coon hunting in the dark in midwest woods, if yiu are moving faster than a crawl youre going to make noise.
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You can hear a cat coming from a long ass ways away in dried leaves.
I have one hanging on my office wall that proves it. You can't stalk in a place where you can't move. The great news is that you can use that seemingly disadvantage to your advantage if you recognize that the game you are chasing is playing with the same rules as you. |
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In my experience under nods at night the animals don't react the same way they do during the day. As long as you aren't stomping around like a water head you should be fine. Also, good idea having a wingman, shit gets weird at night when you're alone. I thought having nods would make that feeling go away it actually made it worse. View Quote |
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Sling your rifle tight across your chest, and walk on all fours. Your hand moves debris from where your foot on that side will go. When you need to scan and orient, sit on your haunches. When you have to be upright or move faster, then heel/toe roll. In the draws, you can stand upright, especially in low light.
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Toes first. Then heel. Much like this:
https://youtu.be/EszwYNvvCjQ |
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This. You don't move silently. Take an odd number of steps (3,5, etc). Stop randomly. Start randomly. All critters make noise moving through the woods. Squirrels are the loudest damn things in the woods. View Quote |
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Obviously go in at day time with a gas powered leaf blower and clear your path ahead of time...
Or go in at day time and chop down a bunch of trees so they fall making a path to where you want to go, clear all the branches from the tops... Or go in at day light and string a zip line so you can come in through the treet tops pretending you are the Predator... |
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Toes first. Then heel. Much like this: https://youtu.be/EszwYNvvCjQ View Quote I am sure it must work. It is just too difficult for my simple mind, lol. Be like Michael Jackson and moonwalk through the trees. |
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Master Po will teach you the way....
Kung Fu Rice Paper SUCCEED But then you have to carry that red hot kettle outside. |
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Quoted:
This. You don't move silently. Take an odd number of steps (3,5, etc). Stop randomly. Start randomly. All critters make noise moving through the woods. Squirrels are the loudest damn things in the woods. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted:
Shuffle your feet, move slow and randomly, a step here, a step there...you can't avoid making noise, so sound like a critter instead of a human. |
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Thin soft soled shoes.
I've been known to hunt in a pair of moccasins I made up from some deer hide, they help you feel what's under your foot and avoid stepping on sticks. If I'm feeling good enough to make the drive down, I'll show you how I move and see if it works for you. People always yell at me as I sneak up on them and they never hear me, everyone else sounds like a heard of Buffalo walking around. I was taught by my grandfather who was a small kid during the depression and was given 1 round and had to make sure it counted, he was like a ghost in the woods and he would test me by walking out and sitting by a tree and I had to sneak up on him. Took me a while but one of the proudest moments was when I did and scared the beJesus out of him, I was awarded with his jack knife and a .22 rifle Miss the man daily |
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Toe to heel step down. Forces you to be aware of what's underfoot. It should be slow and intentional. You can sense twigs and sticks, etc.
When I need to cover distance, move erratically. Like a squirrel or rat. Never step with regulars strides. The forest is full of noises. Make the same noises and you will do well. |
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Cheap thin crepe sole moccasins. The thin rubber, 3-4mm max, not the outdoor show thickness. Even house slippers today are too overbuilt. LL Bean or lands end used to have a $30 house slippers pair. They're all to chunky now.
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I feel like i sound like a freight train when im gng to my stands
Shrug |
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Quoted:
This. You don't move silently. Take an odd number of steps (3,5, etc). Stop randomly. Start randomly. All critters make noise moving through the woods. Squirrels are the loudest damn things in the woods. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted:
Shuffle your feet, move slow and randomly, a step here, a step there...you can't avoid making noise, so sound like a critter instead of a human. |
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There a technique in rolling your foot to be quiet. I once hunted with an Cuban guy who had done a combat tour in Vietnam he was the quietest guy I ever walked in the woods with. He also was quick with a gun and shot 2 deer on the move bang bang. I wish I had the skill.
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Barefoot, felt, or leather soled shoes, one foot in front of the other, leaves moving is normal, sticks breaking is the clue that we're not a bird/squirrel.
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Quoted:
Become a cat, other than that.. The good thing is most animals have short attention spans. Once you sit down and give the woods 15 min or so to normalize you are GTG. I much prefer night hunting in areas like you describe. I call, stop and listen to that trotting through the dry leaves. View Quote |
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Put your heel down first, then roll onto your foot flat on the ground. Try not to snap sticks. Follow an access road if possible, and if you're going to a stand, get out there with a rake to reduce the leaf litter and other obstacles.
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You move so slowly though if you're trying to be ninja quiet in the crispy freshly autumn leaved woods. Like 30 minutes to move 20 yards. I get impatient.
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Just stomp around in the leaves like crazy . The other critters will just think you are a damn squirrel calling it a day . They got to be the noisiest bastards around .
gd |
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heel to toe. You can also do toe to heel, which i prefer. Lift your knees up high. Take frequent breaks. Just take a knee if you like. Don't carry too much weight. Occasionally, squat down and look up-ish to see where the trees are and spy out denser pieces of terrain...avoid denser pieces of brush.
The key is you walk as if you were reaching out with the tips of your fingers before you decide to grab something. Feel with your foot and at least you wont snap twigs. Move your knee up, over, down, and you wont trip over things. Check the weather and look to when moon rise and set is. I find that deceptive, as starlight is plenty bright if the sky is not overcast. I suppose if you have nods, then the easy answer is to build an IR lens for a flashlight. Floppy disk material, put it over a flashlight, and that helps you move close to as if it was daylight |
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Same as day, you don't look where you're stepping, you look where you're going. Feel each step, slowly set your foot down and stop if you feel a stick underneath. Like anything, you just need practice, and lots of it. I gained a lot of respect for him watching him move through the woods. Now he has new knees and hunts closer to the house. |
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I remember old guys at home talking about this. They'd take their boots off and tie the strings together to hang the boots over their shoulder and then slowly sneak through the woods in their socks. Then again, they knew the woods they hunted in pretty well as they spent a lot of time out there day and night.
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In my experience under nods at night the animals don't react the same way they do during the day. As long as you aren't stomping around like a water head you should be fine. Also, good idea having a wingman, shit gets weird at night when you're alone. I thought having nods would make that feeling go away it actually made it worse. They also have a relatively narrow focal range, so you can see objects clearly near or far, but not both at the same time. It makes for a claustrophobic feeling for me, especially in dense woods. Also, the woods just look weird through NVGs. Its creepy and unnatural. Your brain is not used to viewing the world in that manner. Don't get me wrong, I would rather have them than not, they add capability... but it's definitely an unnatural feeling and it fucks with your brain. I am sure, like all things, training with it long enough helps. Now I should add, navigating or scanning an open field at night is a totally different story. NVGs dominate in open spaces where the lack of focal range and peripheral vision is less important. |
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