How close

[nealglen37]

Hey guys:

  Got to thinking about something. A lot of people want to shoot a buck from 200-300 yards away. My question is this , how close have you stalked big game. I ask because i have recently begun to duck hunt , jump hunt, I have to sneak as close to the ducks before I shoot them. I never realized how fun it was to stalk something............just to see how close you could get. any thought or stories would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Redhawk1]

Hey guys:

  Got to thinking about something. A lot of people want to shoot a buck from 200-300 yards away. My question is this , how close have you stalked big game. I ask because i have recently begun to duck hunt , jump hunt, I have to sneak as close to the ducks before I shoot them. I never realized how fun it was to stalk something............just to see how close you could get. any thought or stories would be appreciated.

Thanks

I like to shoot some long distances myself, but this year I have stocked to within 20 yards of some deer just to see how close I could get. I try to use all the cover possible. I have not shot any due to just having fun. I find it more of a challenge to just sneak up and then pull the gun up and say bang. But if it is a trophy, the trigger would be pulled. Although I have in the past stalked deer and shot several.  

[Broken-arrow]

I hunt a 19,000 acre WMA that is nothing but mesquite flats , sagebrush, and juniper bushes. There are some huge white-tails and mulies both there and it's archery only. The deer have no set patterns or well established trails so it's mainly spot and stalk hunting. Last year I was within 10 yards of a 170 class 10 point but couldnt get a shot for the brush. Stalking and still-hunting IMO is hunting in its purist form. Whether or not you harvest an animal doesnt really matter ,the experiences you have are priceless.

[Daveinthebush]

The closest that I walked up on a deer was a crotch horn that I shot at 5-6 feet with my Contender as he lay in his bed looking away.

With the bow............... I had a buck walk right at me and stopped so close I could not raise the arrow as I would have hit him.  He spooked and I ended up shooting him at 45 yards.

No brag....just fact. As the Duke would say.

[WylieKy]

I've never stalked closer than 70 yrds, and that was almost an accident as I was walking out for lunch and saw the deer coming and eased up to get a better shot with an old black powder rifle.  I have, however, been on the ground and had a doe sniff me from INCHES.  When I was about 15 I made a ground blind in a tangle of wild grape vine,  kind of cleared out the middle so it looked kind of like a giant bird nest, about waist high.  I had already used my doe tag for the year and she came up and actually put her head over the edge of the blind to get a good sniff.  The thing is she never did spook. Just stared for a while, then made her way on by.  I have wondered if she had been tamed at some point or been in a rescue, or maybe was on the short branch of that genetic tree.

[freddogs]

I like to be as close as I can to make a shot. Bow hunting is good because you have to get close. I've had deer walk within feet while turkey hunting. Weather conditions affect my stalking so does the areas I hunt. On the small farm I'm hunting this year there isn't room to stalk without interfering with other hunters.

[DirtyHarry]

Here in Ohio you can not use rifles to hunt deer, so you have to be close anyway.. I have gotten as close as about 6 feet from a bedded doe once during a light rain.

[jpsmith1]

I'm in an area that I can't really get away with stalking during regular firearms season.  Too danged many other hunters out there.  I had a doe walk up to about 8 ft two years ago.  

Best ones I had weren't deer related.  I had a weasel climb up onto my boot while sitting stand one day.  He'd have probably hung out for a while if I hadn't sneezed.  Another time, I was turkey hunting and a grey squirrel hopped into my lap and climbed around on my gun, eventually peeking down the barrel.  I was chewing on my lip to keep from busting a gut laughing at the little guy.