Stalking/Hunting Advice

[AintJaMama (Joe/BrotherBoaz)]

1. How often do you walk while starting a hunt/hunting? Not running (of course) and not crouch- walking/fast crouch-walking; I mean actual three-bar/one red bar walking. This is my main question as I always wonder if I should be walking to find prey or crouch walking and moving from cover to cover.

2. And, if I could ask further, does it matter if you’ve got the two levels in reduction in noise skills? I ask because new hunters without those skills may be curious as well (I have made it to those skills).

3. If you do walk fairly consistently while looking for game, do you stick to the open/edge of the cover where you get one red bar/three white or will you walk through cover/brush as well (or do you crouch walk to get through the brush)? Thanks!

[Leadmagnet]

1. I typically start off walking until I either find tracks or hear a call of some sort, then I go into the crouch-walk. Depending on how far away the call is or how recent the tracks are; I will either use the fast crouch-walk or the slower one.

2. It does help reduce the amount of noise you make and make it easier to sneak up on resting animals, especially when using the bows.

3. I try to stay near some sort of cover when walking. It gives me a chance to crouch and hide in the event I spot an animal. As far as going through brush, I'll crouch-walk unless I'm just trying to get somewhere and don't care if I spook anything.

I use the noise reduction skills in combination with the skills that make you harder to see in certain types of cover (improvised blind I think is the skill name). It makes hunting with a bow a lot easier.

[Nature]

I don't consider myself to be an expert so I don't want to give poor advice. There is however some YouTubers that seem to know the game quite well and watching their videos can answer many of your questions. Watch how they hunt. See when they run, walk, or crouch.

I've watched some videos by Flinter and JaxyBeard and found them to be helpful. Here is a recent topic where people listed some well known youtubers: https://steamcommunity.com/app/518790/discussions/0/1743355067126807869/

It's hard to give general advice because different tactics are used for different styles of hunting and it can depend on the animal being hunted.

[AintJaMama (Joe/BrotherBoaz)]

Thank you! All advice is appreciated! I’ve watched Flinter and he’s good but really cuts his videos to the immediate staking for the shot, haven’t seen him show just looking for animals. He says he walks till he hears the call but I don’t see him actually do it. Was really curious what some of you, as different hunters, do. I’ve done research but there’s not much there that is current. I’ll def check out that three and watch some. Thanks!

[Lexor76]

I do exactly the same as Leadmagnet, but be aware you will most likely spook any diamond level animal this way. In my opinion this is a good compromise of maybe losing some high level animals but seeing more in total since you move way faster than in crouch walk (crouch walking is just soooooooo slooooooooow).

[Leadmagnet]

Originally posted by Lexor76:

I do exactly the same as Leadmagnet, but be aware you will most likely spook any diamond level animal this way. In my opinion this is a good compromise of maybe losing some high level animals but seeing more in total since you move way faster than in crouch walk (crouch walking is just soooooooo slooooooooow).

I dread to think of how many diamonds I've potentailly spooked by moving around that way. Sometimes you can get lucky though; like the 14.39yd bow shot on a diamond kudu that wandered by while calling sometihng else.

[Roman 45]

It is imo always a good idea to take your time and follow some tracks to discover need zones, so make that like a priority first and walk normal, you could even run,

so that in future you will find it easier getting around and can estimate the more busy areas/zones, as well as the route of those animals. So, getting close to a need zone that should be busy (time!), you ofc then better aproach slowly, e.g. 300 meters before it begins.

Following tracks of the same species can show you their whole 24hrs "schedule", which is really handy when hunting, cause the chance is like 80% that they will use it regulary.

This is a very good video about need zones in general

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxhQ0xW6pSA&t=30s

[Ivory]

You have to accept that no matter how careful you are you're still going to scare some game. Merely firing a gun is bound to spook everything in a 150-300m radius so you can't escape those big numbers in the hunting statistics... might as well just ignore it.

If you're merely exploring or scouting for need zones (by following tracks) and don't have the patience to crouch everywhere, sure, walk around normally as you would. Personally I fast-crouch a lot because it's a happy medium between speed and stealth.

My current hunting method consists primarily on stalking; following tracks until I reach my prey, bonus points for finding need zones and learning trafic routes. Once I get the skills I want I intend of mixing that with calling and waiting for responses, so I can locate and hone down on where my prey is, and use scent lures to hide my own and bring them closer when downwind.

[yogisgoat]

I would also suggest stopping frequently and scouting your surroundings with the binos. Spotting animals in the distance will often establish a need zone for those animals and the more need zones you have the more animals you will see.

[AintJaMama (Joe/BrotherBoaz)]

Great suggestions to add to my experience! When you stalk fresh, non-spooked tracks, do you actually catch up if crouch walking? I always wonder this.

[yogisgoat]

It's been my experience that you will catch up with a walking animal if the tracks are fresh.

[666]

Nice

[Ivory]

Originally posted by AintJaMama (Joe):

Great suggestions to add to my experience! When you stalk fresh, non-spooked tracks, do you actually catch up if crouch walking? I always wonder this.

I do a lot of crouch-stalking and in my experience I'm not fast enough to keep up with their pace, even when the tracks are very fresh and the animals are relatively unaware of my presence (or so I assume). I have better chance of catching up to them when it states they passed by "just now" or when they stop by a need zone for a refresher.

Yesterday I spent about 1 hour stalking what I assumed was a Diamond fallow, that I incidentally managed to spook while doing a bison misson. It was the most boring and stressing stalking I've done in a while - he wouldn't give two damns about my calls and by being careful I started to lag behind until trackers got older and older. Finally I managed to find a herd of bison (for my mission), of which got me killed, had to run all the way back to where the fallow's tracks were, harvest the bison (because he went down much later), spooked the fallow, kept stalking and, finally, managed to get to him near a barn. 1 arrow, insta-kill. Was a damn Gold.

[AintJaMama (Joe/BrotherBoaz)]

That made me laugh! I’m sorry for your pain.

Seriously though, I appreciate the feed back. Hopefully this answers some questions for others as well.