Hunting Indian Style

By Bill Vaznis

“It just can’t be done!” the pro at the local archery shop told me.

“Sure, you might get lucky once in a while, but frankly, if you set out to still-hunt whitetails all season long, You will be “still hunting” at season’s end. Deer are just too smart! The only way to regularly fill a tag is to bow hunt out of a tree stand.”

I just smiled at the guy, and walked away. After all, he was the “pro” and knew all there was to know about bowhunting whitetails. He had indeed tagged six deer to date, including a dandy eight pointer that just made it into the record books.

What he didn’t acknowledge however is the fact that man has been still-hunting whitetails with a bow in North America for over 10,000 years. Ancient man not only survived in this sometimes harsh climate, but flourished in, part because of his ability to put the sneak on big game animals.

What is still-hunting? My stock answer is simple: It is NOT standing still in a treestand, or crouching behind a make-shift ground blind or even “posting” for unseen drivers. Although effective, these are all passive attempts to ambush an unsuspecting whitetail.

“The still-hunter is the ultimate predator who challenges a buck’s primary senses by sharing the same wind currents, terrain features and vegetation.”

When still-hunting, every moment is the moment of truth. You can miss a deer by breaking a twig by letting the wind beat you or by letting the deer see you first.

No, a still-hunter sneaks through the woods “Indian Style, slowly and deliberately, as if he is trying to stalk an unseen deer. You see, a still- hunter does not wait for something to happen, but is instead an active participant the scheme of things. The still-hunter is the ultimate predator who challenges a buck’s primary senses by sharing the same wind currents, terrain features and vegetation. He does not cower from nature’s forces, but rather takes advantage of prevailing breezes, uneven ground, and available cover to sneak in close and make the kill.

Think of it as a football game. You can choose to be a spectator, comfortably sitting in the stands waiting for the opposing team to make a mistake, or you can suit up and take to the field yourself, becoming the master of your own destiny.

In effect, a successful still-hunter is a student of nature, a consummate woodsman – not just a deer hunter. When still-hunting you are alone in the wilderness, every sense alive with the hunt. Once consumed, you are no longer a stranger in a strange land, but rather at one with the universe as you prowl the forests and fields in search of a whitetail buck.

First Try

If you think it takes patience to sit on stand, try still-hunting. Sometimes it may take you a half hour to walk 15 yards.

Still-hunting is not as difficult to learn as it sounds. It does however take a commitment. My first ever bowhunt for deer, which took place in Vermont more years ago than I care to count, was a still-hunt. I scouted out this hillside the afternoon before the season opener, and found a network of trials leading up and out of the valley, and into a thick bedding area.

Twenty minutes after entering the woods the next morning, I got a thirty yard shot a doe. I missed her clean. I missed another doe the next morning, twice, as she worked her way past me up that hill. Even though I did not fill my license that season, I was hooked on the sport of still-hunting. Since then I have tagged nearly twenty whitetails still-hunting with archery tackle, including a couple of bucks I caught flat-footed in their beds.

Why don’t more bowhunters try still-hunting? Well, bowhunters used to still-hunt nearly exclusively until the introduction of the portable tree stand. Suddenly, bowhunters did not need to stick to the shadows or pay as close attention to the wind. They could go out on a limb, so to speak, and take their buck as it passed underneath – an ambush, plain and simple. Indeed, success rates soared soon after portables became commonplace. That is when the art of still-hunting fell to the wayside.

Getting Started
There is a resurgence in still-hunting today however. Savvy bowhunters are coming to realize that they can be better hunters when they climb out of the trees, and pursue deer hunt the way Native Americans have for centuries. Indeed, although tree stands are occasionally helpful with other big game, most mule deer, elk, moose, caribou, sheep, mountain goat, musk ox and even grizzly are taken by bowhunters on foot. You will never get any good at hunting these animals from the ground if you spend all your time trying to ambush a whitetail buck from above.

The author, Bill Vaznis, took this buck while still-hunting.

A good way to get started still-hunting is to test your skills during the off- season, especially-during the when velvet bucks are not as wary as the hard- horned variety are later in the year. They are also more plentiful! First note the direction of the wind, and then work your way slowly along the edges of a corn field, or better yet through the tangles of an overgrown farm field especially one that abuts a feeding area. Bucks will be passing through here late in the afternoon, and your mission, should you decide to accept, is to slip slowly through the thick stuff, camera in hand, in an effort to intercept a buck on his way to his summertime feeding grounds.

This is not only an eye opener for those who think they lack the necessary still-hunting skills, but also a great practice session for the upcoming season. Generally, there is no harm done if the buck sees you first, snorts and then high-tails it back to safety. If you can snap off a few photographs of him first however, you can legitimately claim a still-hunting “kill.”

There’s no doubt about it. Still-hunting whitetails is the ultimate challenge facing bowhunters today. Unfortunately, many bowhunters still believe they can’t get close enough to a whitetail to slip an arrow into his vitals. In the upcoming months we will talk about what it takes to successfully still-hunt whitetails with a bow. I guarantee that with a little effort, you too can regularly take bucks the way our ancestors did – from the ground with a bow and arrow – Indian style.