Thread: Dry, noisy forest floor

Went for a goat hunt yesterday. Put in the hard yards, but no luck. The forest floor was very dry and noisy to walk through. Spooked two goats on separate occasions. Both went off like rockets. They certainly weren't going to stand around waiting to be shot in the head with a subsonic round! How to hunt in these conditions? Go after heavy rainfall? Sit in a likely spot and wait for something to appear?

If there is any stream beds that are dried up they are usually good to cruise slowly down especially ones in thick bush so nice and cool and quiet, usually the wind only runs 1 way down them too so no swirling

Thanks. Good thought. Unfortunately, no significant streams.

The good thing about dry forest litter is when (not if!) you spook the deer you can get a pretty good idea how many there are, because they also make a lot of noise running away. I've got the exact same issue, maybe worse given HB is typically drier than Northland. It makes it pretty hard going, and disheartening to spend hours poking aorund then one mistake and it sounds like half the forest is collapsing as a dozen reds run away.

wetsuit boots and take your time when you start smelling them
goats are pretty predictable now you know where they are geographically

goats dont tend to be anywhere shootable when its raining

Originally Posted by Bill999

wetsuit boots and take your time when you start smelling them
goats are pretty predictable now you know where they are geographically

goats dont tend to be anywhere shootable when its raining

Yep what @Bill999 said, also old school Gym Boots (the ankle covering canvas kind, think they are back in fashion now )are good also due to both having very flexible soles ,l have carried Dive Boots as my stream crossing /camp/stalking boot for years & use them a lot when stalking in on Sika in the thick stuff as the flexible soles allow you to feel your way around snappy twigs etc & you find yourself unconsciously moving stuff away with the boot .

When you are getting up close on anything a often over looked stalk buster is metallic/foreign scaping noises from hollowed out Syn stocks ,uncovered suppressors etc .

Originally Posted by bunji

When you are getting up close on anything a often over looked stalk buster is metallic/foreign scaping noises from hollowed out Syn stocks ,uncovered suppressors etc .

Yeah my big hollow metal suppressor scraping on a branch has busted me so many times and I got so sick of it. What I’ve done now is wrapped the suppressor in a soft fleece fabric, and then secured it on with cloth tape. Works very well.

Originally Posted by JessicaChen

Yeah my big hollow metal suppressor scraping on a branch has busted me so many times and I got so sick of it. What I’ve done now is wrapped the suppressor in a soft fleece fabric, and then secured it on with cloth tape. Works very well.

m

I used a length of motorbike inner tube to cover my suppressor, works well, is cheap and nothing to snag on vegetation!

Originally Posted by bunji

Yep what @Bill999 said, also old school Gym Boots (the ankle covering canvas kind, think they are back in fashion now )are good also due to both having very flexible soles ,l have carried Dive Boots as my stream crossing /camp/stalking boot for years & use them a lot when stalking in on Sika in the thick stuff as the flexible soles allow you to feel your way around snappy twigs etc & you find yourself unconsciously moving stuff away with the boot .

When you are getting up close on anything a often over looked stalk buster is metallic/foreign scaping noises from hollowed out Syn stocks ,uncovered suppressors etc .

the good old bata bullets...how can a kid be a kid without a pair of bullets?.....

they have flash new name for them now but are still the same as of old....
heavy woolen socks arent bad..... but slowing down is the best...RUMPY is the ONLY person I ve ever hunted with who can walk quietly with vibram soled boots.....years chasing sika do that to a fella.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

the good old bata bullets...how can a kid be a kid without a pair of bullets?.....

they have flash new name for them now but are still the same as of old....
heavy woolen socks arent bad..... but slowing down is the best...RUMPY is the ONLY person I ve ever hunted with who can walk quietly with vibram soled boots.....years chasing sika do that to a fella.

Haha, just checked and you're right they still do make them and they are on sale at the bargain price of $50 atm, https://batastore.co.nz/collections/bata-bullets

Originally Posted by bunji

Yep what @Bill999 said, also old school Gym Boots (the ankle covering canvas kind, think they are back in fashion now )are good also due to both having very flexible soles ,l have carried Dive Boots as my stream crossing /camp/stalking boot for years & use them a lot when stalking in on Sika in the thick stuff as the flexible soles allow you to feel your way around snappy twigs etc & you find yourself unconsciously moving stuff away with the boot .

When you are getting up close on anything a often over looked stalk buster is metallic/foreign scaping noises from hollowed out Syn stocks ,uncovered suppressors etc .

Gym boots were the flavour of the day for myself and other like minded dudes,great for pussy footing. You could actually sorta feel if a dry stick was about to snap,hard to explain really but yeah they are the bees knees for doin the first gear low ratio thing for sure.
I still have a pick or two from the Gym boot error somewhere ,last pair were red I think lol.
Never tried the dive boots but did float around in shearers moccasins at times chasing the grey ghosts.

Originally Posted by doinit

Gym boots were the flavour of the day for myself and other like minded dudes,great for pussy footing. You could actually sorta feel if a dry stick was about to snap,hard to explain really but yeah they are the bees knees for doin the first gear low ratio thing for sure.
I still have a pick or two from the Gym boot error somewhere ,last pair were red I think lol.
Never tried the dive boots but did float around in shearers moccasins at times chasing the grey ghosts.

do you remember the canvas sided,rubber soled "jungle boots" we could get from milserp shops for a while???

When I’m on crunchy ground I kinda just give up or before taking steps (maybe two steps a minute in stalking mode),move leaves to the side a little with my boot, though that still makes noise. It feels easier to stalk quietly on steeper slopes because actively used game trails have fewer leaves and sticks on them. But of course goats beings goats, the trails they leave can be difficult to follow if they tunnel under bushes or hop over boulders. Will be keeping an eye on this thread myself.

One block I hunt is really noisy underfoot. The worst are the rewarewa leaves, closely followed by dry punga leaves and stems.
I try to time hunts after a day or two of good rain if possible, a short heavy burst of rain doesn't do much to make it quieter. On the plus side, I hear most of my deer before I see them.
I like piwakawaka's idea of sneaking down the streambeds, especially in summer as they are cooler and probably where the deer will be too. Unfortunately in this block it's also where the supplejack is!

If all else fails just wear your gumboots and kick them off when you get in close thick socks are the quietest of the lot

try put your boots somewhere obvious tho as they can be really hard to refind

the other trick is put a salt block in the area without crunchy leaves