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Just something I've been pondering while wandering the hills. Which human sense first clued you onto the presence of an animal?
Sight? (Incl binos thermal etc)
Sound?
Smell?
Taste?!
Spidey?
Maybe add a bit of context, like time, type of terrain etc. Gotta be some good yarns out there
Interesting topic....i think for me the most uses of my senses is while bush hunting so this is that experience.
Sight....saw fresh animal activity...prints rubs etc
Sight....saw a flash of movement...but was pinned down by some trees so after the flash i was left blind so to speak...
Smell...i could smell the deer, knew it was a stag waiting for it to move for like 4 mins as i didn't want to make first move....
Sound....bush was deathly quiet so waiting to hear him move, equally as i placed a foot to sneak a look around the trees didnt want it to hear me....
Seen and boom
Its funny what you remember from specific hunts...and am having to use all my senses again after loosing my dog...
Back to basics
Hamish
I use smell and spidey more than I would have thought before I started hunting. However, both have been failing me lately, along with all the others!
Sight, smell and hearing, but I've used smell to locate the dead animal a few times
Sight, last thing I shot was a possum dragging a broken back leg. Wondered why it was out at lunchtime then saw it's movement
I used the sense of surprise.
Was sitting in a pepper wood head gully with a nice view into a few good shooting lanes, had heard some Sika chatting in that gully but as I was thought I was downwind didn't think they had winded me, was trying to figure out a plan of how to close in (given the light wind and crunchy underfoot stalking in was risky)
...and was surprised to see a hind walk out about 10m below me followed by two more with one staring right at me. Thankfully I could stay still and get the action closed completely silently as any noise would have been disastrous. I had to wait for the one looking at me to walk forward so its all-seeing head was behind a tree before I could lift the rifle and drop the tastiest looking one (a yearling that also looked a reasonable size to lug as I was a fair way from camp)
So I was surprised, but I think the deer were more surprised, one just turned and looked back where it came from trying to figure out what had happened. I considered dropping it as well but... it was a long way to camp :D
it was sight combined with experience telling where I should be looking (a slip face lol).
Common sense :)
quite a few volts and candle power
Driving sense, going to butchers after hunt to buy some meat
all the skills and senses of a half starved carnivore ( and candle power )
Sound. I stop every now and again to listen. Heard something moving, which I first thought was a bird playing with the leaves on the forest floor. Kept listening to it and I heard it moving more consistently. A young stag walked almost right into me.
Mate of mine had a similar experience. He has better luck hearing deer than seeing them in the bush.
Second deer was sight. Seeing a deer standing in a clearing is quite obvious :p.
Common
#1 SIGHT: I saw deer shit on the ground.
#2 SMELL: I picked it up and gave it a good sniff, mainly because I wanted to look like I knew what I was doing as I had my neighbour with me and he is new to the game.
#3 TASTE: Although I was reluctant I had to show my neighbour I was a serious hunter so gave it a good lick to confirm the freshness of the deer terd.
#4 SIGHT: spotted deer 550 meters away in the distance up the top of a gully on the opposite face.
After climbing all the way up and shooting them I very much doubt #1, #2 & #3 had any relevance to the actual animals shot but not only did it look like I knew what I was doing the neighbour sure was impressed, I only hope he took note of it so he knows how to track deer in the future.
:XD: :beer: :thumbs:
Ghostlike ones @Casper145 ......:D
Agree, i have started to sit and listen more...mrs and i sat and had lunch in the bush, our breeze pushed up the face and 2 mins later a spiker came down the face....shot while i was sitting with a mouth full of my lunch....Quote:
Originally Posted by will.i.em
Hamish
There is definitely something in that.Quote:
Originally Posted by HNTMAD
I have lost count of the number of deer i've shot while having a cuppa in the bush... I always try to pick an elevated spot with shooting lanes into likely looking county with the wind in my face to brew up. Standing joke among my hunting friends that that is how I shot most of my deer. Conveniently normally between 10-11am too!
First and only deer I've shot so far.
Stalking clearings on the river flats, saw lot of sign followed by horopito that had been given a "damn good thrashing". Slowed down heading into next couple clearings and thought I heard a twig snap (was getting mentally fatigued by that stage) but thought I was imagining things. Just waited a tad longer at the edge of the clearing and a spiker came trotting about 15m right in front of me. I was glad I remembered all the advice I had been given to pull off the shot :D
Well if you go by social media and Youtube, you hardly need any, going with recent advancements in technology.
Certainly as humans we are slowly evolving away from needing hunting instincts and continuous use of senses as we slowly cater to all things bright and shiny.
Not knocking anything, its just the way it is. The sport is evolving, as are us as hunters.
A bit like driving new cars, we need less human input into actually driving and operating and slowly evolving to just holding onto the wheel.
I guess this is why I'm still almost exclusively a bush hunter. Not because its better than other forms of hunting but for me it more often requires use of all the senses.
Because of this its helps me keep in the hunt so to speak, as I find its totally immersive and requires long periods of concentration and decision making to the ever evolving sign, ground and wind conditions.
Other forms of hunting Ive done and occasionally still do, have taken away some of the required senses and for some reason it feels like it takes me out of the hunt.
To me it feels less like I'm "hunting" and more like exercise followed by a chance of a shot, rather than an exciting and sensory overloaded challenge.
I guess I'm a bit of a weirdo or still stuck in the 90's.
Thankfully we are all unique and each of us have different wants and needs and luckily hunting as a sport caters for all our desires and outcomes each time we get off the couch and lace up our boots.
My last hunt was on a yearling Sika Hind.
Sight - was following a set of fresh scuff marks in the litter fall around the side of a steepish face in the Kaimanawa bush.
Smell - could smell a deer. My sense of smell is only average, so when I can smell a deer then I know I'm either close or an animal has very recently been in the area.
Feeling - put my hand on a horizontal branch with tiny little stinging nettles growing up from it which I didn't see as I was too busy looking forward. The pain distracted me which was a rookie mistake on my part and took me out of the intense concentration I needed. Stepped over a small rise in front of me too quickly still thinking about the pain without slowly going step by step and scanning it all properly as new ground came into view and missed the
Sight - yearling low and down to my right looking back at me through some pepperwoods in a shallow gut.
By the time I had identified what it was and raised the gun to my shoulder it stepped off and got swallowed by the thick scrub.
Was a good hunt nether the less and later on got onto another mob of 4 hinds/yearlings.
For me sight is number 1, then hearing number 2, then spidey number 3, or as I like to think of it as intuition and experience, followed by smell number 4.
Micky D's common sense is also worth acknowledging as well and does play its part sometimes.
Disclaimer-individual results may vary.
My dog's smell gave me a clue to slow down, then I saw a flash of movement in my peripheral vision that led to a billy goat. Hearing a second chewing behind a tree led to a second. Unfortunately, my sense of smell barely functions, probably because of Covid. I wish it were otherwise. Who knows what I've missed?
My kids smelled a Billy on our last hunt and let me know about it. But we had no time to investigate
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Last deer was using binos, about 200m away on South Is tops.
Even in Kaimais bush its always sight now. 90% naked eye and 10% binos even at longer distances like 200m.
I used to hear quite a few first but not so much now. Hearing declines suddenly at a certain age, perhaps later if you use protection or sooner if you stand next to an unsuppressed 270.
My sense of smell has improved quite a bit since stopping all dairy products. But mostly useful to locate a downed animal. I often smell deer but its just where they left a body fluid; no longer nearby.
making loud noise.roaring like a lunatic gets you deer certain times of the year.
You do know your supposed to carry a few black jelly beans for YOU to lick n eat when demonstrating that....don't you??Quote:
Originally Posted by 7mm Rem Mag
and for real effect black currant jam when they are on clover and a bit loose
Shit so that's what that old guy used when showing me how to track deer, no wonder the mrs went mad when I gave her a kiss when I got home.Quote:
Originally Posted by Micky Duck
Normally a combination of spidey and sound.
I tend to get a feeling that an area is "deery" then I basically stop and check everywhere I can see and ask myself if every single thing I look at is a deer. Keeping in mind that if I'm moving, I'm not really looking.
More often than I'd like I think, that area right up there is bound to have a deer in it, then approach it too fast or do something stupid to spook the deer that is inevitably there :wtfsmilie: