Old Apache deer hunting tactics.

[RabidApache]

Just thought I'd throw this out there.
 As a boy I heard my ole' pops friend talk of how in the old days deer hunters would actually act like a deer (movements) and as long as they were down wind they would manage to get to within bow range.
So last year I tried this tactic and all be damnned it works. Now I'm hunting archery only season so I don't get kilt . Anyways I hunt this fairly open area for muleys and coues WT in SE Arizona. I usually intercept bucks looking for does (rut in AZ is from Dec-Jan).
Well I didn't have any opportunities at a buck this day so I'm sitting and having lunch. I had been watching a group of does maybe 1/2 a mile out. So I see an opportunity to try this out. I not camo'ed or have a cover scent. Its very open country with scattered juniper. Anyway I know elk are in the area too so I thought......hmmmmm if I carried my bow above my forehead (like an antler)and swayed while walking it kinda looks funny but I wanted to imitate a bull elks walk.
Ok now I'm in the open, deer see me and they're obviously on alert. But I continue in plain sight. Slowly walking swaying side to side like an elk with the Osage bow over my forehead. I stop kneel like I'm browsing and continue. I notice the deer relax and continue feeding. WOW. So I slowly make my way to within 100yds in plain view. I continue like I'm feeding along and still downwind from 2 adult does and a fawn.
I can't believe this so I continue to within 28yds. I could have killed a doe since it is legal with archery equipment in my area but I chose not to. I took this as a well learned skill and let them pass. IDK if it was a fluke but I'm going out again and giving this another shot this year. My season is a month long from Dec1-31.
I'm waiting for the rut to kick in for the WTs. Good luck.

[Bryce]

this last elk season i did that to a 5x5 bull. it was the day before opening. and there was a bull and 18 of his cows. i had seen on the tv this guy put his bow on his head and sway back and forth to a moose. the moose came closer, and closer, even crossing the river. as if he was mesmerized.
so i stepped out of the trees into the open field and with by bow on my head. walked to the herd.
no as soon as a stepped out the bull barks and gathered his herd together in a circle. as i swayed he walked closer, and stopped but if i took a step he would take a step till i got to a point where i didnt feel safe. he was 35-40 yards away. just staring at me then. after what felt like a long time. im thinking he figured me out, when the wind changed. he barked again and the herd took off.

but it is amazing what some of these elk will do when theyre so jacked up on hormones

[Ed Brooks]

I tried the look away and jerk your head back to try to catch a deer moving, (like they do to me) and I tip my head back and lick my upper lip (again like they do to me) this kinda calmed this doe down enough she went back to eating. I did have the wind in my face, wasn't hunting, so no shooting but its pretty neat to get in their head. I have also used cow elk calls for deer while in the brush (making noise) This has worked for me a couple time on deer in BP season, we do have a lot of elk in this area tho. Neat to hear of your experiences, thanks. Ed

[Pat B]

An older friend of mine that lived in Cleveland OH relayed this story to me. Back in the early 1980s he went to his hunt camp and while standing around talking one of the guys spotted a deer standing in the road a hundred yards away. He grabbed his bow and an arrow, bent over and walked backwards looking through his legs. The rest of the guys watched him slowly walk towards the deer as the deer watch inquisitively. When he got in range he stood up, turned and shot the deer.
 Deer are very curious animals and can't see details like we can. As long as they don't smell you, you can sometimes fool them. 

[Danzn Bar]

Amen Pat!!   Never heard it explained like that!  Right on.
This site is the best!
DBar

[JW_Halverson]

i had seen on the tv this guy put his bow on his head and sway back and forth to a moose. the moose came closer, and closer, even crossing the river. as if he was mesmerized.

I think I have seen this same video clip.  The moose is probably in rut and was looking at the little wheelie bow on the guy's head like it was a smaller bull challenging him.  Great way to get stomped into a mudhole and kicked dry!  LOL!

I think there is a lot of value to this technique, so long as you can fool their noses.  Once the nose is in on the joke, you are the punchline!

[Bryce]

i had seen on the tv this guy put his bow on his head and sway back and forth to a moose. the moose came closer, and closer, even crossing the river. as if he was mesmerized.

I think I have seen this same video clip.  The moose is probably in rut and was looking at the little wheelie bow on the guy's head like it was a smaller bull challenging him.  Great way to get stomped into a mudhole and kicked dry!  LOL!

I think there is a lot of value to this technique, so long as you can fool their noses.  Once the nose is in on the joke, you are the punchline!

Yep! That's the one!

[Stringman]

Another trick I discovered was the tail flick. Ever notice how a WT will flick its tail to announce to another deer in the area? It's as though they are saying, "hey I'm a deer, what are you?"  Then they go back to doin whatever and calm right down.

For my case I have been in the presence of deer and used my off hand to make a flickering motion from behind my body and noticed them immediately calm down. This works even better if you have saved the tail from a previous deer and just tie it to a belt loop.

[mullet]

I've done the same with turkeys after someone told me they weren't spooked by something crawling. I've crawled over a hundred yards in a pasture on Gobblers in plain site and watching me, then shooting them with my Black powder shot gun. Chris Cade also showed me a toilet paper trick when I was hunting his place Thanksgiving. I hung a strip of paper from a waist high tree limb on the old rail bed I was hunting on. The big deer I shot stopped long enough and looked at it for me to get a shot on it. He told me they see the white in the breeze and think it's another deer.

[JW_Halverson]

I've done the same with turkeys after someone told me they weren't spooked by something crawling. I've crawled over a hundred yards in a pasture on Gobblers in plain site and watching me, then shooting them with my Black powder shot gun. Chris Cade also showed me a toilet paper trick when I was hunting his place Thanksgiving. I hung a strip of paper from a waist high tree limb on the old rail bed I was hunting on. The big deer I shot stopped long enough and looked at it for me to get a shot on it. He told me they see the white in the breeze and think it's another deer.

Explains why I always see deer while having my morning constitutional out in da woods!

[chamookman]

Nah - It was the "Buck snort" the Deer heard there JW  . Bob

[JackCrafty]

Cool stories!

There are a lot of deer around my brother-in-laws house.  I've spent hours watching them.  I think they have very good eyesight, so there must be something else going on besides being fooled by camouflage or familiar shapes.  I think they compartmentalize the threats.  If I sit on the back porch and pop open a bag of chips, they walk right up.  But if I take one step off the cut grass and into the woods, they scatter as soon as they hear or smell or see me, for example.  As long as you stay away from their metal picture of what they consider a threat, they're fine.  And if they consider you weak, they will bully you.  It's fascinating.

[nclonghunter]

I have been practicing scratching my ear with my foot while bent over. That should fool them.

[Arrowind]

This is one of the most interesting threads I've read........

[PrimitiveTim]

I remember watching one of Steve Irwin's shows and he was rolling toward some wildebeest.  He got pretty close too. lol