Survival Basics and How To Survive: Animal Tracking Techniques

Animal Stalking Tips and Techniques

Stalking has been the most valuable aspect used in hunting since man began using tools to hunt and kill food. Through trial and error, he learned to silently get close enough to prey and kill it with crude spears and bows and arrows. Today in our modern times however, hunters us stands and blinds and wait till the game come to them. I personally think that stalking your prey is by far the most challenging way to hunt and to me offers the most excitement. It truly pits your skills as a stalk hunter against the superior eyesight, smell, and hearing of the animal you are engaging and in my opinion is the true way to hunt.

If you are new to hunting or would just like an added challenge, then I strongly suggest you try stalking your game the next time you go hunting. I think the experience and excitement alone will be enough to convert you to using stalk methods for ever. The following are a few suggestions, tips and tricks that I have learned over the years and hope that you find them useful.

· Learn basic animal tracking: Animal tracking within itself is a skill that takes time, patience, and lots of practice to become proficient, but is an essential part of stalk hunting. With some practice you will be able to determine the size, weight, direction of travel, time the tracks were made, animal movement (walking, trotting, bounding, galloping, crawling, etc), number of animals, and you will also be able to track a blood trail if you do not immediately deliver a fatal take down to the prey.

· Finding and Reading Game Trails: Game trails are in essence the Interstate Highway for the various animals. Game trails can stand out and be easily identified or they can be subtle and less visible which you will have to look closely to pick up the tracks. All game trails are used by many woodland creatures in that area because every animal generally wants to take the path of least resistance and will usually use the same trail on a regular basis. Look for groves in the ground on extremely high traffic paths, broken branches or limbs on (trees, bushes, brush, and shrubs) if you look closely, you will often times see animal fur in the broken limbs and shrubs. Look for the weeds and grasses to be laid down, depressed, and bent. Look for more than one species of animal tracks in the path this will confirm it is a regular game trail. Game trails will lead from bedding areas, to the animal’s food source, and their mid day shady resting areas from the heat (in summer) wind protection and cover (in winter).

· Movement: When stalking it is important that you use slow and as silent as possible movements so that your prey do not hear or quickly spot you. If you use a technique of starting with your toes (or heel, which ever is the most comfortable for you) and start slowly rolling your foot until the entire foot has been planted firmly, then slowly shift your weight from the leg you were placing all your weight on to the foot you just planted and then repeating the same movement for your next step. This will help you avoid snapping twigs, crushing leaves, etc because if you start to hear any noise you can stop and move your foot to a better area, thus reducing any noise. This technique takes quite a bit of practice to master (lots of balance), but once you have done so you will be able to move as silent as a Ninja while keeping a visual awareness of the area around you instead of looking at the ground all the time. Another important thing to remember is to pick your feet up so that you do not walk in a way that you shuffle or drag causing your feet and legs to brush against objects on the ground.

· Wind Direction and Scent Control: Wind direction is important because you always want to remain down wind of the game you are stalking since they will be able to smell you if the wind is blowing from your direction to where they are at. This simply means that you need to ensure that the wind is always (as much as possible anyway) blowing to your front (in your face) instead of blowing from your back. You may also want to try masking your scent by using some of those products from your local fish and game store. Remember to not go overboard when using these because they can just as well have the opposite action and put the animals on a state of higher alert.

· Camouflage: Hunters usually use some sort of camouflage clothing that is intended to break up their body's silhouette and pattern. I personally use these types of clothing, but I also incorporate natural camouflage as well. By using your natural surrounding vegetation such as leaves, small branches, grasses, etc this will ensure you better blend in with your environment. You will also be able to change your camouflage to blend in with the changing environment in which you are moving through. Remember to not use big branches that are going to stick to far out away from your body because they will catch and brush against other things and cause noise.

· Weapon at the ready: This simply means that you need to ensure that you carry your bow and arrow, rifle, or shotgun in a position that you can quickly aim and shot accurately. I have witnessed some hunters carry their rifles resting over their shoulder or holding it down by their side with one hand. You will not have time to secure the weapon, aim, and shot proficiently by holding them in this manner. You need to maintain both hands on your weapon at all times and held in front of you in a position that is slightly raised. You must remember that when you are trying to move into a good firing position and you get busted, you may only have seconds to acquire your target, fire, and accurately hit the vital "one shot one kill" area of your prey. Always ensure when carrying a weapon you practice safety by keeping it on safe until you are ready to fire, but when taking the safety off, try to keep the movement slow enough to not create noise and spook the animal. If you do not think you can get a kill shot effectively, then do not make the shot because if you wound the animal you will have to track it or risk loosing it (don't be one of those so called hunters that do not care enough to not try to look for the animal because that is not a true hunter).

· Choose your hunting area well and know your prey: To ensure maximum success in your hunt, ensure that you choose areas that have a high probability of animals being around or close to that area. If you know the habits of the prey you are hunting, you will be a successful hunter. You want to hunt around areas such as water sources, large amounts of their food sources, areas where they rest during the heat of the day or bed down at night. If you know the terrain they like to travel on, the food they eat, where they get water from, the environment they like to rest in that offers them good cover and concealment, etc then you will increase your chances of bagging your prey by 90%. Keep in mind that animals such as Deer have multiple routes they travel and use a variety of bedding places.

· STOP, LOOK, and LISTEN: Once you have spotted your prey you need to FREEZE and evaluate the situation (you need to decide if that is the animal you want to take). Look and listen, because there may be other animals in the immediate area that you may consider a better choice.

GAME TRAIL PIC EXAMPLES

Animal trail through high grass