Member-Deleted wrote:G'day fellas,
Anyone care to share any tips or traps you've found by your experience that improve [or ruin] your chances of a successful hunt and finding game? Waiting quietly by a water hole generally works for me, but I only see what turns up, not necessarily what I'd wish would appear.
I hunt a relatively big property [approx 20kms x 6kms] so I'm keen to expand the repertoire and cover more ground.
Check out Elmer Fudd, and be vewwwy, vewwy qwwiet
Stay downwind of any area you haven't already checked out.
I think most important though is to move VERY slowly, movement will be detected by animals far quicker than noise or scent. When you stop, do so in front of or behind something that breaks up your shape.
Try to stay up high, but don't silhouette yourself against the sky. Don't have your rifle slung over a shoulder with the muzzle or butt sticking up into the sky, animals will see that hard shape before they see your head right beside it.
Watch and listen to the bird life. If the birds suddenly go quiet, you've been spotted as a potential threat, and your game will be listening to the birds as well. Some birds take immediate fright upon realising you're there and flock off or start shouting, others, like crows, will sit quietly watching you for a while before letting their mates know. Likewise with 'roos, they can spot you from far away, before you see them, then they sneak off away from you, passing through the area you are moving toward. Rabbits will thump the ground when they're nervous, and that can carry a good distance, don't pass through obvious rabbit country when hunting something bigger, particularly if you're after foxes/dogs/cats, you don't want to leave your scent though those areas.
Move a short distance, stop, and slowly scan ahead with binoculars, very slowly, anything that you are hunting is very likely doing the same, propped and scanning your area, you need to wait for them to decide to go back to their business, that is when their movement will show up clearly in your binos. Scan behind you occasionally as well, especially when you are sitting, I've had foxes sneak up behind me wondering what that strange scent is.
Most of the game you are looking for spend 99% of their lives wired up for threats (that's why they can be hard to find). Some will lay and hide hoping you don't spot them, then break away in a flurry of noise (pigeons suck), most will recognise a threat is around and very quietly sneak off without you ever knowing they were close (snakes, deer, foxes). When you move through an area and see nothing, assume you were spotted by something at some point.
I spend hours beforehand studying the terrain on GoogleEarth, checking the high/low points, any ridges that require crossing, any long lines of sight, any areas of mud (if it's been raining there may be puddles there that animals will drink from). Be sure to look out for any steep areas too difficult to cross silently. Jump on BOM and find out which way the winds tend to in the area at that time of year, no point planning to come in from the East if the area always has Easterly winds. Plan to avoid walking into the rising/setting sun in the early and late hours, you'll be blinded.