walking in the woods: heel-toe and toe-heel

[raisins]

It's very common for people to bring up setting the heel and then slowing lowering to the toe. This is the "open the Doritos bag slowly and try to cover it with your hand" idea of crunching leaves, and it works.

However, next time you are out, try toe-heel. Poke around with your toe, find a quiet spot, anchor toe and roll onto the heel.

Cons:

1. it is slow and awkward and not useful for covering distance

Pros:

1. you can poke around and feel the ground prior to committing your weight to it. Try feeling around with your heel to see if a stick is there and then change your mind and uncommit to the step, it won't work very well.

There's a reason behind tip toeing. I believe toe-heel is superior for stalking or moving slowly while being as quiet as possible.

I've seen folks go to further extremes. Set toe, roll outside edge of foot, then set foot down. But that's just too much.

 

[BackSpasm]

I vary the approach mostly depending on what footwear I have on. The more rigid the sole, the more difficult I find the toe-heel. Great topic!

 

[BuckTown]

I generally go toe-heel as well. Definitely have more of a feel for things that’ll go “CRUNCH!” with the toe versus the heel. Doing it with weight on back and for extended distance does get the calf muscles a workout.

 

[woodsdog2]

This is how the injuns did it! Best way to stalk in close imho.

 

[Red Beard]

Toe-heel will definitely slow your roll. Also, the cadence sounds more like a four-legged creature than the sound of heel-toe.

 

[gettingstarted]

I find that toe-heel is much quieter and breaks less sticks

 

[smcchevy]

I agree, I think I can be quieter with toe heel.

 

[SNIPERBBB]

I actually prefer flat footing. More surface area distributes weight making things quieter and muffling any potential noise

 

[Weldabeast]

U ever seen babies/kids walk? I think that the way we supposed to walk but hard sole shoes alters our natural gate over time....I do the toe to heel walk when trying to be sneaky

 

[Bwhana]

Are you serious Clark?

Use a turkey diaphragm call and just walk normal with an occasional “scratch” and a few yelps. It even works in the dark - deer are not smart enough to know turkeys aren’t moving at night.

 

[SNIPERBBB]

Are you serious Clark?

Use a turkey diaphragm call and just walk normal with an occasional “scratch” and a few yelps. It even works in the dark - deer are not smart enough to know turkeys aren’t moving at night.

Around here you can just moo. Some of the places I hunt you gotta try not to cause cattle to stampede you walking across the pastures to the woods.

 

[raisins]

I'm glad to see this is more common than I thought!

 

[krub6b]

Around here you can just moo. Some of the places I hunt you gotta try not to cause cattle to stampede you walking across the pastures to the woods.

Best cover scent available is a nice fresh cow pie to walk through

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[woodsdog2]

Best cover scent available is a nice fresh cow pie to walk through

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Absolutely! I’ve done this for years. Fresh deer poop too!

 

[TNSTAAFL]

Best cover scent available is a nice fresh cow pie to walk through

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Absolutely! I’ve done this for years. Fresh deer poop too!

Didn't we just have a thread about getting poo on our climbing sticks and thus our hands?!


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[krub6b]

Didn't we just have a thread about getting poo on our climbing sticks and thus our hands?!


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Ya gotta do the shuffle at the base of your tree.

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[woodsdog2]

Didn't we just have a thread about getting poo on our climbing sticks and thus our hands?!


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Some of us really get into the lore of hunting. Lol!!

 

[Samcirrus]

You Americans and your fear of deer poo....the first thing I was taught in South Africa when I went on a mission trip into the Bush was that if you got lost or stranded, eating deer poop was the safest(deer don't eat poisonous plants)and most nutritional thing around because the deer only partially digest it.....

 

[Red Beard]

You Americans and your fear of deer poo....the first thing I was taught in South Africa when I went on a mission trip into the Bush was that if you got lost or stranded, eating deer poop was the safest(deer don't eat poisonous plants)and most nutritional thing around because the deer only partially digest it.....

2024 Little Debbie sales forecast just plummeted

 

[Empostarr]

Ya gotta do the shuffle at the base of your tree.

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And it sounds like a deer making a scrape