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

mschultz373 said:
There’s videos of guys using a walking stick to mimic the gait of our four-legged prey.

My only question is to what extent any of this makes a difference. On the driest, crunchiest bed of leaves and sticks, how far away can a deer head you realistically? And how much quieter is one gait versus another?

How about toe-heeling a mile back to your set and then one of your carabiners smacks your stick?

Also tactics: if you’re a scout-to-hunt kind of guy. You’re seriously gonna toe-heel walk four miles to find that hot feed tree for your evening set?

Same with headlamps and all. Some guys swear the deer can’t see their 100 lumen white headlamp (that we all can see from 400 yards away… but I digress); others use the red/green LEDs….

I feel like some of these things get into diminishing returns territory where great effort exerted only makes one 2% more effective as a hunter

For the record… I like both at different times. Toe heel if it’s particularly woody/crunchy and I’m close to where I wanna hang. Heel toe for busting longer distances
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I only walk toe-heel for very short distances. Such as if stalking an animal I could see or sneaking by feeding animals to get to a stand site without spooking them or the final distance to a stand site near a bedding area.

The biggest help in the crunchy stuff, I think, is avoid snapping sticks as usual and also slow down even more. You can walk in crunchy leaves pretty quietly if you move your feet onto the leaves very, very slow. Again, you're getting into diminishing returns.

It's all just compromise solutions given your situation.
 
Flyerzfan10 said:
isn't this call fox walking??
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I think there are folks talking about 2 different things here.

There's a technique where you put down your toe and then the heel relatively quickly and the idea is to make a noise that sounds like a non-threatening animal.

My original post wasn't about that. Rather, if you gently put down your toe and then gently and slowly rolled back to the heel, you can walk much quieter than the usual heel to toe that folks seem to always talk about. The downside to this is that it is awkward and slow for any real distance or going up and down steep slopes.
 
Toe to heel is a taught and proven stalking method across many different professions. I only use it for the last 100 yards or so if I'm heading in to hunt a selected location, especially for afternoon sits where deer may be bedded 1-200 yards out. I also have a "squirrel" walk for the last 1-200 yards where I just walk but it is 2-3 quick/normal pace steps, pause for a few seconds. 4 steps, pause. 2, pause, etc. cover distance but break it up so there is not a steady cadence. Close your eyes and listen to squirrels in the leaves and picture yourself moving and making that noise.

Now if it's a 40 degree cold, wet, rainy day and I'm slipping through bedding trying to stalk one it is strictly toe to heel and slooooooow. Toe, heel, toe, heel. Stop, scan. Repeat. Good way to kill a few hours and has resulted in some fun ground shots with a bow.
 
Glenn said:
Toe to heel is a taught and proven stalking method across many different professions. I only use it for the last 100 yards or so if I'm heading in to hunt a selected location, especially for afternoon sits where deer may be bedded 1-200 yards out. I also have a "squirrel" walk for the last 1-200 yards where I just walk but it is 2-3 quick/normal pace steps, pause for a few seconds. 4 steps, pause. 2, pause, etc. cover distance but break it up so there is not a steady cadence. Close your eyes and listen to squirrels in the leaves and picture yourself moving and making that noise.

Now if it's a 40 degree cold, wet, rainy day and I'm slipping through bedding trying to stalk one it is strictly toe to heel and slooooooow. Toe, heel, toe, heel. Stop, scan. Repeat. Good way to kill a few hours and has resulted in some fun ground shots with a bow.
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When you "squirrel walk", do you drag your feet through the leaves? When I tell others how to tell a deer from a squirrel (new hunters), I'll tell them to think about how a squirrel pushes their bodies through leaves because of little legs.
 
raisins said:
When you "squirrel walk", do you drag your feet through the leaves? When I tell others how to tell a deer from a squirrel (new hunters), I'll tell them to think about how a squirrel pushes their bodies through leaves because of little legs.
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Not really drag, per se. But I make little to no effort to be quiet. Lord knows squirrels don't.
 
I had a friend who was long legs that hunted at a fast walk (I would have had to jog to keep up}. He killed a lot of big bucks this way with bow and shotgun just walking up on them. I tried it and was very unsuccessful.
 
I think that ground conditions play a huge role in how different footfalls sounds. For example Dry leaves; wet leaves, frozen leaves, frosted leaves, leaves with a dusting of snow, leaves buried in snow leaves with a thin coat of crusted snow - all require different walking techniques. Are you trying to be silent? Are you trying to sound like a deer, or some other non threatening animal like a turkey or squirrel? Really there’s a lot of techniques that can work. Heck in some cases walking like a non hunting human works like a charm. In every case it’s about reading the situation and finding a way to fit in and be a part of nature - there’s no one way.
 
If the leaves are too crunchy to avoid making noise, sometimes I cover it by making more noise. After i put my heel or toe down, I shuffle the rest of my foot from side to side to sound like a little critter rooting in the leaves.

Of course, when I do get into my selected tree without disturbing deer, seems like I usually find a way to mess it up by clanking, squeaking, breaking, or dropping something.
 
Glenn said:
Toe to heel is a taught and proven stalking method across many different professions. I only use it for the last 100 yards or so if I'm heading in to hunt a selected location, especially for afternoon sits where deer may be bedded 1-200 yards out. I also have a "squirrel" walk for the last 1-200 yards where I just walk but it is 2-3 quick/normal pace steps, pause for a few seconds. 4 steps, pause. 2, pause, etc. cover distance but break it up so there is not a steady cadence. Close your eyes and listen to squirrels in the leaves and picture yourself moving and making that noise.

Now if it's a 40 degree cold, wet, rainy day and I'm slipping through bedding trying to stalk one it is strictly toe to heel and slooooooow. Toe, heel, toe, heel. Stop, scan. Repeat. Good way to kill a few hours and has resulted in some fun ground shots with a bow.
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Yeah, heel toe, docie doe, come on, baby, let's go, boot scootin'
Thats what first came to my mind when I read your headline. But I knew what you meant.

But just wanted to add sometimes I will put the outside of my foot down first and slide it to feel for sticks, then roll it down flat. I killed a few deer slipping thru the woods at the farm. But seems the last few years they have been extra wet and mucky. Nothing like stealthy walk 30 yards thru the thick stuff to have your boot be "sucked" out of the mud.
 
As long as the coast is clear......scamper towards your tree like a squirrel, stop, look around, go again until you're there.


And I suggest this a guy who preaches quiet set up and takedown. That's different....we're just talking about getting there.

You're welcome.
 
Anyone try the round wheel method? Ive been doing that for a few years now on my farm. Just roll right on in close to the stand, ditch the MTB and climb up in a preset with saddle.
 
khnc said:
Anyone try the round wheel method? Ive been doing that for a few years now on my farm. Just roll right on in close to the stand, ditch the MTB and climb up in a preset with saddle.
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I would but I have no places where it is feasible....can't ride bikes on WMAs, can ride bikes on Nat'l Forest but it is straight up and down

I have a little private I can hunt, but by the time I get the bike off the truck and roll 400 yards....seems like a waste

Probably a good thing...I'd get into E-bikes and spend like $15,000 on one with all the trimmings....nope
 
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