I knew a man that could stalk wildlife. Slightly Scary Trooper Terry was his name, the one we gave him. He was a scary dude. He was in our old hunting group. He would use a first layer of ash, to help to hide his smell, directly on his skin, and he'd even cover his underwear as well, really heavy, depending on the time of year, he'd then cover his outer layer or skin with mud that would stay on well, and then as a final layer he would stick local vegetation into the mud and make it stick. It was crazy looking.
I can't remember how long it would take him to take one step, but I believe it was almost a minute or 30 seconds. So slow a deer would not notice the movement. He also made no sound when his foot touched the ground, SLOWLY moving twigs that would snap, or anything that would make a noise.
He also used the sounds of the birds and other small wildlife to figure out where there was movement in the woods. He said he could tell direction, and could often tell the difference between the wildlife calls of deer moving through the woods or man. He would also take long breaks between movement and just listen, to make sure he would intersect a herd of deer coming through the woods. He would rarely take a deer, but what he would do is come back with a handful of White Tail Deer fur in his hand, as proof he had touched a doe. The bucks were harder he said.
He would act like a tree basically, once the deer were in sight. If he planned it just perfect, he said the deer would brush up against his hand like it was a tree limb, and that's when he would wait until his hand was near the tail and he'd grab a handful of that white fur, as proof he had touched the deer. Crazy shit. He said he learned it from an old Indian who practically took him in as a son growing up, he taught his friend, and passed the knowledge down. It was some wild crazy shit.
I remember him sneaking up on me, in my stand one day. I think he did it just to F with me. When he got right underneath my stand, he did a bird call. I looked down, and then he continued to move on. I always thought it was very dangerous because he didn't wear ny hunter orange at all. Ohh well.
When he would take a deer, he would say some prayer as well, for the spirit of the deer, and all this other Indian stuff. Also, he usually hit the deer with a homemade bow and arrow. It was pretty cool stuff. The kills were usually made from less than 5 yards.
