I grew up hunting deer in the occupied western province of the People's Demoratic Republik of MA. Thick woods, dense mountain laurel, deep hemlock/tamarack thickets, beaver swamps, etc.
At the time, there seemed to be two types of hunters.
Type 1) Used woodcraft and stealth to pattern the bucks, stalk or ambush them, and kill them. Some did it with 00 buck, or punkin' balls, but most of us used slugs. We were "Aim small, miss small." before it was cool. "Get close!" was the order of the day.
Type 2) Would move through the woods like they were marching in a parade. They would move at a relentless pace, and constantly swing their bodies around looking left and right. Never behind them by the way. They had no idea that whitetails often circle around behind whatever is chasing them (I've killed two deer that came up to within ten yards of me from behind my back).
They also had no idea that prey animals abhor a steady sound coming toward them, but that those same prey animals can be walked right up to +/- an easy 20-30 yds. using a step that has no rythym, i.e. step...pause of random length...step..step, step...step...pause of random length...lather, rinse, repeat.
They had no clue that deer believe what they smell before they believe what they hear, or that deer believe what they hear before they believe what they see.
A deer's sense of smell is phenomenal, and it will end a stalk in the time that it takes to blink. Nothing that I am aware of can really fool their noses, the wind is your only hope, but you can fool their ears (no rythym, or repetition in any sounds that you make), and fooling their eyes is a simple as moving very, very, very slowly when in visual range. But I digress.
Type 2 almost always used buckshot. They often talked about its "brush-busting" qualities.
Whenever that happened, all of the Type 1 hunters in the room would say a silent prayer of thanks that we could (almost literally) sense the Type 2 hunters coming a mile away.
