Combat Hunter 3. The Hunt

Combat Hunter Series: 3. The Hunt.

A Combat Hunter is not just a lean green fighting machine… he or she, is also a forager a path finder, recon, planner, organizer, teacher, guide and a million and one other little things that come up, out in the field… The natural world is your playground, intimately knowing every rock, every leaf. At a glance you know the difference between a rabbit run and human made trail… A combat Hunter is aware of every sight and sound of the natural world… resourceful, aware…The animals are your army, the birds your spies, thickets, thorn bushes and the trees, your impenetrable fortress…Nature is your mother she nurtures you, suckles you, comforts and protects you…A combat hunter... is the top predator in the woods…

The Hunt…

THINK LIKE A HUNTER NOT A SOLDER

Almost everyone knows that to approach big game you must have the wind in your favor
… Blowing into your face or at least across your face…. But there are other things to consider as well… Wild sheep and pronghorns have extremely good eyesight… A man appearing against a skyline will frighten both species... If you want to get close to a bighorn or a
Pronghorn, walk below the ridge top, stealing only peeks over the hilltop…. Sheep are generally easier to approach from above. They don't seem to be as watchful in that direction, probably because potential predators such as wolves, cougars, or bears generally approach from below… snipers like to be up high with an open field of fire… they know someone will violate these rules… Sometimes, the hunter becomes the pray…

If you want to see big game, pay close attention to thermal breezes. As the air heats and cools in hilly, rolling country, it causes thermal breezes. At times these breezes are so gentle and faint that you may not notice them... In the morning, when the sun's early rays hit the side of a mountain that has been cool all night, the air at the lower elevation warms up and gently flows uphill…. In the late afternoon, when the hillside becomes dark, the reverse happens and the thermal breeze flows downward… The wind carries your sent… but it can also work in your favor by bring you scents and information about what might be near…the smell of a cigarette can carry for miles on a breeze…even if I don’t see you… I’ll know your there.

Experience and mind-set are the keys to unlock your potential…what you need is… keen powers of observation and an alert mind capable of rational and logical thinking…


One of the things that separate a Combat Hunter from a beginner is the ability to interpret signs… An experienced Combat Hunter makes a mental note of everything he sees …

More than a little of my reputation as a big-game hunter is the result of using binoculars. On a big-game hunt, I consider binoculars to be much more beneficial than the 'scope on my rifle…
I don’t just make broad sweeps I pick likely spots and study them looking for those things that should not be there….


Eight or nine years ago I took a city friend Elk hunting … his first hunt… Before dawn the first morning we walked to a beaver meadow and sat down on a high ridge. As the first arrows of light hurled themselves across the yellow grass, we began glassing the meadow for Elk...

"There's nothing there," my buddy said almost out loud.
"I wouldn't say that. I see a cow with two calves," I whispered.
"Where?"
"Over that clump of spruce. Those Elk are just inside the bush."

My bud focused his binoculars on the spot I pointed out, but still could not see the
Elk… They blended fairly well with the dark spruce, but to me, they might have wearing blaze orange vests… What gave them away were their backs … the only horizontal lines among a mass of vertical ones…Almost everything that grows is along a vertical plane… up’s and down’s…four legged animals are always on a horizontal plane… so the trick is to look for the things that are out of place… Not until one of the calves moved was my partner able to pick them out. Looking for horizontal lines in a forest is one of the first tricks I learned in the outdoors…. Sure I see a great many fallen logs and rocks, but I also see game which would otherwise escape my notice…

Another thing I learned early is never to look for an entire animal… You will seldom ever see one in a bush until you have waited it out and it steps into the open… If you want to see a squirrel on a high oak, don't look for a squirrel… Rather look for the tip of a tail, the odd comer of a head ticking out, or a bump on a branch that may be the bushy-tail's back, and so on…

Enemy combatants, stick out like a sore thumb… Too sure of their superiority and firepower… even when they try to move stealthily they pay no attention to their surroundings, foreground. Midground, background… not only do they move like a rouge bull in a china shop… they stand out on top of ridge lines... they cross open meadows… Picking the easy path…they move against the flow of nature… you as a Combat hunter need to learn to be like the Elk… pick places where you disappear into your surroundings…you will seldom see an old buck deer walking out in the open in broad Daylight... The only time he will be in the open is at dusk or dawn when something has really scared him, but then he will be running… Big old bucks prefer to travel in some cover… just inside the tree line, by a brushy fence row, or along a wooded ridge… That is where you should be... Incidentally, foxes usually behave in the same way. A fox may lie down in an open field to sun itself but it will stay there, relying on stillness and camouflage for protection, unless someone or something frightens it… A combat Hunter takes his lesions from nature… Cover and concealment…

“Hey L-T come here… 1700 clicks to your 10 O’clock… at the base of the ridge in that big pile of rocks!” “What… I don’t see a damn thing gunny?” “Gunny’s right sir… It looks like the barrel of one of those Russian 75mm.” “Ah f**K… scouts out… secure this position… How do you want to do this Gunny?” “Let’s have the Warthogs make a couple of passes before we check it out…” Look for the horizontal lines…

Dawn and dusk, that is when you’ll find a game trail. There’s something about the quality of light at these times that reveals all secrets. I can’t explain why, maybe it has to do with the long shadows? Maybe it’s just the absence of morning dew in a well-defined line? Whatever that case is, this is when you will know a game trail when you see one…. As the day progresses and the sun rises that trail just seems to magically vanish right before your eyes, but you know and this is where you set your snares and traps. On bigger runs follow them. Look for places where the grass is matted down. That will be a bedding spot for a moose, elk or deer. That is where you sit and wait, quietly, stretching out all your senses. It might take a day; maybe two, but those big game animals are creatures of habit and will return and you’ll be there waiting. Big game will have several bedding spots… they move from one to another as the day progresses… again creatures of habit… moving from one feeding place to the next… habits like that get you killed…

Look for the food sources, acorns, wheat, corn… Look for the water, all animals need to drink… look for tracks, Animals like to revisit the same places to drink. Follow the arrows… turkey like to feed on the same things deer and elk do. Turkey like to travel in flocks for protection… they leave a well-defined footprint look for a kind of a” ^ “ looking thing… that will point the way… direction of travel… they might lead you to a nice big juicy buck… or at least a good turkey dinner… only take the ones on the ground… turkey will take to the tall trees when threatened… if you shoot a turkey in the tree the flock will scatter and will not return… but a turkey on the ground is a different matter… Poor old bob… he should have known to be up here in the tree with the rest of us turkeys… oh well… they will stay and you can come back another day… as long as their little turkey brains think that tree is safe…

Think of nature as one huge living organism where every living thing is interconnected… Predators in this vast world never pass unnoticed…Ask a biologist about interspecies communication and they will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about the subject… all you really need to know is, a threat to one is a threat to all and everything that lives in the woods is ever alert for those warning calls… I doubt there is a hunter who hasn't picked up… then been followed by a noisy jay or cackling magpie…. They follow you calling; letting their friends know you’re there… these birds often accompany mountain lions, bears and wolves too… why… Not only are they saying “Look out!” their also looking for an easy meal… they know a predator will leave scraps behind… scraps for you… A feast for them… if you pick up one of these noisy visitors the best thing is to just sit down and wait him out… he will get bored and move off… But also keep your ears open for his calls… they will let you know when you are not the only predator in the woods… violate these rules and you may be lucky to see the bright flash of white as a big doe vanishes into the stillness… if you’re not lucky… you may have just made yourself a target for the other hunters of the woods…

Sight sound smell… look for what shouldn't be there, listen for clues, and test the air for scents… I know an elk guide who could smell a bull elk in rut… train you scenes, study your environment, and become one with nature and that mysterious interconnection with the larger world….

Link to the first part of the combat hunter series
Link to part two

As always DaddyBare a fantastic post lots of really useful info

Thanks again

as usual daddy brings home the bacon

Glad you guys like my little story...
Now I got to think up something for part 4???

Originally posted by DaddyBare
Glad you guys like my little story...
Now I got to think up something for part 4???

Where were you when I was serving in the military?
SERE would be a breeze if people new about those things before hand huh?

Some of what you talk about sounds like sniper school ideology.

SandF

reply to post by snowen20


Well I don't know when you were serving in the military...
but chances are pretty good I was up in Bridgeport Calif...
working as a red hat trainer at the Marine Mountain Warfare School...

Unless I was off somewhere chasing girls.... and no dont ask me about girl chasing... all I know is we chase them until they catch us...

Sounds a little bit like an Apache scout. There are few left in this world, especially of both blood and training. Living close to the natural habitat and years of observation are key to learning the way. Learning to move or not move is often the key. Camouflage is lots more than sticking a bush on your head and sitting still. Until you can reach out and touch that old buck as it walks past, you are not good in the woods.

respectfully

reluctantpawn

reply to post by reluctantpawn


Ya know...
within my own family history...
my Great Grandmother, was supposedly the Granddaughter of Cochise...

so your insights are pretty close to the mark

reply to post by DaddyBare

We may just be family!

RP

My family is actually descended from the Jicarilla tribe of central Texas. I believe Cochise was from he New Mexico/ mexico area of the Sierra Madres?

RP

Originally posted by reluctantpawn
reply to post by DaddyBare

 

We may just be family!

RP

The last time I checked... of all the Apache tribes there are only 22,000 of us...
only 5000 of my own Jicarilla ....
the odds of us being distant cousins is pretty damn high ...

and for the rest of you... I have another story about my people...

Apache Tear Drop is a form of black obsidian. It is a calming translucent stone, found in Arizona and other parts of the U.S. It is composed of feldspar, hornblende, biotite and quartz. It was formed by rhythmic crystallization that produces a separation of light and dark materials into spherical shapes, and is a form of volcanic glass.

There is a haunting legend about the Apache Tear Drop. After the Pinal Apaches had made several raids on a settlement in Arizona, the military regulars and some volunteers trailed the tracks of the stolen cattle and waited for dawn to attack the Apaches.

The Apaches, confident in the safety of their location, were completely surprised and out-numbered in the attack. Nearly 50 of the band of 75 Apaches were killed in the first volley of shots. The rest of the tribe retreated to the cliff's edge and chose death by leaping over the edge rather than die at the hands of the white men.

For years afterward those who ventured up the treacherous face of Big Pacacho in Arizona found skeletons, or could see the bleached bones wedged in the crevices of the side of the cliff.

The Apache Women and the lovers of those who had died gathered a short distance from the base of the cliff where the sands were white, and for a moon they wept for their dead. They mourned greatly, for they realized that not only had their 75 brave Apache warriors died, but with them had died the great fighting spirit of the Pinal Apaches.

Their sadness was so great, and their burden of sorrow so sincere that the Great Father imbedded into black stones the tears of the Apache Women who mourned their dead. These black obsidian stones, when held to the light, reveal the translucent tear of the Apache.

The stones are said to bring good luck to those possessing them. It is said that whoever owns an Apache Tear Drop will never have to cry again, for the Apache Women have shed their tears in place of yours....

reply to post by DaddyBare


Just read your last post. We may be more closely related than we thought.

RP

Everyone should reread everything in the OP a couple of times. There are secrets hidden in the words that will keep you alive. Secrets that cross lines into daily activities like the thermals. Doing your cooking in the correct cracks in the hillsides can make that scent invisible. In the wrong cracks can broadcast it like a bullhorn. many other gold nuggets there.

A top tier predator knows everything the senses can bring, about everything around him. He not only knows how much game is around him he has watched their behaviors and knows the sick animals and the healthy ones. He knows how they have mastered their internal systems in rythem with nature and how it brings each thing to each place in a predictable manner. Far beyond just waiting at a water hole or food source. He has many opportunities to take various game and never feels pressured to harvest except at his own time and convenience. He is a merciless killer who is done with the harvest long before most ever get started. Knows that his skills are far above average so he must show both restraint and conservation ethics not to harm his larder.

The top tier predator, is a predator above all animal and other men. He is a shadow walker and you will never know he is there. never hear. never smell. never see. leaves no sign, and uses the resources when others are not. Watching and waiting all the time.


Pay attention to this OP. There are survival secrets that could very well save your life.

Daddybare is giving away the real deal, no BS, straight dope. Do yourself a favor and listen, practice, learn. It takes all 3.

A good combat hunter draws his prey to him, whether in the modern technological age or in the wilds, you are the master of your domain and have complete control over every sequence of events leading up and to your victory.
The most important of all things is to develop your 6th sense, every living thing has an Ora that projects as an image or a feeling and once you are in-tune with the natural order of things there's nothing that can escape you.

Wild hogs love corn and strawberry jello, if you capture one hog and put a tracker on him , he will lead you to the rest, this goes the same for your enemy, except they might not like strawberry jello

if you see a flock of turkey, chase them and force them to separate, then sit down and use your bird calls and before you know it they'll all come right to you

If you see a doe moving quickly along hunkering down with her tail between her legs and looking ragged, be aware that there is a buck hot on her trail and will be passing right where you seen that doe heading

trapping foxes, find a rooster that crows constantly, place him in a cage with food and water in an open field then place jaw traps on 6 positions around the cage.....Foxes are dumb Hogs are the smart ones


Nice thread OP

DB has a way of putting things into words that are second nature to some, and are really hard for others to explain.
Great thread.. again!

Deer and rabbits feed on the same cycle.
I was told by the old folks that they share the same lunar feeding cycle.

Sometimes you see rabbits at dusk, and sometimes at dawn.. running around and active.
When Im hunting deer, I look for active rabbits.
If Bugs Bunny is moving, so is Bambi.
This usually means Im too late... and need to take an hour off the time of the rabbit sighting, and be waiting the next day in my pre-picked stand.
Or I should be alert and start looking for movement.

Older bucks are extremely smart animals. they will send out the does and yearlings into the open and wait to see if anything happens before stepping out.