Skills for the woods - Share your advice

Growing up, the men of my family were very outdoors.

Hunting and fishing was common, not only for sport but to fill the freezers. Depending on the time of year, there was always something that could be harvested or gathered. My grandfather would take me out onto the land he hunted to reacquaint ourselves for the future hunting season. He passed on a lot of advice to me over the years and it comes to mind when I'm alone in the woods and trying to accomplish a task.

For example.

1. When walking down steep hills and faces, you can have more control by walking down with your body sideways than straight downhill. I believe the common term is sidestepping?

2. When stalking or sneaking up on something in the woods, utilizing a toe-heel step can reduce the noise you generate compared to a heel toe. It allows you to slowly roll your foot down and feel for debris and prevent twigs from snapping if done right.

Growing up, I preferred to stalk deer and small gave instead of still hunting and I used this strategy below with much success.

When I was in the military, the guys and me had to do a few thousand yard stalks, fire a round, remain undetected, fire a second round, remained undetected to get a perfect score. It was a timed event.  

The instructors had binoculars and were looking for us. We had range limits so they knew where to look.

The biggest advantage I could exploit was putting an object like a tree/rock/hillside in between the instructors and me and cover a lot of ground very quickly up to that object. Then find another object, doing the same, and start being careful of noise when getting close. I didn't always get a perfect score but I always fired the first shot undetected and moved into position for the second and I never ran out of time.

Of course, you have to identify your target first so this would only apply after you have seen an animal or have a really good idea, due to sign, where the animal is.