A LIVING HISTORY BLOG.

18TH CENTURY LIVING HISTORY IN AUSTRALIA.

Wednesday 1 September 2010

Primitive Skills. Stalking.

Sorry I could not show the whole stalk, but without any cover it took me a long time to get this close. The wind direction was not good either, and I really needed to be on the other side of that fence. But I wanted to show you how to get close enough to a wild animal to touch it, so I took the chance from where I was.
My most difficult stalk was getting into a herd of goats, it is always much harder when there is more than one animal to watch. A stalk into a ring of roos watching a roo fight was probably a close second, but all my stalks have been fun.
PS: I am not wearing camo!

10 comments:

Bob Mc said...

We have deer in the garden; you have kangaroos. LOL. That one doesn't seem very concerned about your presence.

Hubert Hubert said...

That's amazing! Thanks for posting this Le Loup, gave me a lot of pleasure.

Keith said...

Hi Bob. Actually this wallaby is outside our garden. It is concerned, but each time it looks I am a tree, I don't move. The swamp wallaby's eyesight like the wild boar is not that great, and providing it does not catch one's scent and don't move it will ignore you.
But I have used the same method with roos, wild boar and goats.

Hubert, you are most welcome, glad you liked it.

Unknown said...

I don't think I'll try this with bears....

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

Thats way cool, thanks for posting this.
SBW

David R. Reid said...

I love Wallabies. Good video Le Loup.

Keith said...

Good thinking Spottedwolf.

Thanks SWB, you are most welcome.

Keith said...

Thanks Dave. Yes I love the way these swamp wallabies "sneak" as I call it.

Unknown said...

No cammo? So were you wearing street clothes? From the angle of the cammera it looks like you were standing upright? If I understand, what you are demonstrating in this video is that, at least in animals with reletivly poor eyesite the keys to a stalk are staying down wind, being quiet, moving in slowley, and staying still when they look your direction, right? Thanks for the post!

Keith said...

Hi Gabriel. I was just wearing my work clothes which I suppose don't stand out in the bush, but they are not real camo.
Yes you have it about right on what to do. It helps if you can read the animal, tell when it is about to move, also don't take big steps and keep you feet close to the ground so you are not caught on one foot. Wearing moccasins or thin soled footwear helps you read the ground without looking down.

This does work on all animals, even those with good eyesight, but had that wallaby been a goat or other, I would have to approach it from the other side of that fence. Sometimes a stalk, especially one in open ground or on a dry forest floor, can take an hour or two to get that close, this took me closer to half an hour.