I was able to get up close to a pair of roe deer, by stakling. The wind was in the correct direction (taking my scent away from them), there was a little background noise from a road, that covered the noise of my approach, and finally, i got down on my stomach and tiger-crawled, then stomach crawled up to a gateway, keeping my profile below the line of a slight raise in the ground.
All these co-incidental factors meant that I could then riase myself up to a kneeling position against a gate, set up my camera and spend about 30 minutes watching the deer feed uninterupted. The Doe actually walked towards me in the end, bringing the fawn with her and they did the hard last few metres, almost bringing them too close for my 300mm lens!
when my presence was finally detected (shutter noise and proximity) the doe made her way towards me quickly, ears pricked before noticing me just behind the gate and fleeing.
A great experience!
I've had less luck stalking birds, and spent a very cold six hours in a small 3ft cube hide, waiting for waterfowl. Only to notice at the end of the day that the scrape was frozen over and the birds were all on the estuary.
Planning is the key!
James