Ground Hunting

[the blur]

Any body ground hunt deer? 

I can't sit in a stand, and the height thing doesn't do it for me any more.  and with my bad back,  I need to move around alot more these days.

[Karpteach]

Ground hunting is OK. You have to watch the wind and the scent trail you leave. I have had some success sitting on a ridge overlooking a valley with some serious trails.

[bubba]

I hunt form the ground most of the time.  I do very well.  I laugh at people who think you need to be 20 feet in a tree to kill a deer.  I have to wonder how people who hunted before ladder stands ever shot a deer.  I shot a 190 pound 8 point this fall.  I was standing leaning against a tree. He walked 40 yards away, I shot him.  Pretty simple.  OH yeah I wear a green and black wool coat and green wool pants.  How I do so without all the best camo is remarkable.

[hunterjohn]

you donbt need camo the native americans wore jock straps

[the blur]

I wear my ski pants, and ski jacket with a orange vest.

maybe that explains why I didn't get anything.

But my rifle is camo.  That's very important  ???

[bubba]

I am just making a simple pont. You dont need the newest and most expensive fad to get a deer. including a 300 dollar tree stand

[huntography]

I grew up hunting from the ground. Still hunting and strategically concealed natural ground blinds were my method of choice. The 1st deer I ever shot was a spike at 15 yards w/ my Remington model 4 30-06 all while setting up under a thick pine overlooking a travel corridor I found. He dropped right then and there.

I had jeans on with military fatigues over them. No fancy gear. But no one back then relied on any of that.

We did have treestands, but they were homemade and built out of wood. Most guys however chose to hunt from the ground - no fancy ground blinds either. Just sitting under a tree really made it a more perssonal experience.

I use my lone wolf when bowhunting mostly, but still love to get on the ground w/ slug gun or rifle. Old habits die hard.

[bubba]

and they work

[biggamefish]

Bubba plaid doesn't blend in and other hunters can see you. What are you nuts.  Funny thing I see all the old timers who are successful year in and out still wearing the same thing.

[bubba]

if I am at the base of a pine tree, I am as concealed as any camo they ever made.  Why mess with success

[Doc]

I hunt from the ground. I have no choice since I have a pretty severe case of fear of heights (vertigo is what they call it I think). My opinion is that I am definitely hunting with an additional handicap. Yes, I have done well for myself and have fine tuned the art of ground-standing as good as I can and have been doing my hunting that way exclusively for a few decades. However, I am not going to try to fool anybody that ground-standing is as effective as tree-stand hunting (I'm speaking here purely about bow hunting). Scent detection is a magnified problem. That's not to say that scent from elevated positions is not a concern, but scent tends to stay together better and in a tighter plume at ground level and does not disperse as well as scent released overhead. Scent is not as much of a problem when gun hunting because you are not working with a short range limitation.

For bowhunting, movement is also a serious problem for the ground-stander. You really have to manage that problem because when you are working on the same level as deer, they really don't miss much. Trying to draw that bow at eye level without the deer catching that movement is a trick and requires some real good use of cover (even in a pop-up)

Ground blind construction is also something that requires a whole lot of finesse in order to not disturb deer patterns or draw attention with something foriegn in their livingroom. That's not always a problem, but I have seen cases where it was.

Yeah, things are a bit harder from the ground. However, when you can no longer be comfortable up in a treestand, or as in my case, simply cannot even get into one, you do what you have to do. You will find that you are not in as much of a minority as TV and magazines make you think. What I have found is that the excitement factor has increased tremendously. Looking your prey in the eye on their level certainly makes the heart beat a bit faster especially on those occasions where they are almost in reach out and touch them. Groundstanding also adds a bit more challenge and therefore a bit more satisfaction. To me that's what bowhunting is all about ....lol.

I also remember how the size and shape of a tree drove decisions as far as stand location. That doesn't always work out to be the best reason for where you set up your ambush. In general, I believe that groundstands have quite a bit more flexibility in terms of location. So, it's not all bad news that you have to move to ground hunting.

Generally I construct my ground blinds way in advance and have plenty of them. I have just started to experiment with pop-up ground blinds and really am a novice at their use. I think they have a lot of potential and I'll be working with them a lot more in coming seasons. I will say that I have discovered a few shortcomings (usually learned the hard way .... lol).

Anyway, good luck on the beginning of a whole new way of hunting. I think you will eventually get to the point where you won't miss the treestands at all.

Doc

[noodle one]

I have hunted on the gound every year that I have been gun hunting and I am 67 years old . I started hunting deer when I was 16. I started hunting with a bow at (20) twenty. I hunted out of a treestand with a bow for about (15)fifteen years and found that was to easy for me so I got down out of the treestand and hunted on the gound with bow and never went back in a treestand. I have taken more than my share of deer with gun and bow on the ground, if I never take another one ,I still have taken more than my share. I am talking about taken buck ,not does. Just this morning I had a (4) point walk up to me, at (20) twenty yards and never knew I was there. I put the red dot on him and said to myself, bang your mine and let him walk away. I don't believe in AR, I feel it should be the individuals chose. I don't do anything special to cover my scent ,other than taken a shower. I don't use any scent to attract deer or cover scents. I hunt the wind, I like to hunt a cross wind. I don't use a pop-up blind. When I find an area I want to hunt, I look for old tree tops to hind in. If there are no tree tops around, I do carry a 4' x 12' camo nylon cloth and some rope with clothespins to hang it after tring the rope to some trees. I have used this setup for years and it works great for me.Hunters Specially sells the nylon net. It is very lite and easy to carry in a back pack. Try it out and I think you will like it. Luck and good hunting.

[WNYBuckHunter]

I hunt from the ground from time to time still. I only started regularly using treestands about 6 or 7 years ago. Ive done pretty good from the ground.

[fasteddie]

you donbt need camo the native americans wore jock straps

Dayum ! I just had a scarey vision of Bubba in a Loin Cloth ! http://www.downsouthhuntingforums.com/images/smiles/help.gif[/img]

[16. ga hunter]

i hunt from the ground almost exclusively use a stand on occasion but 90% of the time i am on the grond i usually look for openings in hedge rows downed trees pine stands ect to conceal in. but also still hunt alot slow paced and stopping to look can work great

[bubba]

you donbt need camo the native americans wore jock straps

Dayum ! I just had a scarey vision of Bubba in a Loin Cloth ! http://www.downsouthhuntingforums.com/images/smiles/help.gif[/img]

lol it was scary to me too ed

[nyantler]

I've been ground hunting for many years.... just love the tracking or still hunt method.. i see way more deer than in the stand and get much closer to them as well. I feel the only way to kill bigger bucks on a regular basis.

[BuckeyeBrutus]

I'm not a fan of heights so I feel much more comfotable hunting on the ground.  Not to mention the fact that being 6'4"/265 makes for a pretty cramped day in a standard size tree stand. Granted, it does seem like you need to be more stealthy on the ground to even see deer, but I suppose that's why they call it "hunting".  My biggest fear from a stand (besides the sudden stop after a fall of course) is that a beatuty will pass right behind me and I won't be able turn enough to get a shot off.  I feel like I can be much more manueverable on the ground.  While I have spotted a lot more deer from stands in the past, I've only been able to close the deal from the ground.  For example, yesterday, I saw 6 deer from a stand (all at different times) and didn't get to fire a single shot because of their positions and the restrictiveness of the harness, but this afternoon, I was on the ground and I knew had I seen one worth taking it would have been game over.  Unfortunately, I hung the same amount of deer both today and yesterday; "0".  I hope my luck changes, because I'm guessing "tag" steaks don't taste very good.

[Caveman]

you donbt need camo the native americans wore jock straps

See, the problem is that the native americans were a nice shade of light brown, helped them blend in. When that morning sun hits and reflects off my pale Irish skin I would light up like I was wearing a suit of aluminum foil!

[SteveMcD]

I like Doc's explanation. I hunt from the ground as a matter of choice. Never cared for treestands - limited mobility and a pain to pack in (for climbers). I have found that multiple Natural Ground Blinds work very well. I try to have several based upon weather and wind conditions. Deer readily accept natural ground blinds, as pop ups ans canvas blinds takes deer a few weeks to get use too. I also like to still hunt, keep the wind in your teeth and go slow, when you think you are slow enough, slow down some more, the terrain changes with every step, you have to completely survey your landscape every time, stay in the shadows, use the trees, boulders or bushes to your advantage, and do not skyline or silhouette yourself. Cover your face and your hands. Anything more than 2-3 steps at a time and you sound like a human. Watch your back trail for deer sneaking around you. Camo is not that all necessary, earthtones - gray, green, tan or brown (except in gun season) all work well. I avoid wearing blue jeans, 1) once wet they'll kill you - hypothermia and 2) it is said that deer recognize the color blue. 

[fasteddie]

I like Treestands for their visibility . It's going to be windy tomorrow so I think I will hunt from the ground . I have a spot in mind over looking a pasture lot .

[Doc]

I like Treestands for their visibility . It's going to be windy tomorrow so I think I will hunt from the ground . I have a spot in mind over looking a pasture lot .

I hunt some places that are so tight that I have to be constantly at the ready because when deer come in, they can be in and out of the shooting lanes before I ever even get a chance to pick up my bow. In some spots, brush is so tight that I have been forced to cut "vision lanes" just to get some warning. It gets tough just staring at those two sighting lanes for hours. So, the visibility thing is another good reason for treestands. Things always go a lot smoother when you have advance notice that a deer is coming and have a chance to prepare.

Like I said earlier, I do believe I am working at a distinct dis-advantage for several reasons when hunting from the ground. However, I simply have no choice. That's not a real complaint since I do seriously believe that my hunting has gotten a whole lot more exciting once I got out of the trees. So each hunting system has its benefits and drawbacks. Vision is just another factor.

[SteveMcD]

I've been mostly a ground pounder for 40 years. I've never considered it a dis-advantage. Although I do recognize the advantage of using treestands. For me, it is just about personal preference and style of hunting.

[gundeck]

In my 34 years of hunting, I only hunted from a stand once before this year and I have taken plenty of deer.  This was the first year the I hunted mostly from a stand.  I have to say I really enjoy it.  It is probably just the new perspective.  Granted, watching a buck walk past at five yards as you lean against a hay bale is quite an experience.  I have enjoyed the treestands this year, though.

[LI-BROWNING]

i have been hunting in a ground blind my entire life.. i have tried the tree stand and i don't like it... it works for me and never had a problem.. i have had deer bed down next to me as close as 5 yards..