Blind, sit and wait or still hunt? (Rifle)

[Borngeechee]

Do you use a blind, sit with your back to a tree and stay put, do you still hunt , or a combination?
Why do you choose this method? I intentionally left out tree stands.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Borngeechee

[Five Seasons]

I prefer to sit and wait. Especially during gun. Depends on your land. If there's a lot of pressure I'd be more reluctant to move as the deer are on edge and chances are some other hunter will push to you. Up in the northern zones where there's more open space and in some places less pressure I might treat it like turkey hunting and sit for a while then get up and move (VERY SLOWLY).

[MACHINIST]

x2,I am a stand hunter mostly but the last few years I have gotten into still hunting/scouting after the morning sit on the way to a new stand or back to the truck.I am about as clumsy as a guy can get but if you take your time your will walk up on some deer.

[stoneam2006]

I sit and stalk always from archery thru muzzle loader season. For me there's nothing like sneaking up close enough for a shot. Usually a short sit in am and short sit alright before dark up and moving in between...again as said before the slower you walk the better off you are. (I'm still working on that)

[NFA-ADK]

The land and area usually dictate what I can do.  In the Southern zone I will stalk most land until I am familiar with the area.  Then I will sit in a spot for most the time, no action I will move after a few hours.  I like to be still for the last and first light and noon.

 

Northern Zone I like to explore much more but once I find a area with good sign I slow down.  Rain and wet days I tend to move more than dry no wind days.  No blind or stands unless space is limited or I am on a farm.

 

[turkeyfeathers]

I'm a stand hunter. Once in awhile I'll take a slow stroll to break up the day. I'm pretty sneaky and play the wind but dang it, they always spot me the instant I spot them. Have killed zero deer this way. I take my time and cover very little ground in a long time, watch where I'm stepping (sticks) . Guess I'm not as good as I think I am. 

[A Sportsman]

NFA nailed it with his mention of using weather conditions to dictate your approach. In addition to rain I would add windy days and snow.

[Elmo]

It depends on the spot you're planning to hunt.  If possible, I would always use natural cover.  It is only when natural cover is not available that I start to consider other options such as a pop-up blind or tree stand.  You have to identify your pinch point and then adjust to what nature gives you.

[chiefbkt]

At the farm here in southern tier it's sit and wait. At camp up in northern tier it's still hunt. A lot more woods up north.

[Doc]

Gun season:

Opening day is an all day sit (dark to dark). There's a lot of hunters tramping in and out of the woods. Deer are caught off-guard, and there are a lot of deer moving through some of the favorite escape routes.

 

From that point on it is all still hunting. In our area, hunters all but disappear after opening day. The few that come out, sit all day. Since the deer are now in super-survival mode, they are nocturnal in their movements. And so you have deer sitting all day in their favorite sanctuaries. You have a small number of hunters sitting all day wherever they think will produce, and you have nobody getting the deer up out of their beds and moving. Under those conditions I have no choice but to engage the "you go to them" mode of hunting. I generally do pretty good, because I have hunted the same ground for enough decades to pretty well understand where the spots are that they consider safe. Another nice feature of the still-hunting is that I get to sleep in until I wake up without an alarm clock. I have a nice leisurely breakfast and get out there when I get out there.....lol. 

[nyantler]

Never liked sitting and waiting for deer to come to me... rather go to the deer... I do however sit occasionally when the day is just so beautiful that I want to soak some of it in... but never usually more than a half hour or so... the truth is I have very little patience and get bored easily...lol

[Four Season Whitetail's]

Its all sitting for me untill the late season and snow falls. If you know the area your hunting and the deer, you can find them on their feet after opening day. The rut is still in during gun and mature bucks are still looking for the ladies. If you get to the nastiest part of the property you hunt. Which is where the deer go. you will find mature bucks walking around at 11 in the morning just like they do at 7am. 

 

Mature bucks are tough to kill during early gun by walking up on them. 99.9% of hunters cant do it and will be busted every time before eyes are even laid on that buck!

[Doc]

Never liked sitting and waiting for deer to come to me... rather go to the deer... I do however sit occasionally when the day is just so beautiful that I want to soak some of it in... but never usually more than a half hour or so... the truth is I have very little patience and get bored easily...lol

A lot of my still-hunting is hard to tell from "sitting". I walk a very short distance and then sit and scan everything (and I do mean everything!) with my binoculars. It can take me between 15 minutes to 1/2 hour just to check out every log and stump and dip and bush. And then its an ultra-slow forward motion for about 50 yards or whatever I judge gives me a new look at a new area. The difficulty that a lot of novice still-hunters have is that they are looking for a deer silhouette or large parts of a deer outline instead of an ear or an antler tine or the smallest part of a deer. You are indeed hunting a deer that has nothing to do all day but watch for the danger that they are already aware of. One quick pass of the eye over the landscape in front of you usually isn't going to hack it unless you are counting on luck. It is not an easy style of hunting, but is very effective when deer have survived opening day and refuse to move.

[nyantler]

A lot of my still-hunting is hard to tell from "sitting". I walk a very short distance and then sit and scan everything (and I do mean everything!) with my binoculars. It can take me between 15 minutes to 1/2 hour just to check out every log and stump and dip and bush. And then its an ultra-slow forward motion for about 50 yards or whatever I judge gives me a new look at a new area. The difficulty that a lot of novice still-hunters have is that they are looking for a deer silhouette or large parts of a deer outline instead of an ear or an antler tine or the smallest part of a deer. You are indeed hunting a deer that has nothing to do all day but watch for the danger that they are already aware of. One quick pass of the eye over the landscape in front of you usually isn't going to hack it unless you are counting on luck. It is not an easy style of hunting, but is very effective when deer have survived opening day and refuse to move.

Agreed...Couldn't have described it any better myself...I've even been still hunting where the deer has actually just materialized walking towards me from out of nowhere... a couple times I have caught one getting up from it's bed to stretch it's legs with no idea that I am there... for me it's an exciting way to hunt.

[Terry]

Five years ago I decided that I was going to get more aggressive with my hunting in an attempt to kill more bigger buck. A huge part of my plan has been to still hunt and track a lot more. It does two things, first it gets me to the deer. Second, it allows me to keep up on the deer sign and their changing patterns. In those last five years I have killed three buck I believe to be over three years of age, and three that where two years old.

[NeverSeenNorHeard]

For me, would put a popup blind out the day or even night before. Get in there super early, 1.5 hours before actual sunrise, I have even slept in a popup blind (on land I haven't had time to hang a stand on). The good thing about the popup blind is it provides you with superb cover that's real easy to setup and transport. Plus if the weather is bad, your in luck!

[WNYBuckHunter]

Ill sit on stand for the first few hours in the morning, still hunt or stalk known bedding areas mid morning, sit again a bit after that, stalk some more early afternoon until I get into my spot to sit until the end of the day.

[bubba]

It depends for me who is around.  if camp is pretty empty, I will stalk and still hunt.  If there is a few people around, I will sit until the agreed time, then I will walk to other hunters in the hopes something is between us.  

[G-Man]

Its mostly property based.. a 30 acre piece can be ruined by constant still hunting, better off with a blind and sit and wait.. 200-10,000 acres walk up on one.. although 200 acres with 20 guys on it is not going to be a walkable property. So i guess it depends on size/shape, and hunting pressure for which method i use.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Its mostly property based.. a 30 acre piece can be ruined by constant still hunting, better off with a blind and sit and wait.. 200-10,000 acres walk up on one.. although 200 acres with 20 guys on it is not going to be a walkable property. So i guess it depends on size/shape, and hunting pressure for which method i use.

Yep, what i described before is based on the properties i hunt, which are pretty good size. Smallest is 300 acres or so.

[Borngeechee]

Ill sit on stand for the first few hours in the morning, still hunt or stalk known bedding areas mid morning, sit again a bit after that, stalk some more early afternoon until I get into my spot to sit until the end of the day.

Sounds pretty good

[bowslinger]

i use all three plus drives and still hunt

[Top ramen]

I would like to be able to sit longer than I do. When hunting deer in Ohio and southern tier on NY, I sit and wait. I find that when I sit from 5:am through the morning the changing light if dawn really makes me re scan and redefine spots that look like deer/ deer leg, etc. I also like when the deer come in during dark and I can hear where they bed down, and in the dawns light, I try to sneak upon them. Pretty neat. Mostly just sit.

In the Adirondacks, I feel the need to move and explore in addition to hunting. I know this is counter productive but it is so vast that my curiosity gets the best if me .

I did get a nice buck during the remnants of a hurricane. I sat for 4 hours in the wind and rain, stood up, and bingo, a nice buck 30 yards from my. He was eating and grazing in a draw I couldn't see when sitting. He saw me, challenged me with a foot stomp- I responded with and arrow through the lungs. I wasn't expecting a deer at that point- just wanted to go home.

[VT Outfitter]

A lot of my still-hunting is hard to tell from "sitting". I walk a very short distance and then sit and scan everything (and I do mean everything!) with my binoculars. It can take me between 15 minutes to 1/2 hour just to check out every log and stump and dip and bush. And then its an ultra-slow forward motion for about 50 yards or whatever I judge gives me a new look at a new area. The difficulty that a lot of novice still-hunters have is that they are looking for a deer silhouette or large parts of a deer outline instead of an ear or an antler tine or the smallest part of a deer. You are indeed hunting a deer that has nothing to do all day but watch for the danger that they are already aware of. One quick pass of the eye over the landscape in front of you usually isn't going to hack it unless you are counting on luck. It is not an easy style of hunting, but is very effective when deer have survived opening day and refuse to move.

Your method takes a lot of self control and patience. It is very difficult to go ultra slow from A to B. Take pride in your ability, not many can do this,

[Top ramen]

I should mention standing cornfields. In Ohio there is a huge quantity of standing food in the form if corn. I spot and stalked once through 120 acres of corn. Very tedious as I place my head into row and look left and right and keep moving 1 row at a time. My nerves were shot, neck sore and didn't see anything.

Next time I'll sit on the edge trails in and around those fields.