After years of using a variety of treestands, I have come to a question. Do treestands make us sloppy? I find myself compromsing the right spot for the right tree. I usually end up in the wrong place, observing deer doing another direction. I then move my stand. It does not happen all the time, and I manage to usually fill 2 tags per season, but I have decided to put my stands away and hunt from the ground. The logic is that I think I will be forced to depend less on "technology" so to speak, and use my predatory skills more. Thoughts?
justin
Sounds like fun if you have a place to hunt where you can do that.good luck
Even the hawk, whom perches on a tallest tree to spot its prey, takes to the wind as an additional method, when the tree is not in the right location.
Is it less of a hunter for using the tree?
Marty Mcmahon hunted this stand allot and never saw much of anything. Stand hunting takes some know how too.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/whoffman1955/Friends/temp2008.jpg)
That is a nice picture Biggie!! I am slightly more cunning than that, but not much...
He'd do better to place it down wind of the tv dish.
It all boils down to the 7 P's. If you do the prescouting and prep time it Can and Will pay off sooner or later. I like the use of the treestand for the added edge in the hunters favor... but there is NOTHING wrong with hunting off the ground either!
Best of Luck to You.
i love the view from a good stand on a hard wood ridge. i love watching the woods come alive sitting in a tree thats been around for a 100 years, the sights it muct have saw! just something about sitting in a special stand.
Quotei love the view from a good stand on a hard wood ridge. i love watching the woods come alive sitting in a tree thats been around for a 100 years, the sights it muct have saw! just something about sitting in a special stand.
I agree 100%
Warrior ,this is the reason i started shooting trad to get intouch with my inner cave man. This is the way i look at it ,there is nothing wrong with hunting in a tree stand . If you want more of a challenge by all means hunt from the ground thats what im doing im using a blind however dont think for one second that caveman would not have used a tree stand if he would have had one.
Find a stand that is adjustable. I got a lock on with climbing sticks to increase the number of trees I could utilize.
Great replies so far (except for Biggie, he's always tough on my posts (ha ha ha)).
Thanks for all input.
Agree with adkmountainken
Nothing like sitting in a stand on a ridge with a cool autumn breeze..
Nothing wrong with hunting from the ground either... Which ever your prefer...
I love the fall season, just being out there :campfire:
Looking forward to Sept 6th bow season :jumper:
Actualy I would say no. HOWEVER.....I think that using a tree stand encourages us to be more "set" in our ways. I stand is "permanant" and once in place many are reluctant to move,and it limits our urge to "hunt".
i.e. When we hunt in a tree stand,we set in ambush (not a bad thing) however if we don't see anything,we continue to sit there.After all,it's a good spot,the sign is there,it's just a matter of time.If not today,maybe tomorrow,or the next day.....If we were a true predator,and we were hungry,we have to eat.....TODAY. So we would go hunting.We would search for food and when we found it,we would make our stalk,or set our ambush.
When I hunt from the ground,I find a comfortable place to sit,and clear the leaf litter from benieth my feet. That is all that I do to disturb the area. If the wind changes,I move.If I don't see anything,(or get bored)I move. I stillhunt from place,I am HUNTING. some days I spend the whole day stillhunting through the woods.
My Brother adkmountainken is in his rightful place in a treestand. Like our Brother the Red Tailled Hawk,he sits in a tree searching the forest floor with his sharp eyes.
Some of us are Wolves.....Some of us are Hawks.....
Which one are YOU????? :archer:
I dont really think that hunting from stands makes for a sloppy hunter, sloppy practices make for a sloppy hunter. I do recognize the problem of finding the right tree to hang a stand but honestly I think with the variety of stands available it becomes less of an issue. That being said I also carry portable ground blinds and still hunt when the conditions are right. I have and will continue to improvise blinds as needed during the season to maximize my opportunities as well. I think using multiple methods is always a good idea, Im not willing to chance "Educating" the deer in my area to my methods so I like to keep changing things up.
I've hunted off the ground more and more, the past few years, but I'm considering getting a quad pod like Gametamers or something, so I can put a stand where I want. Anyone have their 10 footer? How do you like it?
Seriously. I put a lot of effort into a treestand placement and lots of times they get moved after a few uses. It's definately not for a lazy person although I guess it could be.
Gene Wensel wrote an article once about the different hunter styles. I'm definately a raptor as opposed to a feline.
maybe not a worse predetor, there are lots of predetors that use that technique, and sometimes that is the only way to hunt a specific location. but i think they are also the lazy way out too, in some cases. there is no one hunting style that is the right choice for every hunt, but i think that some people fall back on the stand all the time when it isn't always the right choice. just my 2 cents.
I'm not going to touch that one, Biggie!
if you want to fill a tag put a stand up next to a trail, if you want a specific deer you have to put stands up all over the place or stalk to him
if you put in the time to take the right animal then you are not sloppy.
canned hunts are sloppy.
I think that hunting from tree stands has improved my overall hunting skills. The opportunities for observing wildlife and becoming accustomed to being immobile for extended periods of time improves a hunter's patience. You quickly learn that hunting is like a game of tag -- whoever is caught moving loses.
The same principles of keeping a still and quiet as possible, staying in the shadows , breaking up your outline and being aware of where your stink is drifting apply both from a tree or on the ground, but you tend to be able to see the cause and effect better from a tree stand. It is just plain easier to figure out what you did wrong -- another lesson learned that can be applied to ground hunting.
I am limited to the number of trees on my 20 acre piece that will hold a stand. I utilize my stands when needed, and hunt from the ground when I need the change of pace. Have been more successful from the air- but my best buck was shot from the ground after a 2 1/2 hour spot/stalk and wait for him to get out of bed....
to be successful we all need to be cautious, either from the air or the ground
It's all good.
I'm of the opinion that many hunters invest a lot of time and energy into placing a tree stand in what they think is the right place. When subsequent hunts hint to them that maybe they should move the stand, many still resist due to all that effort they've already expended in erecting the stand, trimming shooting lanes, etc. It's understandable, but a hair lazy.
I prefer tree stands, although I have killed four nice whitetails from the ground, in part because I don't educate the timber as much as I would if I were still hunting my way through it.
I enjoy both, and actually prefer a treestand in most areas. With that being said the last 4 or 5 years I have been hunting some very heavily hunted public land close to my house. I quickly noticed that the deer spent a lot of time looking up into trees on this piece of property. Most everyone that hunts it does so from a stand and these deer seemed to have adapted to it very well. It is almost comical watching the deer scan the tree's. Even the yearlings there do it I guess they learned it from watching momma because I have seen them do it early in the season and know they have not encountered people in stands yet, but there already looking.
With that being said I now mainly hunt that area from the ground in natural brush blinds and it works very well there! The deer there are just not used to anybody being on the ground unless they are moving to/from stands. I have been much more sucessfull on the ground there than in a stand, which is exactly the opposite from the private ground I hunt. So I guess what I am saying is sometimes you have to mix it up and use both depending on the particular circumstances.
I think for us western guys, there can be a lot of great opportunities from the ground, where "wide-open" or limited tree growth forces us to explore other options. I been lucky enough to take 3 great bucks from the ground still-hunting. But having said that, my boys and I set up and hunt a bunch of stands every year, and we do well that way.
Mark,
I like your reply. I am beginning to think that maybe I need to try to be more versatile...I was not raised by a hunter so much of this stuff I have had to learn on my own and it has been slow. Despite it all, I have managed to kill 7 really good bucks through the years from 125" to 168". Going to try hunting lower this year.
jf
i hunted for years just sitting on the ground when i wa a kid, when i got old enough to be influenced by hype i started buying all the hottest treestands. both ways had their own things that i liked about them. seen my only wild turkey from a lumber treestand. but last season when i started using trad. gear and started hunting off the ground again i had my first very close incounter(4 yards). i changed my way of looking at the hunt. i could sit there and have that doe walk right up next to me every time i go out and never take her and still feel like it was one of my best hunts. i just cant get that feeling from a stand. that my 2 cents
I'm a ground guy, but have seen some really cool things in tree stands in the past. Had a sharp shinned hawk nearly fly right into me! I think hunting in a tree makes me focus more because I don't want to move and be skylined too easily. Being "sloppy" in a tree stand is easier as you go higher I suppose. I personaly was never very comfortable more than 15ft up. As a result, I couldn't afford to be sloppy.
Just my thoughts,
-Charlie
For deer I like the 30 seconds per step still hunt. For elk I move faster and then slow down when I see or hear something that puts me on to them. I've taken 4 book blacktail and 20 or so elk with these methods so I don't see any reason to use a tree stand.
I've only hunted from a treestand once. It was too high up a very skinny tree on a windy day. It didn't seem to make me a better hunter, but I think it made me a queasier one.
There is something about being eye level with big game that turns me on. I've been in tree stands on my home turf and kinda feel limited to a 20 yard zone. Stalking and still huntin' is for me! Although when hunting in Maine for black bear, you can bet I was in a tree stand. :scared: Didn't want to be mistaken for a bait pile!
... mike ...
Not one thing wrong with a tree stand. I have hunted from one for most of 34 years. But I am going to the ground. I think I just want to know I can do it that way.
Whump Sez; My hat is off and you are truly a stalk hunter and predator if you can take deer from the ground with bow and arrow. I on the other hand cannot slip up on Helen Keller in a plowed field on a windy day. I hunted a bit many years ago with some Creek Indian cousins of mine and they could not believe one person weighing less than 120lbs could make as much noise as I could walking in the woods. I was the subject of constant ribbing and decided I was a stand hunter[ok I admit they decided I was a stand hunter] They put me on a stand and I killed my first deer hunting with them at 12 years old. After watching me move through the woods they could not figure out how they wound up on a reservation instead of the white man. :rolleyes: Hunt safe.
Funny stuff Whump! :biglaugh:
Hunt with a knife only.
Just kiddin'. Good luck.
I guess I'm very fortunate in the fact that I hunt in a club that has plenty enough land for me to scout and hang several stands (so that I can play the wind game). However, (still playing that wind game) every now and again, I get that hankerin' to go on a stalk. There's just something about being mobile that adds another form of excitement to the hunt. Oftentimes on a stalk, I see things that I didn't pick up on when scouting the first time through.
I personally do not think hunting from the ground is any harder or any easier than hunting from a treestand. I hunt exclusively from the ground because that's the way I hunt. Both take dedication and plenty of know how to be successful. I think hunting from the ground is more of a lazy method than treestand hunting. Climbing trees is tough work! Hey whatever floats your boat. I hunt from the ground because I like being immersed in the woods, the few times I tried a treestand I felt sort of removed from it all, kind of like looking in as opposed to being part of what's going on. Good luck in your endeavor.
I think hunting from a stand is harder as well. I've killed more deer on the ground than from a stand.
I still love to sit in a tree stand though and watch the woods come alive underneath me.
Great points mountainken...! I do love the view out of a treestand on an oak ridge... Backing into a blowdown is fun and more fun...
JDS III