I'm just getting into this traditional thing, but I generally go all out when I do something. I like the idea of just me and a traditional bow and not a ton of other gear. The whole hi-tech bowhunting thing burned me out.
So, do you guys hunt on the ground a lot, or more from tree stands?
I hunt almost all ways from the ground now...use natural blinds, thick cover, or just spot and stalk......the key is to move sloooooooow, and stop, look and listen........
I'm not a tree stand hunter...gave up on that style of hunting many years ago..It was just a pain..and more equipment I have to worry about lugging around.If I had my own property...I would have permanent stands up on it..but..I don't...
Mac
I haven't been in a treestand in a few years...
Love the eye to eye rush from the ground!
95% on the ground for me....don't like heights...LOL
I find that when I hunt from the ground I enjoy the whole experience much more. I'm not hassling with tree stands, steps, safety harnesses and such. I just get to where I'm headed and bam, I'm hunting. If the wind changes, no big deal. I just stand up, walk a few steps, and I'm back to hunting again.
Hard to explain, but to me it just seems more natural. I am in no way against tree stands. I still hunt from them, but if given a choice and all things being equal, I'll choose the ground.
been on the ground since 1995. I love the ability to move with the wind. Its never blowing the wrong way.
I never climb any more. I have had chances to shoot a deer every year while hunting from the ground.
I mostly hunt from the ground, I use make natural blinds or just try to not move much and blend in or spot and stalk.
Bob.
I only hunt on the ground, mostly spot and stalk and ambush.
Good. Sounds like most of you are doing what I was hoping to do.
I still do both.
I hunt from the ground too.
Frank
I have hunted from the ground these last few years. The only problem is the guy who owns the land I hunt on doesn't like me doing that very often so most of the time I just go to a treestand.
I hunt from the ground, just can't stand to be still very long and my rear end gets too sore just sitting there.
I hunt from the ground. I have a very hard time staying in one spot very long, I just have to move around.
It's All In My Cyber Name! Wouldn't have it any other way, except for bear over bait, then a tree stand works for me.
... mike ...
I used to hunt alot from the ground with firearms but I have never tried it with bow until this past season. 2012 will be different. Now that I only hunt with longbow only, I have a goal of taking a deer on the ground this fall and my scouting so far has been focused on locations where natural cover exists or can be easily manipulated to make a natural blind.
I will still hunt from a treestand some. Especially when hunting on public land during the gun seasons.
I've been hitting the ground more and more. I had a nice 8 stop broadside @ 8 FEET with my bow pointing the wrong way. that took 10 yrs off my life, :scared: Just becareful!!!
I stopped hunting from treestands a few years. Got tired of worrying about my treestand getting stolen and using a climber. I like the simplicity and freedom of ground hunting.
!00% ground.
Been hunting from the ground a couple of yrs now and Loving it! Now i just carry in my bow, back quiver, and a small folding stool. Going back to the basics and simplifying things has made my hunts more enjoyable than ever.
Ground, spot stalk mainly or from a pop up blind. I try to take the young ones, and a tree stand or ladder just isn't happening with a five year old. I got a big pop up blind, but I have had more luck with spot/stalk.
You guys are getting me excited. I may go this week and try to scout out some good areas for ground hunting.
I also hunt on the ground. I bowhunt from a natural ground blind and also use a commercial pop up blind.
The only animal I can spot and stalk is a javelina.
I don't enjoy sitting in trees. I do from time to time, but only from "permanent" ladder stands these days. 95% of my hunting in 2011 was ground hunting.
Get Fred Asbell's book on "Stalking and still hunting" - will help cut the learning curve. I've hunted from the ground my whole life and still read Fred's book every season as a refresher.
50-50 for me.Have 1 ladder stand that is about 40 yards from our kitchen door.
I will say setting up and using tree stands properly is a lot of work. I have Add, a butt that goes numb easily and I'm alittle afraid of heights so 99.9% of the time I'm on the ground.
As long as there is a breeze, I'm on the ground, but if there is no wind, I'll either pick a spot and sit or go into a tree, but not very high, only up to 10-12 feet.
I hunt on the ground. Have had multiple deer within 5 yards of my position and actually had to let them move away before I could get a shot. Awesome experience.
I hunt hogs from the ground most of the time..usually spot and stalk. Deer I hunt mostly from the trees but occasionally from a groundblind.
Yep, a good ghillie suit and nice shooting short recurve and all the area becomes a potential"stand" site,also hunting this way will keep
one in the field for years to come.
Always, just don't like sitting in one place that long plus its almost always raining or snowing and I get to cold, so it's a slow stalk or ground blind for me
Hunted for many years in Germany where it's all high seat hunting. There are a lot of advantages in densely populated areas of shooting a rifle down at a fairly steep angle. I am EXTREMELY uncomfortable in a tree stand with a bow, though. Now that I've started bow hunting, it's nearly all from the ground.
Love the ground game. Been on the ground for a couple years now. So much easier to just walk in to my natural blind, set up my pac seat and settle in. I've had deer so close I could here them chewing. Nothing like getting close on the ground! :thumbsup:
Jason
last 4 yrs 100% ground natural blinds except in heavy rain then a penthouse.
I prefer terra firma, but I will occasionally climb a tree. About 95% on the ground, though.
I have been hunting on the ground for the last eight years. My goal is to get a deer from the ground with the longbow. It just seems right.
I have never been in a tree stand. I grew up hunting on the ground and see no reason to change. Safe, high mobility and if the wind changes I can change hunting directions at will.
In areas of public land with limited tree cover, all of the wheelie guys will be laying claim to their share with their tree stands like they are no trespassing signs and they hunt in them no matter what the wind directions are. By the third week of the season, the best places to hunt deer is where there is no good place to hang a tree stand, thick low cover.
Always from the ground, never hunted from a tree stand. In the west mule deer travel more then a whitetail. They maybe on one trail today and tomorrow be 5 to 10 miles away. So most of us ground hunt.
53 years on the ground,iwas in a treestand once ,moose hunting in northern BC,scared the living bejesus out of me ,never again!LOL I wear 2 pair of socks I get a nosebleed!
Ground only.
(http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f196/jjeffer/cookhouseblind2.jpg)
Almost exclusively spot and stalk or hear and stalk. Haven't been in a tree for bowhunting for 5-6 years.
Stopped using my popup blind too. I generally don't have but 1-2 tags and am not in a hurry to kill something.
i stayed on the ground this past season. i had several shot opportunities, but couldn't get it done
on the last day of dear season i got a lesson on the ground i will never forget.it was about 8 a.m.,im sitting on my still hunter pack with my bow in hand, with the bottom limb on my foot. my head supported by my string hand with my elbow on my right knee, fighting drowsiness and boredom. desperate to not get figity and not make noise by moving around. this is where it starts to get interesting.at about 8:05 some movement got my attention,40 yrds out i see a tail flicker. then a head move looking in the direction that it came from. it was a doe. then i see a second, and then a third doe, all looking the same direction they came from. as im watching , im wondering if they are being pushed by a ruttin buck. as that last thought popped into my head , they bolt 20 yrds to my 10'oclock and stop.i stood up in my natural blind to get a better look with bow in hand.as soon as i stood up, the bolted again circling around my left wide past my 9 o clock out of sight. they moved fast and hard, and thats when i saw them. a pair of coyotes hunting the does.they moved through the tall grass and brush really fast, but i could make out their silhouettes.i just hung my head and muttered a few choice adjectives, thinking my hunt was over. i leaned my bow against a sapling with an arrow still nocked, reviewing what had just happened in my head, big mistake.all of a sudden , here comes the male coyote, right in front of my blind, 3 feet in front of me, i scrambled to get bow in hand to try to get a shot. i even mouse squeaked to get him to stop, but he flattened his ears and turned on the turbo to get out fast.i felt pretty stupid, didnt even get to half draw. thinking that it was all over i leaned my bow up against the sapling again, mistake #2. 5 seconds later the female coyote stepped out from my right, 10 yrds in front of my blind, again i scrammbled to get my bow in hand, sencing something wasnt right, she back peddled and then a 180 turn to get out. at the same time i mouse squeaked again to get her to stop, no dice she was outa there.in all my yrs of hunting, i have never witnessed what i saw that day.lessons learned, #1, anything can happen in the woods,#2 never put your bow down until its over.#3 coyotes are the fastest and quietest predetors ive ever layed eyes on.i left the woods emptyhanded that day, but i have a memory that will last a lifetime. if i had been prepared for what happened i had a good chance at at least one coyote. this event that i described took place in less then 2 minutes. i also feel like i hade done something right, neither coyote knw i was there until i tried to manufacture an opportunity. rv
Strictly from the ground for me. Way more fun getting up close and personal to wildlife with a bow in hand and arrow on the string on the ground. IMO, J
I do both. Last two deer were from the ground....one from a DB blind and the other I just cut out a spot to sit in some blueberries near a well used wild apple tree.
Pretty much a ground dweller myself, although I do set up a treestand overlooking an elk wallow now and then.
Transitioning....more on the ground now, but I still have a couple treestands up. I love the HUNT on the ground, I love the VIEW from the trees, if that makes any sense.
I'v never hunted in a tree. Its all been on ground.
Alright, for those of you that have transitioned from stand to ground, how's the success rate? Are you getting a lot less shots than you did in a treestand?
It's been a decade or more since I seriously hunted, but I was accustomed to seeing a lot of deer and getting several opportunities each season. Should I temper my expectations a bit?
Depends on how good you are on the ground...I know guys who never even see any deer when hunting on the ground..or spook every living creature for miles around...same scenario for them..Hunting from the ground or spot & stalk takes practice (lots of practice) and knowing what the wind is doing at all times...
If you never have done it before..I would say you won't see as many deer...
Mac
QuoteOriginally posted by Mac11700:
Depends on how good you are on the ground...I know guys who never even see any deer when hunting on the ground..or spook every living creature for miles around...same scenario for them..Hunting from the ground or spot & stalk takes practice (lots of practice) and knowing what the wind is doing at all times...
If you never have done it before..I would say you won't see as many deer...
Mac
I've never really hunted from the ground, but I spent much of my youth "stalking" deer in the neighboring woods and fields to see how close I could get. But, every Sat and Sun from Oct. 15th through Jan. 31st, I was up in a treestand with a compound bow.
Ground only for me for the last 41 years. Don't like heights but I will use montain passes and trails at times for an ambush attempt.
QuoteOriginally posted by Roger Norris:
Transitioning....more on the ground now, but I still have a couple treestands up. I love the HUNT on the ground, I love the VIEW from the trees, if that makes any sense.
Well said, Roger!
Makes perfect sense. :clapper:
i hunt from the ground much more now...its way more simple.
I hunt mainly from tree stands as I own my own land, I feel hunting from the ground on my 75 acres would leave too much scent on the ground. But the 3,000 acres of state land surrounding mine is a different story. I love to ground hunt the state land, both from a natural blind and still hunting.
i do both but usually hunt more from a tree. to me being up high is more effective and i like a "birds eye view". being in a tree is just as "traditional" as hunting from the ground. native americans and tribal hunters in africa have been doing it for centuries
to be honest, a part of me feels lazy when i hunt from the ground. i know that's not necessarily true and certainly not meant to imply anyone who hunts from the ground is lazy.
that being said, i have hunted from the ground occasionaly and will continue to do so if conditions and the situation warrants it.
mike
When I started hunting on public land I was forced to spend more time on the ground. Just hike to far from the roads to carry in my preferred ladder type stands. Do your homework and ground hunting can be very rewarding. Good luck.
Eminart, I am there with you. Grown up compound in a tree forever. Went trad last year (first accomplishment). I had a hard time doing it but after shooting my first deer with it, sold the compounds. No turning back now. My goal is to be able to shoot a deer from the ground but scared to try it. I love the visibility you have in a tree. I guess I have to just try it this year.
For me the most important thing for getting meat when hunting on the ground is the speed and timing of my shot. For myself, the opportunities to take that long get set, aim and hold for for a half a moon phase don't happen very often. Also, it seems that it is easier to get a clean shot off at a walking deer than a standing and staring at you deer. More often than not, I lose the chance for a shot when that old eye ball to eye ball staring contest with a mature deer happens. I copied my wife's technique, bow on the leg, stare at the boots, when it is time to shoot, the head turns as the bow comes up, a half second hold and the arrow is gone. Total time for her is about 2 seconds, for me, a little over one second.
95% of the time from the ground. But I don't mind the treestand, especially over an elk wallow or pond. I tried treestands for antelope a couple times too, just to mix it up.
most of the time I climb a tree or use a ladder stand. I hunt from a loc on occasionally. I rarely hunt from the ground. Real tough to do in MS where the deer are pressured so bad. I like to eat deer meat so usually I hunt from above.
To answer the question about how successful ground hunting can be all depends on how well you know your area and deer movement. I have found that taking a portable seat/back pack works really well when hunting mast crops like acorns and especially beech nuts, which are short lived and get cleaned up quickly. A fresh feeding spot is easy to identify and a quick set up can be as simple as sitting against the base of a tree with the correct wind. Last year I found a wild apple that had apples and deer sign and it was in a small clearing with a growth of dense blueberries on the down wind side. I knew how the deer worked that area in general and simply cut out a place to sit in the blueberries. The berry bushes were so think that I was invisible from the direction the deer usually came from and would be able to see me only when they were in a shooting lane and I got a nice doe the day before Thanksgiving. Hunting from the ground you must be alert to wind, feed patterns and be very still which means being very comfortable and quiet.
Me
QuoteOriginally posted by Jerry Jeffer:
Ground only.
(http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f196/jjeffer/cookhouseblind2.jpg)
Cool Pic! Love to see ground hunting picture's.
Jason
Ground Dweller here too! Mainly because with the bum knee I cant climb anyway. Which is just as well! :eek: Dont need the knee to go out :eek: on my way down, I could end up in a Big Pile at the Bottom of said Tree, REALLY FAST!! Say.... Crash and Burn? :scared: :biglaugh: :biglaugh:
I have hunted on the ground stalking, still-hunting and ground blind hunting. When in Indiana I killed two bucks from ground blinds in standing corn. With the farmer's permission I made crude blinds by bending the stalks above the ear over and then also trimming shooting lanes to the edge of the woodlots. Tree stands were tough because the edges of the tree lots were so brushy it was hard to find a good tree out far enough or to trim enough to be able to shoot from the larger timber deeper in the woods.
Blinds in the corn also made it easier to make the wind work. Very effective.
I hunt 98% on the ground. I have only taken one animal from a treestand.
I hunt on the ground and in treestands. It all depends on the situation that presents itself to me and how best I can accomplish my goal of taken the animal I'm after.
Both...but more on the ground that's for sure.
Going to give it my best this fall.
Is there any other way to bowhunt whitetails? :dunno:
It's a rush...close encounters...being mobile...putting your still hunting skills to the test...finding that big buck track in the snow and taking up the trail until you ease in close enough to close the deal....
I will say it requires more detail to your natural ambush locations, matching your camo to the terrain your hunting and paying more attention to the early morning and evening thermals.
When the pre rut or rut hits...there is no better place to be. Using extreme calling methods and covering a lot of ground. Just ask the other 2 members of the Tri State Terrors....Bamboo and Southpawshooter the results we've had on the ground.
I use to do what we called still hunting (moving real slow with frequent stops) from the ground...been about 45 yrs. ago. Killed deer and hogs with my recurve doing it. However, once I got my hands on a homemade loc-on and a pair of pole climbers I took to the trees and been up there ever since.
I'm going to do a little hunting from the ground this season. I know some good spots with blow downs to get in that have real good trails going right by them.