Had my first trad bow ground hunting experience today and had the best time ever.....without even getting a shot! Stalked around/still hunted mostly and right off the bat saw a huge red fox within 20 yards and got a neat picture of it. A little while later I was rounding a bend on a trail and came face to face with a NICE 8 pointer coming the other way on the trail at about 25 yards. I froze mid step with a all my weight on my forward leg and thought for sure he'd bolt out of there. We did about a 30 second stare down and I was avoiding eye contact like crazy staring at his feet. Then he does the last thing I'd ever expect and starts walking right at me! He is walking at me stomping with each step but steadily closing the distance and I'm trying to hold still and balance on one leg while my heart is beating out of my chest thinking "No way this is happening!". I can only imagine how strange I looked balancing on one leg all camoed up with my long bow in hand in the middle of a wide open trail. He gets inside ten yards (about 7-8) and I finally have to shift my weight a little to keep from falling over and as soon as I do he's snorts at me and is off to the races. He stops about 40 yards away and just looks at me before trotting off. No deer, but what a day!!! I think I'm gonna be spending most of my time on the ground now vs tree stands!! :bigsmyl:
I've killed my first two from the ground,but they were from a blind. I have still hunted like you talk about,and it is a ton of fun. Well glad you had fun.
yep
no hanging stands and freedom to move.
Fun times!
The way I see it is that any time I spend in a blind is time not spent getting better at still hunting...I have the added factor of being able to hunt both mule deer and whitetails in the same bush environment...the key is you have to see them before they see you which is a lot easier to say than to do...I was within 15 yards of both a whitetail buck and a mule deer doe this fall...they both stood and looked at me for quite a while without spooking because I only hunt with favourable wind conditions...a deer that is looking at you will never offer an ethical shot
DDave
That's good fun. I hunted deer more from the ground this year then ever before and had a blast.
Up close, eye level=fun hunt.
Definitely true on the "no ethical shot" when they are looking at you. My buck tag is used this year anyway so that was never an option. Just as fun to be that close though! I just couldn't believe how close he got! Literally inside 10 yards. Closest I've ever been when in the open standing up. Great time. If the wind hadn't been right in my face it would never have happened. Made me a bigger believer in the Cabelas Outfitter Camo. Nothing fancy, but apparently does the job.
QuoteOriginally posted by mh2324:
Made me a bigger believer in the Cabelas Outfitter Camo. Nothing fancy, but apparently does the job.
Really? Right now, Cabelas has their micro berber hooded outfitter jacket on sale for $49.99 (instead of $130ish). Maybe I'll get one.
QuoteOriginally posted by kagross:
QuoteOriginally posted by mh2324:
Made me a bigger believer in the Cabelas Outfitter Camo. Nothing fancy, but apparently does the job.
Really? Right now, Cabelas has their micro berber hooded outfitter jacket on sale for $49.99 (instead of $130ish). Maybe I'll get one.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas-Outfitters-Micro-Berber-Hooded-Jacket/1347900.uts?WTz_l=Header%3BSearch-All+Products
[/b]
QuoteOriginally posted by kagross:
QuoteOriginally posted by kagross:
QuoteOriginally posted by mh2324:
Made me a bigger believer in the Cabelas Outfitter Camo. Nothing fancy, but apparently does the job.
Really? Right now, Cabelas has their micro berber hooded outfitter jacket on sale for $49.99 (instead of $130ish). Maybe I'll get one.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas-Outfitters-Micro-Berber-Hooded-Jacket/1347900.uts?WTz_l=Header%3BSearch-All+Products
[/b]
[/b]
Ok, ordered one. I'm weak :(
I live for it !!! I even practice in the off season wearing my ghillie suit with a camera for a weapon!
Larrydawg
I'm basically new to traditional but I have made a deal with myself to hunt from the ground out of a blind and taking only a ten yard or less shot. Its amazing what a guy learns with this goal. I have learned how to get deer within this range but pulling back is my new target to work on. I am taking heat from guys shooting deer at 60 yards with their x bows but I don't care this stage in my hunting life. It is pure self gratification ! Now I realize that preparation and really thinking my set up out means everything.
Grayling that what I did when I got my first trad bow, from the ground, it took two years but a memory I wont forget. It started a fire the wont go out. Now I do both but that was a goal I met.
Ground hunting is just about all I do anymore and I have had some great sittings in November just sitting in rootballs on the side of fallin trees near trails...When you have deer within 5 yards it really makes the hunt more enjoyable even if you cann't get a shot for some reason...What I enjoy most is there is "No" stand to carry in an out and you can use what is on the ground as cover.
All ground for me the last couple years. I love it! It really hasn't reduced the amount of deer I see or shoot and I can adapt to wind or weather in a moments notice.
I keep readin these ground huntin threads and it keeps me from buying some more treestands..lol
QuoteOriginally posted by kagross:
QuoteOriginally posted by mh2324:
Made me a bigger believer in the Cabelas Outfitter Camo. Nothing fancy, but apparently does the job.
Really? Right now, Cabelas has their micro berber hooded outfitter jacket on sale for $49.99 (instead of $130ish). Maybe I'll get one. [/b]
That's actually the exact jacket/pullover I had on! Not to say the camo was a determining factor in that whole thing, but apparently it didn't hurt either! I think you'll like it. Mine is the Windshear version. Super warm too.
Been on the ground since 1975...is there any other way to bowhunt?? It's a real rush taking a deer from the ground less than 10 yds away. Add to that the option of still hunting...another great way to locate deer and new areas...plus
I am FINALLY getting back into hunting this fall (don't ask)...and I NEVER be in a tree again....I HATE packing them, setting them up and packing them back out...getting sweaty in cold weather, just not for me....
Torge's Tree Seat ALL the WAY!
I can leave my stands in place all season but hunting on the ground is so much more simple.
Went out hunting today. I must have been ground hunting, I shot it twice. Once, a rabbit almost got in the way.
QuoteOriginally posted by pavan:
Went out hunting today. I must have been ground hunting, I shot it twice. Once, a rabbit almost got in the way.
Now thats funny :biglaugh:
mh - I've ground hunted only since 1987. There is NO way in the world I'd ever go back to being restrained in a tree.
One thing I've learned about deer that are definitely going to come within range is to instantly kneel down. They cannot tag you as a human that way and are more likely to tolerate your presence. I know you didn't have time, but that's a tip (I read it in a book) that is too good to keep to myself. It has allowed me to get away with being completely away from any cover whatsoever when a deer happens by...
I have always tried to hunt from a tree stand or from a tree limb...but after this year I am starting to wonder if the shots from the ground are more likely to be kill shots because you do away with the bad vertical angle.?? Any thoughts?
I've shot mulies (WY) and one white-tail (TX) from the ground. It is a novel shot for me not too have too worry about tree-steep angles that might not produce an exit wound.
Personally, I'm planning to put up more treestands than I ever have this coming July. My son and I will take down 4 hang-ons next week and put into storage.
I went to the trees October 1, 1970 when I was 16 and can't imagine not spending most of my fall hunting hours in em. I love being in trees. I love the feel of the tree when a squirrel jumps in just a few feet above your head. Eye to eye with birds, and I can fidget more in the tree than outside a blind on the ground.
I have to admit though I'm impressed by fellows who consistently take white-tail deer from the ground.
QuoteOriginally posted by Blog on Bottom:
mh - I've ground hunted only since 1987. There is NO way in the world I'd ever go back to being restrained in a tree.
One thing I've learned about deer that are definitely going to come within range is to instantly kneel down. They cannot tag you as a human that way and are more likely to tolerate your presence. I know you didn't have time, but that's a tip (I read it in a book) that is too good to keep to myself. It has allowed me to get away with being completely away from any cover whatsoever when a deer happens by...
Thanks for the tip! That's some great info and something I wouldn't have known to do. Makes sense though. I think thats why this deer was so curious and didn't immediately bolt off, because I was facing him directly with my arms and bow pulled close to my body and not profiled at all as I would have been if I were walking perpendicular to him. Much easier to identify a human from the side I would guess than from the front.
You're welcome. It was a eureka moment for me when I read that tip and tried it. So that I give appropriate credit, the book was Still-Hunting Trophy Whitetails by Bill Vaznis.
When I read it a couple of years ago, I was frustrated that I had not figured it out on my own. Thinking back through the years, when deer had come upon me while I was kneeling or sitting by a tree, they rarely gave me a second look. When I was upright, the deer either spooked or were so wired that no shot was possible.
Since then, when I realize a deer is going to be in range, I nearly dive for the ground. I almost never spook them now. (Assuming I've played the wind correctly.)