Man Redogge, that's a whopper doe! Good for you and cool looking blinds.

I hunt mostly on the ground, might climb in a ladder stand every once in a while. I don't think anyone has been killed falling out of a ground blind !!!

I killed two deer out of this blind a couple years ago, one in Nov and the other in Jan.  The dark spot in the middle is my Asbell bag on the seat.  I'll be back in it again this fall with the right wind.

Do you guys think cover in front or back is more important?  I know both would be ideal but the ideal location does not always exist.

I rather have back cover myself. I grunted in a 6pt last night to 4 steps while ground hunting, it was awesome but I didn't shoot him. I came to full draw just to see if I could get by with it, he never busted us and turned around and just walked off. I really like hunting from the ground. I did kill a little doe earlier this month off the ground at 16 yards.

Good stories and great photos,ground hunting has its rewards and as we age as hunters becomes  the most practical way to keep on hunting.

Back cover is critical. I prefer to have some cover in front also, to help cover some movement when drawing the bow.

I ground hunt 95% of the time (only hunt from a stand if I go up by my brother-in-law...whom scouts and scouts and places stands very well) on all public land. I'm just starting to think about archery, so here is my modern weapon strategy...majority of my shots/set-ups are within archery ranges.

I like the mobility of ground hunting. And I find that stand hunting really lulls us as hunters into a pattern (human nature). Deer will quickly figure out our pattern and change theirs to avoid us. This is where ground hunting works in your favor....scout for where other hunters are setting stands AND accessing the stands....then scout/hunt the areas around their stands where deer would likely travel to avoid those hunters. I like to think of myself evading that hunter's position...where would I travel.

As I walk around scouting, still or small game/bird hunting or just hiking with the family, I mark a lot of trail intersections and crossings between habitat transitions on my GPS (helps to have a good directional and photographic memory too   ). Then I scout around those high-traffic areas for the best 2-3 locations to have a shot from the corresponding 2-3 different wind directions. Then build simple natural ground blinds with good back cover (natural lay-downs are great to build blinds in...all the hard work is already done).

After a couple years of this, you'll have a lot of options out there for different areas and wind directions. And, you'll only need to touch up blinds now and again which is easy when you are out hiking/scouting the areas throughout the year.

Shot my first deer off the ground BC I was a young kid and broke unable to afford a stand...3 yrs ago I had a terrifying tree stand incident and ever since I mainly hunt the ground...if I do hunt a stand its not high up at all...I'm not a fan of trusting my life to cheap metal...I still wear a harness if I do climb up

Maybe it was growing up out west but I have hunted mainly from the ground. Never really met that many hunters that do hunt from trees around here. Last year I killed my first buck from a tree stand and in 2009 I took a bear from a tree stand. Those are the only two animals I have taken from a tree in almost 30 years of hunting big game. Tree stands are really a new thing to me and think sometimes they make it much tougher. They take a lot of effort and I don't seem as mobile. I have always enjoyed still hunting and ambushing from the ground the most. I'm not 100 % committed to the ground but I do feel more confident hunting from the ground.

Ground hunting is the funnest , but also challenging

Thanks to a great Trad Ganger up in AK, I've got a new to me Torges seat to try out this late season.

Just my 2...but...

Once you get the setup right,...and watch a deer 6 feet away blinking, and licking its lips, and doing the things a deer does...whether or not you shoot that deer...

You will be hooked on ground hunting forever.

You got that right Russ.  Once I made the move to the ground for good a couple of seasons ago I don't even want to hunt from a stand anymore.

Here's a view from the ground where I was hunting last weekend on a WMA unit by Kaw Lake, OK.  [/url] [/IMG]

Lets try that picture one more time!

No pics but I'm 100% ground

No pics but I'm 100% ground

Sorry for the double