How many of you hunt on the ground?

[Ragnarok Forge]

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.

[rdoggsilva]

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.

[Steve Clandinin]

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!

[Jerry Jeffer]

Ground only.

[LKH]

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.

[broketooth]

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

[jbat73]

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

[Bill Carlsen]

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.

[Tree Killer]

Pretty much a ground dweller myself, although I do set up a treestand overlooking an elk wallow now and then.

[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.

[britt]

I'v never hunted in a tree. Its all been on ground.

[eminart]

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?

[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

[eminart]

Originally 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.

[StickBowManMI]

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.

[Kevin Hansen]

Originally 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.  

[wojo124]

i hunt from the ground much more now...its way more simple.

[Knawbone]

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.

[md126]

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