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Question:
Alright, out of my midday boredom at work I got to wondering.
  • How many of you hunt from tree stands, ladder stands, or other elevated platform.
  • How many from ground blinds.
  • How many Still hunt.
  • Does it vary based on foilage density or weather conditions ?

Personally I usually Still Hunt. I own a tree stand but haven't used it alot. Going to try to use it more this season.

Choices:
Hunt from a Stand
Hunt from a Ground Blind
Still Hunt
Depends on the Conditions or Foilage.

 


Better to remain silent and be thought a fool. Than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
 
Posts: 75 | Location: Mountains of North Carolina | Registered: 02 December 2005Reply With Quote
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Timing regarding the rut has a lot to do with it as well as wind conditions, whether the crops have been cut, etc. In the afternoon/evening I almost always still hunt on the way to the stand if conditions make it appropriate.


The year of the .30-06!!
100 years of mostly flawless performance on demand.....Celebrate...buy a new one!!
 
Posts: 858 | Location: MD Eastern Shore | Registered: 24 May 2005Reply With Quote
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I hunt a lot in the early season from a treestand but have have killed most of my archery deer - and all of my archery bucks - from groundblinds (glorified brushpiles) during the rut (same time as the gun season). This year I'm going to try a climber I bought last season but didn't have a chance to use.
 
Posts: 1733 | Registered: 31 January 2006Reply With Quote
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Where we live if you want to kill a Deer you climb a tree. I love to spot & stalk, it just doesn't work here.


If you can't smell his breath, your're not close enough!

 
Posts: 980 | Location: Illinois | Registered: 04 January 2003Reply With Quote
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I love to hunt on the ground find a good tree in a good spot sit and wait. The simpler it is the more fun i have.
 
Posts: 6 | Registered: 20 February 2006Reply With Quote
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I've had great experiences on the ground. I haven't connected on the ground though- I find it a lot harder to get the shot off. I usually make a brush pile to sit behind. I cover the ground with a clean blanket to keep down the sound of my feet on the ground. I also put my daypack under the blanket to keep the scent covered up. I've had deer at six feet. Like Fred Asbell says "you can get too close" That was a couple years ago though and I wasn't confident shooting beyond 15 yards--I could do it, but it just spooked me a little...so I chose not take the longet shots. I also was using my decoy way too close to the blind. This year I think I'll do more ground hunting. I'll keep things 20 yards and more away from the blind, that should help. It really is a lot more comfortable and it's warmer too on the ground.

the chef
 
Posts: 2763 | Registered: 11 March 2004Reply With Quote
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Boss why doesn't it work where you are?
 
Posts: 2763 | Registered: 11 March 2004Reply With Quote
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Spot and stalk. Not as successful as stands/blinds, but much more fun.
 
Posts: 44 | Location: Denver, CO | Registered: 17 February 2006Reply With Quote
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I prefer a tree stand. I have taken a lot of deer from the ground but they do not effect me, no excitement. I think the ambush thing from a tree offers more heart pounding.
 
Posts: 4068 | Location: Bakerton, WV | Registered: 01 September 2003Reply With Quote
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quote:
Originally posted by calgarychef1:
Boss why doesn't it work where you are?


Two words: Oak Leaves

Wink


If you can't smell his breath, your're not close enough!

 
Posts: 980 | Location: Illinois | Registered: 04 January 2003Reply With Quote
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Ahhh. Have you ever heard of deer stepping? It's worked well for me, if I spook the deer on the way in I do the deer stepping thingy and they calm right down. I guess it's good to sound like a deer.

the chef
 
Posts: 2763 | Registered: 11 March 2004Reply With Quote
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Chef - Between the think under growth and the oak leaves it's pretty futile. Of course it's possible but, it's exteremly low per centage hunt.

I hunt transition or staging areas where deer naturally hold for brief time periods. The tree stand also allows more visiblity giving me more time to be prepared.


If you can't smell his breath, your're not close enough!

 
Posts: 980 | Location: Illinois | Registered: 04 January 2003Reply With Quote
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You're right on all counts of course. I don't know any area that has decidious trees that doesn't have leaves on the ground. Speaking of oak trees...I'm always amused by the outdoor writers who say "first find a stand of oak trees because deer really like the acorns" lol we haven't got oak trees for thousands of miles. I sure hear a lot about hunting over acorns though.
 
Posts: 2763 | Registered: 11 March 2004Reply With Quote
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Guys,

We have a lot of leaves and acorns around here. Deer eat the acorns, but not as good as the corn planted in the fields in the early evenings. Find the trails from the woods to the fields and hunt them at dusk and you'll kill a lot of deer...mostly does. The bucks wait until it is real dark to come out and feed.

Doing the Deer shuffle works too and works best during the week or so before the rut...at least for me. Just to see if I could do it...I followed a little 6 pt for 50 or so yards last fall and he didn't know I was there period. I was 15 yds behind him and could have shot him several times if he had turned a little more. It was really neat!! He finally spotted me and we had a stare off for 15 seconds and he ran off not knowing what I was for sure. I'll see him next year....maybe as an 8 pt.


The year of the .30-06!!
100 years of mostly flawless performance on demand.....Celebrate...buy a new one!!
 
Posts: 858 | Location: MD Eastern Shore | Registered: 24 May 2005Reply With Quote
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Sometimes I just don't want to go through the bother of setting up my climber and I hunt from the ground. Even if I'm well hidden, the deer always spook when I move, ever so slightly, to take a shot. If I'm up in a tree I can slowly stand, turn, draw, etc. and the deer don't spook. I just have a lot more success from a tree stand.
 
Posts: 633 | Registered: 11 March 2001Reply With Quote
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I'll hunt from a climbing stand unless it's rainy or windy, then I'll still hunt.

By deer shuffle, do you mean walking like a deer? If so, I know what you mean. It does work as long as it's thick enough and they can't see you. I have not tried hunting using the deer shuffle, but use it all the time on the way into a stand site and have had deer walk up within just a few minutes looking for the "deer".
 
Posts: 109 | Location: Nashville, TN | Registered: 29 May 2002Reply With Quote
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You strike the ground with the ball of your foot and then snap your heel down. This way you get a tap tap sound not the unmistakable sound of a two footed human shuffling through the forest. Another trick is if you hear a deer stamping its foreleg...it's their way of trying to get you to move because they either can't see you or can't make out what you are. I take small log and pound it into the ground end first. It sounds a lot like another deer stamping back...it works. If I hunt with a ground blind I usually bring a piece of wood into the blind for this purpose. Often a deer will hang up a ways away and stamp at my decoy to try and get it to move. Thats when I "stamp" back. It really seems to reassure them. I can't emphasize the deer walking enough, it really works.

the chef
 
Posts: 2763 | Registered: 11 March 2004Reply With Quote
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I agree. Deer walking really works, however there are several methods of achieving it.

That said, I stand hunt whenever possible and sometimes when it isn't. Big Grin

To me the ultimate satisfaction is being up close over unaware deer. The ultimate rush begins when the big boy makes his appearance. Wink

I've hunted and killed deer all kinds of ways but hunting from my climber is my favorite. Just watchin the world go by. Smiler
 
Posts: 3167 | Location: out behind the barn | Registered: 22 May 2002Reply With Quote
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The Chef pretty well has it down. I also use it in conjunction with rattling and deep grunts before the rut when the guys are really only thinking about one thing. I've never been able to do it sucessfully after the rut is completed.

I use fixed stands (1 or 2 person) in most of my stand hunting. The two I use in areas where rifle is allowed have a roof and heat in the winter. With a bow, my kill ratio is about 10 from a stand to every one on the ground. Most exciting one from the ground was last year...a cull 7 pt at about 15 yds. I was in a brush pile just off a known trail and he walked right to me after a couple of doe grunts....he truned broadside and the arrow got both lungs and the heart. He did the "bee sting" jump, walked in a circle and fell over...the perfect hunt...at least for me!!


The year of the .30-06!!
100 years of mostly flawless performance on demand.....Celebrate...buy a new one!!
 
Posts: 858 | Location: MD Eastern Shore | Registered: 24 May 2005Reply With Quote
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I feel it's more a matter of your cadence than anything. Deer & most prey animals walk & stop to look around, preditors are in constant motion as they hunt/patrol thier territory.

Think about the deer & coyotes you've watched over the years as they moved from point A to Point B.

If you really want to learn to stalk well, put down the books and watch a house cat on the hunt.


If you can't smell his breath, your're not close enough!

 
Posts: 980 | Location: Illinois | Registered: 04 January 2003Reply With Quote
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whenever I see a housecat, I become the hunter. Big Grin
 
Posts: 3167 | Location: out behind the barn | Registered: 22 May 2002Reply With Quote
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I remember what happened a long time ago when I seen some deer moving. I knew where they were going so I cut around and hid behind a real thick brushpile close to the trail. I could barely see through it. As soon as the deer came into view, the lead doe looked right at me and bolted out of there. I had good camo on, nothing shiny, the wind was in my face and did not move a muscle but she knew something was different. All of you have to remember that the deer live there and know every single stump, branch and rock in their living room. You can't hide from them. I found it is better to act and sound like another deer instead of a mountain lion. The worst thing to do when you confront a deer is to freeze. What would give you the idea that she doesn't know you are there? I would rather be out in the open acting like a deer then trying to hide in their living room.
 
Posts: 4068 | Location: Bakerton, WV | Registered: 01 September 2003Reply With Quote
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quote:
The worst thing to do when you confront a deer is to freeze.


well, that would depend on the deer's attitude, body language, and other variables. Usually my on foot deer encounters occur when the animals have no idea of my presence.

While deerwalking may get me to my stand without bustin the woods up and occasionally aid in a kill, I don't rely on it for venisonburgers.
Smiler
 
Posts: 3167 | Location: out behind the barn | Registered: 22 May 2002Reply With Quote
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I have taken quite a few deer that I blundered into or they blundered into me. After settling them down, they start to feed and no longer care about me. I can kneel down, nock an arrow and wait for a shot. I can also walk to a tree to lean on. Most of the time I just play and don't shoot.
It will usually be one deer and after settling her, more come out that I didn't see. I have had as many as 17 deer feeding all around me.
The most fun was when I walked into a bunch of doe that I did not want to shoot. I had my revolver and raised it to aim at one, but put it back down. A young buck bolted towards me and ran past. I could hear him behind me running around. Then he came back and stood right next to me looking at the doe. I could have reached out and put my hand on his back.
As I have said before, you see but are blind, you hear but are deaf! Deer are easy, they are fun and if you see and hear you can learn. Get your noses out of those books and you will see what can be done. I have read 1000 hunting books and I have to laugh at most. About half of what each books says is wrong. I delight in the theorys some people have. Most of you just think TOO DAMNED HARD.
 
Posts: 4068 | Location: Bakerton, WV | Registered: 01 September 2003Reply With Quote
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Off topic...on the way to the barn tonight I spotted a fox hunting a mouse in the grass. I got the Hornet and walked up to about 15 yds from him and he never knew I was there walking on gravel...his last mistake. I think he was so fixated on the mouse there was no way he was going to hear me behind him. BTW, he was really mangey.


The year of the .30-06!!
100 years of mostly flawless performance on demand.....Celebrate...buy a new one!!
 
Posts: 858 | Location: MD Eastern Shore | Registered: 24 May 2005Reply With Quote
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Originally posted by bfrshooter:
I have taken quite a few deer that I blundered into or they blundered into me. After settling them down, they start to feed and no longer care about me. I can kneel down, nock an arrow and wait for a shot. I can also walk to a tree to lean on. Most of the time I just play and don't shoot.
It will usually be one deer and after settling her, more come out that I didn't see. I have had as many as 17 deer feeding all around me.
The most fun was when I walked into a bunch of doe that I did not want to shoot. I had my revolver and raised it to aim at one, but put it back down. A young buck bolted towards me and ran past. I could hear him behind me running around. Then he came back and stood right next to me looking at the doe. I could have reached out and put my hand on his back.
As I have said before, you see but are blind, you hear but are deaf! Deer are easy, they are fun and if you see and hear you can learn. Get your noses out of those books and you will see what can be done. I have read 1000 hunting books and I have to laugh at most. About half of what each books says is wrong. I delight in the theorys some people have. Most of you just think TOO DAMNED HARD.


If you're addressing that to me, I've killed well over 400 deer and over 150 of em with a bow.



.



.



.



nuff said? Smiler
 
Posts: 3167 | Location: out behind the barn | Registered: 22 May 2002Reply With Quote
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No, I did not address it to you specifically. I have over 355 deer and about 220 taken with the bow. Of the gun deer, all the rest were shot at close range with revolvers, shotguns, a few with a rifle and muzzle loaders. One was taken at long range with a rifle. I sold the rifle! Not hunting, just shooting!
When I started archery with a Red Wing Hunter, there were almost no deer in Ohio. I managed to get one, then one from the UP and another from PA. Thats three my first year when the average time it took an archer to kill a deer was 15 years. (That was documented from surveys.)
These days it is so easy to get them that I study them more often then shooting them. There were many, many days I just let the bow down on the rope and experimented with them. It is fun to have a whole herd feeding under me and bumping into my bow. These are the times I have worked with different sounds. If I would have shot every deer I could have, I would be up in the thousands. I only kill what I can use and what my neigbors can use. They all let me hunt so I always get them deer.
I have always wanted to get a frequency generator and speaker setup to test my ideas but that would be out of my price range. Then I would also need a camera man to record the results. I can only go by what I have learned.
I see the same thing happen with noise when I shoot a deer at 20 yd's with a very loud revolver and it jumps at the hit and that deer and all the others with it just stand there without running. I have had to shoo too many deer away after the one I shot died. Some did not leave even after I was on the ground. I have had a herd of deer bedded 50 and 100 yd's behind my shooting bench while I spent the morning sighting in guns. Doesn't seem to me that they are afraid of the noise.
My work with different bow and other noise has been an ongoing thing for 47 years, yet all of you say I am nuts. Well, think what you want, doesn't mean a thing to me!
My work with fooling deer on the ground has also been done for 47 years and what you think also means nothing to me.
I've never been a trophy hunter but have tossed larger antlers from Ohio deer to my daughters so they could cut them up for Indian trinkets. I give buck meat away. I have passed up many large bucks to shoot the doe. I am not impressed with antlers, they taste like s*#*.
I do not respect trophy hunters at all!
 
Posts: 4068 | Location: Bakerton, WV | Registered: 01 September 2003Reply With Quote
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bfr,

Since you are hunting in a place where there are so many deer and you only shoot one every now and then, but are out there "studying" them all the time, they are not scared of you anymore. They are acting like deer do in a park. All the deer know it's you over there "deer stepping" behind that treetop and think you are an idiot (like most of us).

Just for sport, go to a place where there is some hunting pressure and see what happens. You are not the Grizzly Adams know-it-all that you think you are. The chronic wasting disease that you contracted some years ago on your over populated hunting land has finally turned your brain into mush.
 
Posts: 109 | Location: Nashville, TN | Registered: 29 May 2002Reply With Quote
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There is more hunting pressure around here then there is in the public hunting areas. There are more archers and gun hunters here then any place I have ever hunted. I'm sorry, but if you think they are TAME, you are barking up the wrong tree.
I have hunted good areas for as long as two weeks without seeing another person. The deer were not tame there, they are not tame here, and when you set foot in the woods, deer are the same all over.
 
Posts: 4068 | Location: Bakerton, WV | Registered: 01 September 2003Reply With Quote
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quote:
Originally posted by bfrshooter:
when you set foot in the woods, deer are the same all over.


Nope, don't buy into that either. rotflmo
 
Posts: 3167 | Location: out behind the barn | Registered: 22 May 2002Reply With Quote
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It sounds like you think you are the Grizzly Adams of deer hunting!
 
Posts: 4068 | Location: Bakerton, WV | Registered: 01 September 2003Reply With Quote
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quote:
Originally posted by bfrshooter:
It sounds like you think you are the Grizzly Adams of deer hunting!


nope, I think you've got that one locked down. cheers

I'm just real good at picking up on well fertilized posts on the internet. Smiler
 
Posts: 3167 | Location: out behind the barn | Registered: 22 May 2002Reply With Quote
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What chef said works. Asbell gave a class at Denton Hill one year demonstrating the deer walking technique. It has helped me if I spook a deer on my way in. I wait for five minutes and then try toemulate a deer walking and stopping. More times than not I have been able to close the distance between myself and the spooked deer. Patience is a virtue.
 
Posts: 55 | Registered: 12 August 2005Reply With Quote
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I shot 2 from the ground and one from a stand last year but the one I shot from the stand was only 5 feet off the ground so I dont know if that counts or not.
 
Posts: 125 | Registered: 12 February 2004Reply With Quote
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Another thing, the foot stamp is the deer's recognition signal. If you are caught flatfoot in the open and a deer stamps at you, you had better stamp back at her or she will leave. She will only run behind cover to watch you, as soon as you move, she will really take off, and so will all the others with her that you did not see.
 
Posts: 4068 | Location: Bakerton, WV | Registered: 01 September 2003Reply With Quote
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Tree stands are my favorite in some areas,blind works better in others.But for the greatest/toughest hard earned shot ,nothing compares to being on the ground up close and personal one on one old tyme indian tracker that lives in the woods style/Rambo!Thats hunting at its finest for me! thumbNo nothing but a stick & string & my own 2 hands & feet.Think invisable be invisable,be the wolf.....be the hawk...be the bear!I always wonder what it was like to bowhunt off horseback!Priceless!!! thumbSometimes i wish i could go back in time and be the first hunter in north america and see the herds of game for the first time........What a experiance!Nothing to hunt but quail, goat,ram,buffalo,elk,deer,bear,puma,turkey,squil and trout/bream fish...... rotflmoIt would be hard....but
I believe i could stand it... animal
 
Posts: 3608 | Location: USA | Registered: 08 September 2004Reply With Quote
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