Best hunting season to date...Thanks Ferret

[buckeye_hunter]

I replied to a ground hunting post about two months ago.  I said I was trying to simplify things a bit, just take arrows, a small pack and my bow into the woods to hunt.  

Ferret offered me encouragement and said I would enjoy it.  He even offered a few tips. I don't think he realized how great his advice and encouragement would turn out to be.

To date:  All on public land,

*I have had near shot opportunities 4 of the 5 times I have been ground huting.  
*I have had deer within 50 yards every time I have hunted on the ground.  
*Yesterday I was face to face with a big 8 point, but couldn't quite get a shot opportunity. Even at 5 yards!
* I have seen more deer on the ground than I ever did in a tree stand.
* This weekend alone I saw a total of 16 deer.
* Two weeks ago I shot a doe, from the ground, that I was unfortunately unable to recover.


THANKS FERRET!!! This has been my best season (with the exception of that doe) since I started hunting 6 years ago.

-Charlie

[IB]

Charlie.....Be careful about how much credit ya give The Ole Ferret    

He may have just set ya up....Fer a new way of life. He gets a kick back from all the PLAD Cammo makers  

[Chisler]

Sounds like a great season!  Glad it worked out so well for you.  I think a lot about hunting from the ground, but always end up going up the tree.  Is it colder on the ground??  It must be almost impossible to move very much.  What surprised you the most about hunting on the ground?

[the Ferret]

Holy crap you took me seriously? ha ha

Glad your season has been a good one, otherwise you'd be dumping on me in this thread, huh? LOL

It's definilty a thrill when you get within spitting distance of one at eye level. Actually makes shooting them harder cause you are all nervous and stuff. Heck Vance should know. We tried putting him in a treestand when he was up here but couldn't get his fingers uncurled by the time he made it to the second step of the ladder. Don't thnk he likes heights.       He ended up hunting on the ground and found himself mere steps from his first live whitetail buck.

Chisler for lack of better words hunting from a tree is "easier". You can move more, you can see more/farther, and it's easier to get drawn for the shot. It's not any colder being on the ground near as I can tell.

The biggest difference for me is the adrenalin rush from being so close to an animal I am going to try and kill with primitive equipment on more or less equal terms. There's going to be a winner and a loser in all those encounters and chances are you are not going to be the winner, but when it does all work out whoo booy what a rush.

Plus you don't have to carry a bunch of heavy clanging banging metal with you , make a bunch or racket as you put in your stand and take it back out again, there is little chance of getting hurt from a fall..you just walk in, pick a spot to hunt from, set your stool down, (it's easy to move to a different spot if you feel like it or the wind changes), and when you are done hunting you stand up, fold your stool, turn and walk out.

I still enjoy hunting from a treestand now and then, I did just the other morning,but I'm not afraid of hunting from the ground either. Either way works well.

[buckeye_hunter]

Chisler,

Let me first say, I am not bashing hunting from tree stands.  I always say each person makes their own choices and does what is right for them within the confines of the law.

For me hunting from the ground has meant seeing way more deer.  I move too much to be in a tree stand and I think I get skylined easier.  With a good built up ground blind, I have gotten away with more movement when the deer are out at about 30-60 yards.  When they are in at 5-10 yds it is definitely harder to move, but I have had a good number of deer still not know I was there.  When I had 3 does in at 10 yards on Sunday, I moved 180 degrees SLOWLY to follow where they were feeding and got away with it. They were in some brush and I never got a shot.

My other issue with tree stands, is that I don't like to get too high, makes me nervous.  

It isn't any colder on the ground, as a matter of fact it is easier to get out of the wind if necessary.  

The other bonus is that I'm more quiet geting into and out of the woods.  Even if I make some noise setting up a natural blind it is not the same as metallic noises (Heck, Sunday morning I even fell on my way into the woods!).  In the dark, you can get away with breaking a twig or two as long as you have good wind. I think if deer hear unnatural noises they would be much more nervous and likely to leave the area.  

Hunting on the ground has also made me feel more like a hunter/predator.  I guess that sounds stupid, but true for me.  You are no less the huter if you get into a tree, but there is something about hunting the ground.  Finding a travel coridoor/funnel/feeding area and waiting to ambush them at close range gets the blood pumping.  I have not yet been completely sucessful, but it has been so close so many times.  The icing on the cake was having a 200 pound(estimated) 8 point buck stare me right in the face at about 5 yards.  Watching his breath rise in the cold morning air, just a few yards away.  Staring right at me and not knowing I was there.  I'll always have that memory and very few other people will.

No matter what people choose, I think we are all lucky to have the freedom to do as we see fit.  If hunting from a tree stand works for you, I say go for it.  

If you would like to hunt on the ground you are in for a real treat!  Remember lots of back cover is the ticket, learned that from Ferret and a few other guys.  The buck I saw on Sunday, there was nothing between us, but he couldn't make me because of the back cover I had.

Thanks again to Ferret and the other guys that gave me tips and advice!

-Charlie

[George D. Stout]

I got out of those trees years ago and found out you could actually see more from the ground.  I also like the fact that you can't fall as far 8^).  

Colder on the ground?  Holy insulated underwear batman....it's a lot colder in them there trees 8^).