Ground guys, how?

[Tom0728]

I harvested my biggest buck to date hunting from the ground this year. I was wearing a black shirt and no scent control. I just stroll likely terrain features and watch the wind. If I hit a really promising area I sit for 30 minutes. Also if the wind or thermals switch its easy to just walk instead of move a stand. As long as you move slow, hold still when deer are around, and keep your wind good its really effective and allows for in season scouting at the same time 

[Tony Van Dort]

"how can you do it" ??
...It ain't easy with your eyes closed"


I will never forget a moment many years ago while hunting Whitetails in the Manistee National Forest in Michigan. 

After a long sit in a ground blind fashioned of burned out pine stumps I was able to wait it out.  I watched a nice 4-pointer work his way up the ridge just up hill / upwind of where I sat.....and waited.

He laid down in a spot that overlooked the two-track about 100 yards below the ridge....down wind (or upwind based on the thermals) of where i saw him last

I knew approximately where he was but still-hunted up the ridge and up wind for at least an hour to finally see hm in his bed...

In the stupidity of my early years I knocked an arrow and set out to hunt that rascal.....and took a shot that missed just slightly under the vitals..

[Tomas Stieber]

Like others have said to have to pick your days. The leaves must be damp, not dry and crunchy with a soft  or moderate wind. Walking with the wind is useless. And of course it pays to know the area will likely have deer verses walking randomly through a piece woods. If you can find a old logging road in good area that would be a good place to begin cause their easier to be quiet on. The only deer I've shot still hunting was off a old logging road last year. a small buck during the rut.

 G Fred Asbell has a good  book on all facets of ground hunting.

[Orion]

Agree with GCook.  The deer population in the northwoods Wisconsin where I hunt is about 10 per square mile.  And the deer are spooky as all get out because of wolves.  Very difficult to still hunt them there.  I do a little of it (only on windy or wet days).  Even then, I'm mostly looking for a good place to sit. I carry a hammock seat in my pack for the purpose.  Can set up quickly and quietly about anywhere.

On the other hand, in southern Wisconsin, where I used to hunt before CWD, the deer population runs to 50 or more per square mile, and they're used to people.  Much easier to get within range of them there while still hunting. 

[bowmaster12]

Orion where in northern wisconsin doyou hunt?  I have a place on Pelican lake.  Grew up hunting public land around there

[Tdaniels]

Wind is good. Calm not so much ,unless its wet. A trick I picked up a while back ,I put a turkey call in my mouth. If I make a little too much noise, I'll cluck a bit .I still get busted at times, but it also got jumpy deer to calm down and go back to feeding

[Orion]

B 12, is Pelican Lake in Oneida County?  Hunted that county when I was younger.  Been hunting Douglas County the past 40 years or so.

[bowmaster12]

Orion yea it is, not far from Rhinelander

[YosemiteSam]

I haven't killed any deer with a bow yet.  My only big game with a bow was a bear this year, while sitting.  But this is public land in CA.  I see more bears than bucks these days anyway.

That being said, I see and get very close to does all the time, though we can't usually shoot does.  I think the closest I've come is about 10 yards on a bedded doe.  I had a squirrel run up my leg last year while still hunting.  This year, I had a squirrel blow by me about 6" away while stalking in on a deer I was hoping to find antlers on.  Neither were aware of my presence.  Sometimes, the more crunchy the leaf litter, the easier it gets.  Yes, they can hear it.  But if you go really slow, they often ignore it.  Between the birds, the deer, the squirrels, the bears and every other critter out making noise, you just sound like woods noise if you're heading into the wind & take your time.  2-4 steps and wait a few minutes. 

A few weeks ago, I took a nice buck with a muzzleloader.  The deer were so nocturnal that I'd listen to them walk up on me in the dark (posted) and sneak off after they caught my scent downwind.  One walked by camp while I was cooking dinner...  Plenty came through in the middle of the night, too.  But by shooting light, they were bedded up.  It was a great lesson in hearing their footsteps, which I can try to mimic.  As frustrating as it was, it was cool to have to focus solely on my ears to detect what's around me for hours at a time.  My shot opportunity wasn't until I was hiking out and was beyond archery ranges.  But the deer didn't much notice that I was there at all.  It helped that the buck was pretty distracted by a doe...

Asbell had a great tip in one of his books -- use the ball of your foot to hit the ground first, then land the heel a split second after.  Then the next foot the same way.  Sounds like 4 legs instead of 2.  I use it when I think deer might be within 50 yards or so.  Seems to work.  If I sound too much like a deer, they start looking for me and then the game is up.  They're pretty darned social animals -- even our blacktails & mulies.

[Terry Green]

Keep at it....ya never know what you might sneak up on.....

[MnFn]

Only did it successfully one time. A friend was walking casually thru the woods and kicked up a buck which trotted past me.  I knew he was coming so I crouched down on one knee next to a bush, and made a nice double lung shot through his ribs as he passed by.

I could have done it in some Colorado mountains  right after a rainstorm. I walked very slowly up on two small mule deer bucks. They were busy feeding and I got within about ten yards.  But, I was elk hunting and did not have a deer license anyway.