GROUND HUNTING ADVICE

[TOMANZ]

This season I am deer hunting public land. I am not using a tree stand, as I only use ladder stands and with limited time and set-up, take down and toting is out of the question. Been setting up on ground, off trails and bedding areas. Looking for any tips. I'm making natural blinds and utilizing a bit of duck blind camo tacked around me. Thanks in advance and have a wonderful season!

[MCNSC]

Robert Carter has some YouTube videos about ground hunting. He hunts traditional and knows what he’s talking about.

[Al Dente]

Scent control and movement.  Do as much as possible to contain and eliminate your scent.  Limit your movements, do not make any abrupt head turns.  Do not make any rapid foot shifts that will make noise, which leads me to clear the ground of any leaves, twigs and debris that will sound like an earthquake in the silence.
I use a homemade ghillie suit when I hunt from the ground, and I always incorporate face paint, especially around my eyes.

[MnFn]

Al nailed it. Make sure you are set up so you are down wind. I had two yearlings move by me. I had a ghilli suit on and a really good natural blind.

One of the deer got a whiff of me. It knew I was there but couldn’t find me. It finally dead a full circle around me and I think figured out where I was and then they moved off.

[NY Yankee]

Have a good pair of small binoculars and scan the brush a lot. Your visibility is limited on the ground so you need to look a lot more for parts of a deer, flicking tail, head going up and down, anything like that. try to sense them before they do you.

[Bankwalker]

It's a different experience,  for sure.  Two years ago I had a shoulder issue so I bought a crossbow.  My first sit in the stand I said to myself,  " This isn't bow hunting. "   So I decided to level the playing field a little by getting on their level.  I also used a ghillie suit most of the time but they still see you and know when something new has been added to their living room floor. I kind of decided to just shoot the first deer if you want to kill anything because eventually one of them is going to go to blowing the alarm.   The intensity of having them walk right up on you is amazing. 

[Bankwalker]

It's also pretty easy to shoot a button buck on the ground because you can't see the top of their head.   Ask me how I know.   

[Bowsey Wails]

What everyone else said and always easier after a rain.