ground hunting success

[Slickhead]

Me and my buddy have been ground hunting for 4 years now.
Mostly out of natural brush blinds.
Any others out there deer hunt from the ground?
Any tips or tactics you use?

[centaur]

Use the wind to your advantage, both for direction and for sound muffling.
Use sunrise/sunset to your advantage if you also have the wind.
When you think you are moving slowly enough, slow down.
Persistence, persistence, persistence.

[KentuckyTJ]

Don't hunt the same blind time after time. Being on the ground it is more critical than a tree stand to not let the deer pattern you. Remember after you leave and the deer come through there in the dark they smell you have been there and avoid the area especially in daytime. Have many many blind locations and keep them guessing.

[Stumpkiller]

Wind is extremely important.  Deer will occasionally be curious or not trust their eyes, but once they get a whiff of you it's am-scray.

Move S    L    O   W    L   Y    

Take one, maybe two steps and scan your new view slowly and carefully.  Look for bits of deer: an ear, a leg, the twitch of a tail, the horizontal line of a back.  If you see the whole deer it's probably further off and in open cover.  In the brush you only see a bit.

Use camo facepaint or a scarf if no other camo.

Take the shot.  This was the last hurdle that caught me up.  I would get near a deer and freeze up because I was afraid to move.  Practice stump shooting (or a plastic milk jug on the lawn) for one, smooth and fast draw and release.  You can either try and molasses a shot in slow motion or just decide NOW and get one off.  Different situations may call for either, but don't wait for a deer to be ready with the fast choice.  Also, I have seen guys who hold the bow up like they're hiding behind it and draw slowly.  But I never see them practice that way on 3-D or stumps.  So, practice that way if you're going to try it.  There is a rhythym to a shot, at least for me, and I do better getting one up and away rather than ooozing one out like a sloth.  They're deer.  They are mortal and do make mistakes.  Don't be over awed.  Just be a predator.

Do some stump shooting before & during.  Great practice for hunting.

For a ground blind - make sure you have cover BEHIND you to break up your outline and hide motion.  

Set up near a trail but not on it, and with a bow put it in cover - not in a spot with 100 yard shooting lanes.  You only need 20 yards.

Going to a longbow and shooting rather quickly and smoothly made all the difference for getting deer.  every time I try to shoot to slow things and me fall apart.  Don't stare at the game you intend to shoot. stare at your feet and keep the critter in your side vision.  I use a tree seat and try to have at least two good size trees together.  Three cedars close together is better.  I do not try to sneak up on deer in bur oak woods, but hunting corn fields has filled a number of my tags.  Noise in a corn field is not as big a deal as a snapping twig. If you have a choice between a high spot or a low spot, pick the low spot.  Erosion ravines are my best setups most of the time.

[twitchstick]

I have hunted almost exclusively from the ground but thats more common out west. I just started using treestands a few years ago. The biggest thing I find other than set up and wind is movement. Sitting still in the blind and knowing when to draw is vital for success on the ground. I like to set my blinds/ambush pionts to where I can watch the approach but have enough cover to hide my movement. Like a big pine or brush pile to totally block thier view just before they hit my shooting lane.

[reddust]

Use some kind of leafy camo,pay attention to the wind,no sudden movement,I have killed lots of deer out of treestands but the few I got on the ground I are the most memorable.

[Roy Steele]

I 've totally ground hunted(selfbows) sence 05. I use a ghillie set up sites (NATURAL BLINDS but never build a complete blind uselly only a couple logs for back ground) cose to edges. And I set up my sites where bucks have to go past me before I shoot.(Do the sme with gobblers) Where I can walk in with the wind,winds in my favor while I'm there and when I leave. I SET UP ON OR CLOSE TO EDGES where I don't have to walk any distance in the woods to it if I can. Leaveing no sent and where deer can't cross behind me down wind and find out I was there. And walk in out of the way if thats what it takes.
 I try to make sure the deer ever no I'm ever there. (LOW PREASSURE HUNTING). This also helps when calling bucks won't circle down wind where they have do show thereself in and opening.
   When calling get between food scorces and bedding where I set up most sites anyway. It's alot easer to call your buck if your already in the dirreaction he all ready going.
  I the rut kicks in start hunting the doe's more. Setting up between doe bedding areas is hot,calling at these site's are hot here also. When the rut gets going I like useing more doe calls.
   Here's one of the reasons I kill my bucks everyyear. I scout,set up sites,trim lanes,do everything in the winter after deer season. I never go back.(low pressure hunting) WHEN THE SEASON COMES BACK AROUND I'm set up. When I walk out on my back deck and check the wind. I know which farm I'm going to hunt and what site I'm going to.

[Roy Steele]

I forgot other than stump shooting I prictice setting down. And times when I'm out stumping to pratice and not just hikeing carrying a bow along taking a shot hen ever it comes along. I'll carry a stool and shot like that.
  Some hunting sites that I can I set right on the ground I do always gobbler hunting. I practice like that. I don't have a problem shooting a 60" selfbow.

[wapiti792]

Move slow when you need to and quick when you need to, put the wind in your face, and when you get in to the "red zone" SLOOOOW DOOOWN to a snails pace and move nothing but your eyelids.

Stalk "spots" and not animals. If you know there have been animals there (favorite acorn tree or honeysuckle patch) stalk that spot as if there is an animal there. You will be suprised how many times there are animals there.

Never underestimate how other animals make deer at ease or alarm. I once walked up on a feeding buck by using a diaphram call and scratching leaves like a turkey on my hands and knees. He just thought I was a big turkey until the 2219 slammed into his ribs from 25 yards away  

[Stumpkiller]

Pavan makes a good point.  DO NOT make eye contact with a deer or stare at them.  Squint and look at their hooves or elsewhere.

[fireman_3311]

Love my ghillie suit!!!

[Lechwe]

I don't hunt from the ground much. Would like to start doing it a little more. The last black bear I killed I did from the ground. Stalked into a bait and shot him at 25yds. One of the biggest charges I've ever had.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

The hardest thing for me when hunting on the ground is movement. I find I can get away with lots more in a tree.....and not just when a deer is in sight. From a tree I can scan, and relax a bit. On the ground it high tension all the time. Fun though.

[Sean B]

If you use a tree or a boulder for cover, make sure that you give yourself room to shoot on either side of it. This past season, I got too close to the boulder that I was using for cover.  I had a good 8 pt come straight to me with the boulder in between us.  I thought he was going to break to my left, so I set up for a shot in that direction when I lost sight of him.  Well.....I guess he didn't read the script, he went to my right and was standing broad side at 7 feet!. I couldn't swing the bow around with out him seeing me.

[Shan]

Originally posted by Stumpkiller:
  They're deer.  They are mortal and do make mistakes.  Don't be over awed.  Just be a predator.
 

Beautifully simple