How many of you guys hunt on the ground, Pictures and stories welcome! Questions here

[The-Talon]

So today I finally walked right past my treestand and headed into the bush where the game trail leads out of. I cleared a little shooting lane out for myself against a rotting stump and waited for 2 hours until dark. It was a completely different world! I felt so blind down on the ground but it also felt right. I feel as if a deer happened to come out tonight I would have had an absolutely beautiful shot but I would have been very careful getting to full draw cause it seems easier to be caught at eye level, but I think I may be leaning more towards trying some more ground hunts.. I feel so limited in a treestand sometimes against deers changing patterns as the season trudges on.

Do you guys have any tips for groundhunting? I have harvested deer in the past with a crossbow but since switching to trad archery 6 or 7 years ago I've never looked back and I'm sure I never will.. I've come close to getting shots on deer with trad gear but have yet to let an arrow loose on a deer. I'm hunting in southern ontario and the deer are so spooky its unbelievable. Not to mention some weekends our party of 5 will not even see a single deer! so I'm trying to increase my odds..

I'm the only trad guy at my hunting camp and I've gotten my fair share of scoffs but I'm going to stay persistent. Almost got a shot on a doe at 18 yards last weekend but she got hung up behind a shrub and knew something was up.. She needed to take one more step.. but she didn't for 15 minutes right until it got dark she stayed there like a statue.. waiting for whatever she thought was there to move. Finally she started blowing and hightailed it out of there.. She blew about 7 or 8 times as she was running .. Does anyone know what that means? Then the following evening a 6 point buck came out and stopped at 25 yards... and the wind was blowing fairly steady. He was broadside but something told me not to risk the shot and risk injuring this deer.. It just didn't feel right so I gritted my teeth and watched him trot away.. I feeling of accomplishment and defeat all the same time.

[Westkyhunter]

Stick with it. It is a whole new ball game but not impossible at all. Just like you have to learn to hang stands and position them accordingly and learn from your mistakes, it's the same process. However you are much more mobile and can change positions very quickly according to deer movement or the wind. I've always loved hunting on the ground but still hunt from the trees as well. I use a leafy suit and comfortable chair and always keep pruners and a folding saw in my pack. I also only hunt public ground so it's nice not having the extra equipment out there to get stolen. I don't get winded any more on the ground than I do in the tree either. I do watch my scent and keep everything as scent free as possible. Some times I wear scent lok and sometimes I don't.

[jeffroa2001]

I've had lots of success hunting from the ground, I find that if I make sure that I am not silhouetted at all from behind me, and remove all of the dirt and debris from my feet, you can draw on deer within 2 meters. If you do the aforementioned, and secure your bow well, it's game on! Good luck!

[Pine]

I'm strictly a ground hunter .
I feel like I have better shot properties that way , and the kill zone is bigger .

[Friend]

Have passed on 13 totally separate solid shot opportunities on bucks this early season. The vast majority of opportunities have been under 12 yards. Note: Shot opportunities don't insinuate an actual harvest....have 9 ground setups this season...haven't hunted from a stand since 2007.

Effective ground setups have required me to go far beyond the extra mile in most cases.
If the deer even glance at my setup, then I assume that my setup requires more enhancement and I go to work.

[Redux]

I only hunt from the ground, I have yet to harvest an animal though. I was very close twice last year, when I become frustrated and think about setting up a climber I reflect on that.  I don't always see an animal, but I do my best to keep my eyes peeled for any kind of movement or sign.

[Ouchigan72]

I am a ground pounder.. Sitting in a tree is soooo boring to me. I'd rather be slinking through the woods feeling like I am a part of my surroundings.I have also been in your shoes when it comes to waiting on a deer to take 1 more step so I would have a shot.The only thing worse is spending over an hour slowly stalking a buck through a cattail marsh on the edge of a tree line to only smack the only tree limb around with the arrow....Keep pounding

[Stumpkiller]

I do both.  I go in an hour before daylight and sit in a stand until I stiffen up (9:30 or 10:00AM) and then I ground hunt until 3:00PM or so for the sunset sit.  

The stands are more productive but the stalk/still-hunt kills are more satisfying.  My avatar is the first buck I took from the ground.

[obx longbowmen]

here in coastal Carolina we are blessed with gods perfect man hider......the myrtle bush. they rarely grow over head high and do magic for breaking up my oversized outline. We also had a hurricane hit us dead on which also aids ground hunting as it puts limbs, tops and whole trees on the ground to hide in.

[RedStag5728]

I recently just began my adventure on the ground. My set up was in a lay down with several beech trees and hollies providing me good cover. Had a tall spike come about 25 or 30 yards from me and never knew I was there until he got downwind of me and smelled me. Despite taking all precautions with the wind and cleaning my clothes in scentless wash detergent and dryer sheets and placing a scent wafer out and doing everything possible, he managed to smell me.

However it was a rush, and in my spot it's only a matter of time before I connect. I even had a squirrel run up and down the laydown I was sitting in, mere feet of me without going in full alarm! But I sometimes wonder if those scent wafers actually work against us? Because I can smell it strongly when I was sitting there

[TIM B]

I've been hunting the ground for 20+ years.  I love it and have as much success from the ground as from trees.  I've built big blinds by driving T-posts in the ground and then using wire and dead logs to make yourself look like a log pile - then simply add more logs as the years go by.  I've also made impromptu blinds in tall grass and sat on a milk crate.
Good luck and stay after them

[The-Talon]

That's awesome there's alot! And redstag what I've been doing for a few years is taking cedar bows in a garbage bag and leaving my clothes in there !! Or just good old fox or raccoon piss works wonder below the knees and boots !!

[Sam McMichael]

I hunt from the ground part of the time and due to age am doing it more and more frequently. Since you have been seeing deer at fairly close distances, you are surely doing something right, so press on! Not taking the shot that doesn't feel right is true huntsmanship and requires great discipline. About that deer blowing as she left... she was letting you know that she busted you and was letting everything else in the woods know it, too.

The only advice I can give for hunting a ground blind is to repeat what you have heard before. Be very still and play the wind. Be pesistent! I know how you feel about being the only trad guy in your group. I'm the only guy in my group that uses a bow at all. When the target is set up at the edge of camp and a few good shots are made, they scoff a lot less.

[Bowwild]

Hunt from ground for antelope, mules, elk, and once for whitetail and hogs in Texas. There have been a couple situations over the years when I sat in a root hole or in a blind with a newbie (son-in-law).

For my day to day hunting for whitetails here at home, I intend to stay in the trees until I can't climb them anymore.  I love the view!

[jim phenes]

I also do both it's funny how I usually have no good feeling about being so exposed on the ground but yet I seem to have better luck seeing and getting more shots on the ground I have taken a handful of deer on the ground one is on my wall. I look at it this way if I was walking through the woods and browsing and there you were next to a tree I might not even know I walked by you unless you made a sudden movement or noise.  Stay downwind and you will know when its time to make that shot. that's why we call it instinctive! good luck it will happen!

[Tajue17]

Originally posted by Graps:
I'm strictly a ground hunter .
I feel like I have better shot properties that way , and the kill zone is bigger .

I will say that I can see a whole lot more hunting from the trees,,,, but if I was on the ground all this time I would of had way more deer in the freezer,,,,, had to pass on a big doe this past week because of stuff branches and leaves in the way if I was at the base of my tree,,,, done deal!

[Joeabowhunter]

Lots of good advice already given.  I'll add, try not to walk in on or cross the deer trails you are hunting.  Only the wind makes you "scent free".  Good luck, ground hunting is a challenge but very rewarding too.  My best buck (in my avatar) was from the ground.

[elkhunter-27]

I do both but this year the season is 17 days old and I've yet to be in any of my 6 tree stands or any of my blinds.  I've been still hunting, enjoyable but no shots yet.  Once the rut kicks in I'll divide my time between the tree stands and the blinds.

[YosemiteSam]

I stay mobile when hunting so I'm always on the ground -- mostly still hunting but I'll hang out behind boulders, logs or with my back to a tree for a couple hours at a time.  I have yet to get anything with a bow but took a nice little 1x2 last year at about 30 yards with a rifle while still hunting/hiking my way to my backpacking camp.  He didn't appear the least bit concerned or all that aware I was even there.  The same pace got me busted by a doe at about 100 yards off about a week ago so I probably just got lucky last year.  Having to hike in a ways keeps me from bothering with anything semi-permanent, like stands or blinds.  I'm a decent shot with a bow but still have a lot to learn about hunting and the local deer habits.  So I prefer to stay flexible and get moving if the spot I'm in isn't showing any sign.  I probably have a few more seasons before I start to "get it" and learn the areas better.  But I figure the more ground I can cover and scout while hunting, the more I'll learn.  It's not a good strategy for this year but I'm hoping the payoff will come in 3-5 years.

[calgarychef]

Most of my critters have been taken from the ground, treestands are nice for thenview and shot angle but they aren't always in the right place. A Torges tree seat works nice but once again there is a always an appropriate tree in the right spot.  

A folding chair with backrest set up in a slight depression with some good cover is one of the most effective methods you can imagine.  Wind in your face and sun at your back nicely and comfortable sitting with your feet on terra firma, your day back beside you and a good book, the wind and cold greatly diminished compared to the numbing cold of a treestand.  

Find a trail and don't sit on it but sit as far away as you can comfortably shoot (20/25 yards) and wait....you'll be surprised how many animals you get a crack at.