Ground hunting is definitely the most exciting way to hunt whitetails in my opinion. Attention to details and timing is paramount to be able to consistently harvest whitetails from the ground.
G. Fred Asbell's book, The Ground Hunter's Bible is a great starting point and a must read for anyone passionate about the ground game. But at the end of the day, it takes time in the timber and experiences on the ground to learn the ins and outs of the ground game.
A ghillie suit is an amazing tool for the ground hunter. I use one religiously while on the ground. I've trimmed mine down to be just a jacket / hood, as I'm usually tucked into thick cover that hides the lower half of my body. This also allows for easy movement or repositioning if the wind shifts.
As mentioned in previous posts, cover and concealment behind you is much more important than in front. However a nice pair of pruning shears is the ground hunter's best friend. I like to trim hardwood branches, saplings, bushes as I approach my final 40 yards to my target hunting area. I trim them at an angle like you would a rose, so I can stick them in the ground in front of me or fill in some gaps behind me for my final ambush location. You can have an awesome hide built within 5 minutes using this pruning method that will offer great cover. EZ Kut pruning Shears are amazing. The owner of the company (Avid Elk Traditional Archery Hunter )gave me a demonstration on the different cutting methods for this tool. You can effectively cut just under 2" diameter branches with this pruning shear by using the spiral cut method. Anyway, I'm going off on a tangent. Check them out, great shears and I feel naked without them in the timber.
Seats are also a hot topic for the ground hunter. Waldrop PacSeat, Nif-T-Seat, Torges Seat, and the list goes on and on. I'm a bit of a minimalist when it comes to entering the woods, so the Nif-T-Seat is my all time favorite. Small, Compact, versatile, and quiet. If I'm going to be sitting for 4+ hours in a ground location, I'll opt for the Waldrop pacseat. I like the Nif-T-Seat's short 6' pole for short ambush sits where I know I won't be sitting for more than the last 2 hours of the day. I sit on my knees and lean my butt back on the seat with the 6" post in between my feet. No pressure on my ankles / knees, so no numb legs 30 minutes into the sit, and you're in a great stable shooting position at all times.
Hunting from the ground is all about the details. You can go into an area blind and have a successful hunt if you take your time setting up your ambush and you don't rush getting in there. I like to slowly approach the general area of where I will be hunting. Stopping often, and evaluating the 40 to 50 yards ahead of me. I like to pay very close attention to my entrance path, as not to lay scent over a potential travel route. I also pay very close attention to the wind direction for my entrance. I avoid dusting bedding areas with my scent on my entrance at all costs. Once you've picked out your target hiding spot from 40 yards away, I slowly pick my way to that location, trimming hardwood branches, bushes, and saplings along the way and tucking them under my arm. (about 3 feet tall) Once at the final hiding spot I fill in the gaps with the trimmed lengths. I tend to gravitate toward blow-downs / Corn Fields / Tall Weeds & Grasses / etc. I like to have a good base to start my hide from. I rarely simply hunker up to the base of a lone large tree in the middle of the timber, but I've heard of some hunters having success with this tactic. I target hardwood (oak) limbs as my favorite impromptu hide material. They will hold their leaves on the branch throughout the season even after being trimmed from the tree. So if I want to use that ambush again sometime later in the season, I'll have a good base to start from with only having to fill in minor gaps or propping up some of the limbs that have fallen over.
Ever-calm has also been a great addition to my ground hunting tool box over the last few seasons. I've had mature animals cross my entrance trail without batting an eye. However it is not a solution for deer downwind. That is game over, no magic bullet for that. But ever-calm has definitely gotten me out of some sticky situations with whitetails during brief wind shifts, or deer coming in from down-wind and lightly spooking out of the area instead of blowing out the whole wood-lot.
Some common mistakes I made my first couple seasons on the ground and things I currently do today can be seen below:
http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af200/mzirnsak/33359631-4524-44B3-9F8F-538164220C7A.jpg EVENING HUNT - Animals moving from bedding to food source.
Shooting Lane 1: Wait for this shot. Allowing the animal to pass before starting my draw sequence. This will allow for a quartering away opportunity with minimal risk of getting caught drawing.
Shooting Lane 2: Getting excited and trying to force this shot. Drawing as the deer approached being broadside. This is a sure fire way of getting busted early in your draw cycle. I still make this mistake sometimes. I got busted this season by starting my draw cycle too early instead of letting the animal pass a little further. I get trigger happy sometimes
Shooting Lane 3: If you want the broadside shot, position your opportunity with "head blockers" (standing timber / other obstructions) that the deer will pass through allowing you to draw when the animal's head is behind the obstruction.
Shooting Lane 4: Much like #2, most likely will get caught drawing. No "head blockers" and the deer will catch movement in their peripheral from the broadside position unless they are looking away from you. Doable, and have harvested animals at this position, but there is always the risk of the animal being aware of their peripheral sight picture catching your movement.
Shooting Lane 5: Instead of rushing #4, set up for number 5. Quartering away, and could also use the head blocker.
High level approaches to this hunting area:
The northern hunting position will be suitable for a SW / S / SE wind. For a mature animal, Playing with a SSW / WSW / W wind may put the wind just barely enough in his favor for him to come out in daylight hours. But you better be sure he will approach using the southern travel route! The two northern travel routes may be a little to in his favor giving him enough of your scent..
The southern hunting position will be suitable for NW / N / NE wind. Same discussion can occur for a mature animal hunting a very finicky dangerous wind direction if your scent will barely skirt his approach into your ambush location.
Notice the entrance routes for the hunter. There is no dusting of your scent into bedding areas. Both the north and south hunting positions will be good for an eastern based wind for the evening hunt and a western based wind for the morning hunt. However, a mature animal is usually the last one out to the food source. So if you have an eastern wind for an evening hunt, there is a chance the doe and immature animals that make it to the food source early may catch your scent before the mature animal reaches your ambush location. (something to consider)
For a morning hunt, the southern hunting position may not be ideal with that entrance route, since you'll be exposed to the deer feeding in the early morning hours as you make your entrance skirting the open food source. (bean field / clover field / etc) The northern position would be a great morning tactic if you get a Southern based wind direction, so you can catch them heading back from the food source to bedding.
Notice no foot falls for the hunters entrance cross the deer travel routes.
These were just some random thoughts I had on the subject. Obviously this map is "best case" scenarios. Deer moving along the northern and southern border of the map is almost unavoidable depending on terrain features. Using terrain features like bodies of water / high walls / etc to prevent a rogue deer from entering the picture and putting the hunt at risk are always things that I look to capitalize on. (picture a large pond just south of the southern hunting position)This would prevent a deer from catching you from downwind.
One major thing for the ground hunter to consider that I still to this day struggle with on a hunt by hunt basis is cutting too many shooting lanes for my ambush hide. Take for example the southern hunting location. Sometimes I want to cut a lane to shoot just right of lane #3, cut a lane for #3, #4, and #5. This sometimes exposes you too much. Especially if you're drawing on a deer at position 5, but there is a deer at position #3. The deer at #3 sometimes will bust you, never allowing you to get the shot off at #5. I constantly have to remind myself that I am choosing to hunt from the ground because this area is most suited for this type of tactic which puts me in the best position to harvest. NOT because I want to see a lot of deer. The best most successful ambush hunts that I've had came from brushing myself in to the point that I could barely see up the trail for approaching deer and only have a single shooting lane cut. (barely seeing position #3 and to the east, but only physically being able to shoot position #5) This allows you to draw on the deer at #5 regardless of other deer or eyes around the woodlot, your movement is concealed.
Can you tell I like ground hunting??!
Shoot straight and good luck.
Topic: How many of you guys hunt on the ground, Pictures and stories welcome! Questions here (Read 2030 times)
