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Author Topic: Ground hunting is a blast  (Read 1131 times)

Online 1/4 away

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Ground hunting is a blast
« on: November 12, 2016, 08:47:00 AM »
Having never taken a deer from the ground I decided that this season I was going to spend the majority of my time hunting from the ground.  Since doing so I have had almost daily activity near me. I even saw a shooter buck about 60 yards away the other afternoon and tried enticing him closer with some grunting but he would have no part of it. It is definitely a learning curve but having deer eye to eye really gets your heart pumping. Hopefully it will all come together soon.
Do not follow where the path may lead.  Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.

Offline Bernie B.

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Re: Ground hunting is a blast
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2016, 09:02:00 AM »
Good luck! Being on the ground is really a different experience that can get your blood pumping quickly!


Bernie

Offline bobman

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Re: Ground hunting is a blast
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2016, 09:09:00 AM »
yep and you can get a good nap in safely

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Re: Ground hunting is a blast
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2016, 09:11:00 AM »
Good luck!

Bisch

Offline ron w

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Re: Ground hunting is a blast
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2016, 09:26:00 AM »
It can be frustrating but so much fun.....enjoy.
In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's there are few...So the most difficult thing is always to keep your beginner's mind...This is also the real secret of the arts: always be a beginner.  Shunryu Suzuki

Online Pine

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Re: Ground hunting is a blast
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2016, 10:06:00 AM »
I feel that I do much better on the ground .
Besides that , you don't have to pull your stuff up with a rope and all the rigamarole to get settled in .
It's easier to fool someone than to convince them they have been fooled. Mark Twain

If you're afraid to offend, you can't be honest.

TGMM Family of the Bow

Online wooddamon1

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Re: Ground hunting is a blast
« Reply #6 on: November 12, 2016, 10:11:00 AM »
I like the mobility, a quick set-up and you're hunting. That said, the wind can be a pain in the butt...

Good luck on your first ground deer, Fred!
"The history of the bow and arrow is the history of mankind..."-Fred Bear

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Re: Ground hunting is a blast
« Reply #7 on: November 12, 2016, 10:28:00 AM »
Thanks guys. Like I said earlier it has been a learning curve. Definitely playing the wind and keeping any movement on my part slow and to a minimum, but I have a good feeling about my location ( stream crossing) and I'm set up in a blowdown with a maximum shot distance of 15 yards. We will see    :bigsmyl:
Do not follow where the path may lead.  Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.

Offline Keefer

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Re: Ground hunting is a blast
« Reply #8 on: November 12, 2016, 11:41:00 AM »
Fred,
 I was going to text you this morning of my hunting spot with a small blow down ceder while sitting in my Huntmore 360 seat. I had doe about 45 yards and maybe a half hour later a small buck comes out of a Brier thicket but stayed about 38 to 45 yards out as well and I tried my best to get him to come a bit closer but he had that doe on his mind that came through earlier. I had my Ace recurve that Brandon made and thought today was the day.
 Glad you are liking those blow downs cause I use them as much as possible.Also makes it nice not having to haul a stand around.

Online Trenton G.

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Re: Ground hunting is a blast
« Reply #9 on: November 12, 2016, 11:54:00 AM »
Ever since I quit hunting with a compound, I have hunted almost exclusively from the ground. I've had a blast doing it. Being eye to eye with them is a whole different ball game. I've had deer literally within feet of me a couple times, something that never happened while I was in a tree. Granted, it's more challenging, but also much more satisfying.

Offline centaur

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Re: Ground hunting is a blast
« Reply #10 on: November 12, 2016, 02:02:00 PM »
I'm a ground hunter. This season has produced lots of close deer, just not the right one yet. But, having deer at 10 yards and under, eye to eye, them never knowing that the boogie man is so close by, is a hoot.
If you don't like cops, next time you need help, call Al Sharpton

Offline CRM_95

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Re: Ground hunting is a blast
« Reply #11 on: November 12, 2016, 04:00:00 PM »
I'm starting to like it more and more. I've got a Ghost Blind that I just started using this year. I like to be able to just throw it up and then move to a different spot for the next hunt.

Offline Keefer

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Re: Ground hunting is a blast
« Reply #12 on: November 13, 2016, 06:49:00 AM »
One of my favorite things to do is scout for those blow downs that have a pretty big root ball covered with dirt and moss etc.
 There is a farm I used to hunt that had several really nice root ball that looked like an umbrella and I would get under them and stay out of the rain and really liked it because it was beside a little stream and a hill side. I was able to take a seven point from that root ball set up several years ago and that buck never knew I was there.
 I always look for a root ball and get on the tree side and brush it if it's near a good trail.

Offline mcgroundstalker

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Re: Ground hunting is a blast
« Reply #13 on: November 13, 2016, 05:47:00 PM »
Glad you are having a great time from the ground... I've had action many times still hunting and stalking but no shot...   :archer2:  ...
"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies"

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Re: Ground hunting is a blast
« Reply #14 on: November 14, 2016, 12:23:00 AM »
I have shot over 40 deer all on the ground and without a blind.  I have spent time in trees and in tree stands, i had lots of deer come by.   I either missed, (three times),  could not shoot or did not want to shoot.   With my climbing Sabor tree stand affectionately called 'The Widow Maker' by my son, because of the way the seat part would jog crooked.  It seems I dropped my back quiver full of arrows about half the time, when I got all the up and was ready to sit and hunt.  I had to keep the mink oil fresh on my good leather boots, as I was constantly peeing on my boots.  Since I committed to staying on the ground by boots are in a constant mink oil starved condition.

Offline Irish Archer

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Re: Ground hunting is a blast
« Reply #15 on: November 14, 2016, 02:29:00 AM »
I enjoy reading these types of threads very much. Hope many others add to this.

Offline Sam McMichael

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Re: Ground hunting is a blast
« Reply #16 on: November 14, 2016, 09:24:00 AM »
Ground hunting is a whole lot of fun. This past weekend, I had two groups of deer come close, but they noticed me right away. Once, three came in to about 12 yards, and pointed me out like a bird dog, even though I was as still as a statue and the wind was perfect. The next day on a different stand, the same thing happened with five deer. It certainly makes the trip into the woods a real adventure, doesn't it?
Sam

Offline Russ Clagett

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Re: Ground hunting is a blast
« Reply #17 on: November 14, 2016, 09:25:00 AM »
I only hunt from the ground. Getting so close to deer that you can see them blink is a real rush.

The only real problem is drawing the bow with a live deer that close...especially if there is more than one. Trying to draw with that many eyes watching all around is tough, and lots of time it does not work out. You have never seen a wild deer jump naked and flee until you get busted THAT close to them....

But when it works, it really works, and it'll take you a while to calm down...

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Re: Ground hunting is a blast
« Reply #18 on: November 14, 2016, 03:23:00 PM »
When I am looking for a place to sit I look for, what I call, tree clusters.  sometimes these are a cluster of three or four basswoods, other times they are where the parent tree was either cut  or died and then three or four new tree grew from the same stump.  They are perfect open faced blinds.  Sitting in them can be a mechanical challenge.  Sometimes a strap on tree seat is the best, other times the Niftyseat or Torges seat, and once in a while just a butt pad will work.  Like the Iowa monster that beat me last week, he came in from the only place that I could not shoot in the convenient tree chair cluster, there are no guarantees.   When I am using thicker brush, tall weeds, standing corn or cedar shrubs, I prefer my Huntmore chair.   When my back is cooperating I most of the time strap the Nifty seat horizontilly to my off shooting side fully assembled with a stretchy belt run through the Nifty seat loop and over the seat bracket and a couple of times around the spike pointing  behind me.  It allows me to move  or sit depending on what I get into.  In real life situations, hunting from the ground requires that the archer have to ability to meld and work with what the situation calls for.   Ones shooting style plays a big part of this.  From a tree stand one is more often allowed to use their one shot, but from the ground many different types of shots may be required.   The old days archers practiced from every conceivable position to know what to expect from them selves.  Today, things have more of a target mentality, where everything is set up 'just so' and that is done with every shot.   From recurve to Hill style bow fluid adaptability is a bonus.  It may be needed to vary the bow cant or to vary the shot timing.   When hunting on the ground shot position and shot timing are major challenge that is controlled by situation and the turf.   For myself, I find that more often than not, being able to shoot rather quickly is the best way to go.  That is about one full second from the beginning of the draw to release, occasionally I can get by with a slower shot process.  But then I must consider, if I can hit with the faster tempo, what would I gain by shooting slower?   I have been caught trying to shoot deer in super slow motion too often.  They can see movement of any kind, slow or fast, I guess experience is the guide to decide for one's self what works best.   For myself when a deer is not aware of my position, a quicker shot, most often, will beat their reaction time, even when they pickup my drawing motion.

Offline YosemiteSam

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Re: Ground hunting is a blast
« Reply #19 on: November 14, 2016, 03:57:00 PM »
Tried a tree stand in AR once & didn't care for it much.  A deer walked by close but just out of sight (heard it walking & its hooves slopping in the mud).  Had I been on the ground, I could have had several shot opportunities but being up in the tree obscured it completely in the brush.  I kept kicking myself for getting into that tree stand where I couldn't at least try to close the distance a bit.  Rock clusters, wide trees, natural brush blinds, etc. have my vote if for no other reason than the ability to quickly and quietly discard it and move on when needed.  In my little experience, hunting is a game of adaptability and unpredictability.  In those situations, I want to be as adaptable and flexible as possible.
"A good hunter...that's somebody the animals COME to."
"Every animal knows way more than you do." -- by a Koyukon hunter, as quoted by R. Nelson.

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