Why do you ground hunt for Whitetails?

[Bill Turner]

Where I hunt, public land with a 30 to 45 minute hike in, it is just more practical. I still set a stand on occasion, but at 68 years young I feel a lot more comfortable on the ground.    

[arrowslinger22]

I've been closer to white tails while on the ground than in trees.  I started after falling out of a ladder stand (fell asleep) wearing a line mans harness and nearly died before being able to cut myself free and drop to the ground.  Now I only wish I had started being a ground pounder sooner.

[Roger Norris]

I do both. I do what the terrain demands.....lots of great hunting spots DON'T have a tree handy. Having confidence in your ground hunting ability opens up more areas to hunt.

[Ric O'Shay]

Bad knee. The spirit is willing to climb a tree, but the knee says NO,NO,NO.

[Michael Salter]

My reasons are similar to those above. Don't like heights, easier to adjust to conditions, better view of the target, can move if needed, much more portable, and don't own a tree stand. But it's all personal.

One of my favorite in the woods shots is to sit on a butt pad and lean against a tree with my feet going down hill. Now the first thing one will find that all bows will hit the ground, but not when the bow is canted the wrong way.  Although it sounds like a scary thing to try, but with a bunch of practice shots doing the reverse cant, I find that I am plenty accurate out to twenty yards with any length longbow.  That low silhouette combined with a Big Jim 'bush in a bag' has gotten me a couple of deer that were much closer than twenty yards and totally unaware of my presence.

[Wudstix]

Primarily restricted to tree stand/tripod or ground blind. Hunt a military reservation and restricted to no walk/stalk hunting. Have sent up my hunt spot witnin 150 yards of center of 600 meter circle.  The only place I can afford to hunt in TX.
   :rolleyes:      

[Fattony77]

Same reasons as many above....
Mobility, intimacy, challege, etc. but, the most important to me is, that fat guys don't belong in trees....  

[mcgroundstalker]

What's A Tree Stand?.......  :rolleyes:

Some of the best times I've had hunting was when I found a spot to sit down, close my eyes and listen...... Just to wake-up some time later with wildlife all around me... Go Figure!

... mike ...

[monk]

Its about the challenge.

[ron w]

It's fun and I have never fallen from a stool or a stump while sitting on it.

[ChuckC]

Ha.      I fell asleep in the turkey blind last week.  The tripod seat tipped over and I went flying, as did the blind, which actually sommersaulted along with me.  Wish I had a video of THAT one.   Try that in a tree !
ChuckC

Back int permanent stand days, guys were building large arial hotels around here, complete with padded shag carpeting and shelves to hold your food and beverages.  There were also numerous stories of bowhunters waking up halfway to the ground.

[Bobaru]

Asbell reminded me what I used to do.  So I started doing it again more often.  

I ground hunt because I want to hunt where the deer are, not where the trees are.  Hunting where the trees are sub-optimizing, in my opinion.  

So far, it works okay for me.

[Rustic]

I like the challenge...

[DennyK]

I choose ground hunting for the past few years. I primarily because hunt alone and if I had a tree stand accident I would be putting family, friends and those trying to find me in a real bad situation.

I have grown to love ground hunting and have had success. To me it's a rush to have deer and turkeys a few feet from you and never know you are there. I primarily have used ASAT, however this year I will be and have used a 3D leafy suit from Big Jim. Last thursday a had hen turkeys less then 10 yards from me and never knew I was there will very little to nothing between us. This ground hunting stuff is a riot.    Denny

[tracker12]

I started hunting deer out of a ground blind three years ago in earnest and each year I become more confident in the setup.  I mostly hunt urban deer and find they do not pay much attention to the blind.  I lil the way it is easier to get both lungs and the scent containment is excellent.  Except for the ease it is for someone to walk off with it if they like it more than I do I see only pluses.

[Red Beastmaster]

1. I no longer have access to the property where I used to hang stands.

2. Most of my hunts are quickie after work type hunts with no time for stand set up.

3. When the back and knee flare up getting in a tree is not possible.

4. After reading countless accounts of fall accidents I realized it was time to just sell them all. I don't want to be another statistic.

[bamboo]

Originally posted by woodchucker:
I hunt almost totaly from the ground. Last year, I didn't use my ladder stand once...

 

...still in the briars next to the fence chuck??LOL!!!be careful with that contraption!!

--don't get too inspired bucky--I'm currently running 16 tree stands and a climber on our private ground--but very often we call and rattle from the ground as well as scout/hunt on public land during the season!

--it isn't rocket science at all ! a lot more can go WRONG is all--but when that buck comes into 12 yrds up wind and looks the other way!!!well to me that's livin!!

[Archie]

I find tree stand hunting very boring, and although I love to watch the forest come alive around me, I don't end enjoy being confined to a tree.

Funny story... My first year deer hunting, I watched a big doe come in and lie down about 40 yards from my tree perch.  I hated being stuck up there!  I didn't know you can't sneak up on deer, so I actually climbed down my tree and stalked up within about 10 yards of that girl, with a tree blocking me from her sight.  I actually drew, shot, and missed her!  Talk about beginner's luck!