My first year and a half of hunting I hunted on the ground.
Inever saw anything while I was still hunting, but when I set up a tripod stool near a trail that had fresh tracks, droppings, and a few good rubs I had 2 shot opportunities.

One was too early (before shooting hours opened) and the other I had 4 does walk straight toward me. I got busted when I tried to draw, but I never got winded or heard. When near a trail, try to stay out of their line of sight.

It's tough on the ground: hard to see things that you can hear are there, few openings to shoot through, and it's easy to get seen,heard, smelled.

Good luck.

Keep 'em all in the Bull.

I have yet to try to put a tree stand on a cactus so all my hunting is done on the ground. Don't let the fact that it can be harder deter you. The challenge is a big part of what makes hunting great.

thanx guys...i will practice shooting like that when i start and maybe instead of taking a stand up over all these hills i have to to hunt behind my house try ground hunting...maybe on a wet morning i will try some still hunting...i didnt think so many people ground hunted with a bow! i hope to get good enough to turkey hunt with a bow after i take a few with my shotgun and know i can hit the kill zone of a turkey easy...that sounds fun...its a rush to have them in shotgun range let alone bow range! thanx for the replies

He said in his original post that he wanted to purchase a ground blind yet no one has commented on them yet. I want to encourage you to invest in one of the pop up blinds as it is worth it. The problems of deer seeing your draw are almost eliminated. Make sure it has a blacked out interior to keep the deer from seeing your silhouette when the sun is behind you. There's also some major scent containment quality to their use. I have one and used it this season and set it in a fairly open area to take advantage of several trails. A buck fed downwind behind me and stayed within 30 yards but was fidgety. He walked out of the scent vector and stuck around. I think my human scent was so small that he figured he was far out of harm's way. All deer upwind came closer and were killable. If firearms seasons overlap be sure to take a piece of orange to hang nearby. The danger is these things fool other hunters too!

I bowhunt 90% from the ground. Sometimes I sit on a small 3 legged stool. I set up in a laurel bush or with a large tree behind me. You have to break up your outline. If you sit in the open they will spot you when you try to draw.

I have taken many deer while sneaking down old logging roads.

Around here we have very steep ravines that drop off into creek bottoms. The deer like to travel the creek bottoms. I look for places where the deer trail goes real close to the steep hillside and I set up above the deer just like being in a treestand.

You have to really try to be scent free on the ground and if the deer get downwind of you less than 50 yards away you are busted.

I take about 1/2 my deer from the ground. But like others said, using a treestand is much easier. It's hard to draw back, a whole lot easier to be spotted and smelled, etc. I'd recommend 3-d camo if you do hunt on the ground, it makes a big difference for me.
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i said i do not want to use a blind in my original post...i rather use a tree stand but some spots id like to give ground hunting a whirl..like some spots beat trails come on a ridge of a creek and theres 30yds of hill above the trail i can hide on and more than likely see deer...and its kinda thick and no big trees that i can put a stand on..i think it will be a perfect set up and i plan to try it because its a 15 min walk from my door...come home from school grab my bow and go...sit until dark...i think i might build a ghillie suit for turkey hunting and maybe i cand do something to the left arm so the burlap doesnt get in the bow string and where it then to..i seen a guy in one i crow hunted with and he disappeared..i walked by him 4 times and would kept looking ifi didnt see him move...he didnt even try...just leaned up against a tree...i think this spring i will go back and set up a log jam for me to hide in and use that as a natural blind...i know i will hunt there because its so close and i may not be driving for the first day maybe even month of bow season and it would be perfect back there...i think i am going to try that...thanx guys..

A good pop-up blind is hard to beat I use and
swear by mine a Penthouse from Ameristep and am
replacing it with this years model with the scent
control and dark interior the only thing hard is
setting it up and leaving it for the deer to get
used to but thats the chance you take!

I also hunt from the ground 90+% of the time. I enjoy the wide view a treestand affords, but there is nothing like hunting light and mobile on the ground for whitetails. There's a sense of unencumbered freedom that comes when you head out with just your bow and arrows and whatever you can fit comfortably into your pockets, skulking about the woods on the same level as your quarry. Ground hunting is more difficult, but to me it is more invigorating than sitting in a treestand. There's something magic about being at eye level with a living, breathing, moving deer; close enough to see its whiskers and eyelashes, close enough to hear it breathe, close enough to smell it.

I enjoy hunting from natural blinds as opposed to the cumbersome man-made "tents" available. That includes using anything from large trees, ditches, creekbeds, brush, blowdowns, tall weeds, cropfields, or anything else than can provide natural cover for the hunter. Sometimes a hunter only needs to slip behind one of these features; other times he may use a pair of pruning snips (invaluable to the ground hunter) to clear out a section of brush to hide in; still other times he may construct more elaborate blinds prior to the season by piling up logs and/or brush. I sometimes augment natural cover with a small piece of camo fabric I keep stuffed in a cargo pocket.

By far my favorite methods of hunting are stillhunting and stalking. Nothing compares to the excitement and challenge of trying to slip up on wary creatures. And certainly nothing compares to the moments when you do take game...overcoming the odds with your own prowess, even keel on their playing field. Due to the rainly weather we had this season, I was lucky enough to do alot of that with the ground being damp and quiet.

Though I do spook more deer hunting from the ground, I seem to encounter more than I would from a treestand. I suppose this owes to being able to hunt where the deer are and not just where a treestand fits, and to being able to slip silently into position without the racket made by hanging a stand. I have taken deer as close at 10 feet from the ground and have had them pass at arm's length on several occassions. (Though I've always been out of the appropriate sex tag when they do that...I swear, they "know".)

As evidence that ground hunting does work (and to perhaps inspire you to give it a go), I'll submit these photos. Here is a barrel chested 8-point I shot on a stalk at 18 yds last year. He nearly nocked me down after I shot him, charging past me at arm's length in the swampy creekbottom I was hunting in.


And here is an 8-point I shot this year at 9 yds while hunkering down in a drought damaged portion of a cornfield, perhaps 40 yards from the wood's edge.



If you can, try to get in some squirrel or groundhog bowhunting before next archery season rolls around. There is alot of similarity in stalking between small game and whitetails, and it is great fun and practice.

Nice pics AK. I too hunt for squirels with my bow. Never tried hunting ground hogs, but I have taken a few rabbits. It's very good practice and fun too.
Don't care for man made blinds either. Just my preference. The last few years around where I live ground blinds have become very popular. Seems almost every farmers field around here has several man made hunting shacks bordering the edges. I'm sure its nice, especially when its cold out to sit in one of those, but to me its just not hunting. Might just as well stay in your house and watch out the window. Just my opinion and to each his own!
Well I better get heading out to the woods. Sunrises in about 45 minutes Good hunting to you all!

The spirit of the woods is like an old good friend