ground hunting?
 

anybody bow hunt from the ground for whitetails?? i plan on buying a stand but how neccasary are they to bow hunting? i take deer from the ground rifle hunting all the time...but i dont have to draw back or anything...i think it would be difficult unless in a blind...and i dont want to carry a blind 2 miles to my spot and set it up in the dark...i rather carry a 20lb treestand and climb a tree in the dark...anybody ground hunt? any succsess?

RE: ground hunting?
 

I've made it work a few times. Just take a folding chair and sit 20 yards from a trail. Set up behind bushes to make a kind of natural blind. And sit very very very still. Practice from sitting positions too. It works fine. Deer smell you more from the ground too.

"Hey ya'll, watch this"

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RE: ground hunting?
 

I hunt from the ground quite a bit during the early season. There are some advantages and some disadvantages. I find early in the season I can get away with it a little easier because of better cover and the deer aren't as spooky.
Advantages are, wider kill zone to shoot at, if a deer is sighted you may be able to sneek in on it, you don't have to hunt the same spot every time you go out, and its safer.
Disadvantages would be, easier for deer to find you, scent, when a group of deer come in but you don't want to shoot one of them because your waiting for the big one, it's very hard to have them stay around very long with out them finding you. And once they find you they'll make a big stink and then your chances of having the big one come around are slim.
I've killed a quite a few deer from the ground, but I get busted by them alot more when hunting this way. Not every time, but more from the ground than I do when I am in my tree stand.

The spirit of the woods is like an old good friend

RE: ground hunting?
 

mauser I got my first bowkill from the ground, I have hunted from the ground for years and from stands also, I like the ground though.

There are several things that are crucial hunting from the ground #1 is the wind, when on the ground if a deer is, or gets downwind of you, you are BUSTED!

#2 is if you can find it is a large tree in front of you, this allows you to move and draw undetected, the secret is the second you spot the deer, freeze, wait until it puts its head down and then step directly to the tree, with the bow down on the side of the tree you will be shooting from, if the deers view is blocked entirely at this point you can draw and aim into your shooting lane, when the deer enters it, release. The nice thing about this if the deer decides not to enter the shooting lane in a timely manner, the tree will be bloccking his view of you, you can let down without getting busted and draw as he enters the lane.

#3 You should have multiple shooting lanes, but enough cover to at a minimum break up your profile and cover behind you to prevent you being silhouetted.

To me the biggest advantage to shooting from the ground is 90% of the time you will always be able to stand and draw exactly like you practice, unlike a tree stand where unless the deer is staight ahead of you, you will have to turn your torso to take the shot.

You need to practice shooting on one knee also, once you master shooting from one knee you will find you are more accurate than standing.

The Tazman aka Martin Price
Founder and President of
Virginia Disabled Outdoorsmen Club

RE: ground hunting?
 

in reading the reply and if you read my last messge to other question that doe was taken and the other coming into the corn in a 5'pod stand to get me above the corn....i believe with out a doubt.
cover your face more the anything dont make eye contact...keep your movements slow....pick the right camo mix it.
where i hunt cornfields and cattails mossyoak dosen't cut it.
point being i put that pod couple of corn rows in and basicly sit on top of the corn stalks...there is nothing to break up myself but the sky....and it has worked every year. as a thought, spook a few and learn from the mistakes. thanks tobyn

RE: ground hunting?
 

Scent control is very, very difficult. Regardless of what you do this is tuff to not get scented. With that said I hunt from the ground 50 percent of the time. When you get a deer at 5 yards, that is a huge rush.

I am not a big fan of heights so I have had to master ground hunting.

many times I will have deer come to about twenty yards but will not come any closer. They can get real nervous even if they don't see or smell you, they know something is wrong.

The other challenge is being able to draw and shoot going undetected. If only one deer comes in it is easier draw. If you have multiples it can be tough. I have had instances early this year when I had 7-8 deer around. It seemed like one of them was always looking in my direction tring to find the my slightest movement that would give me away.

RE: ground hunting?
 

these guys know what they are talking about.
After hunting gun seasons for so long and because of college and high school not being able to hunt as much archery as I wanted, this was my first year at a lot of hunting in early archery season, and I have one word.......frustrating, but I did learn a lot from this season which I will use next year.
Hunting from the ground with a bow is a whole new ball game. Like has been said before, the wind is a very big part, but even if the wind is in your favor, one slightly off movement and your morning can be shot. One thing you will have to amke sure you can do from the ground is pull your bow back smoothly and in a fluid motion, not as herky jerky as i did this season and spook a couple of deer, lol
Natural cover is a great idea, whatevert you can do, whether it be piling up limbs, sitting in deadfalls, etc. but just make sure you have enough room to pull your bow back and enough space to get an arrow through.
Most of the other info has been covered in here, lol slow movements, the wind, early season scouting, patience.

Jennings Buckmaster Bow
.50 Cal Thompson Center Renegade

RE: ground hunting?
 

I never hunt in a tree stand. WHat i do is buy 24 bales of hay and make a big square stack them 3 high and sit in the middle. THe deer do not smell u because the scent the bales give off and they never see me either. Ive had deer at 4 and 5 feet away and never saw me or smelt me.

RE: ground hunting?
 

I hunt from the ground also. Mainly from over grown fencerows. The early season is the best time to do this. After the foilage has fallen off the trees and brush, it can be next to impossible to draw and go undetected. But if you do your scouting well before the opening of archery season and know where the trails are, you can score well ground hunting. I do take a folding chair with me and a pair of gardening shears. I find the trail I want to hunt and look for a cedar tree on the downwind side. I slide under the limbs and set up my chair with my back against it so that I have to look over my left shoulder down the trail to see the deer coming at me. (It helps if you know what direction they will be traveling down the trail) Then I use the shears to cut off just enough branches to make a shooting lane. I use the cutoffs by setting them up to help hide me. And the added scent of freshly cut cedar helps hide my scent. Your biggest problems are the wind and movement. Always hunt with the wind in your favor. And when you pratice, pratice sitting absolutely still for 2 or 3 minutes at a time. It's a lot harder than you think. OH! And when you get your bow. Don't get it with too much poundage. Because you may have to sit with it at full draw for a long time. Get it set so you can hold it at full draw with ease. I hope this helps. Good Luck. Sorry this was so long.

KEEP IT LEGAL. KEEP IT SAFE. OR WE MAY NOT GET TO KEEP IT AT ALL.

RE: ground hunting?
 

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.

RE: ground hunting?
 

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.

RE: ground hunting?
 

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

RE: ground hunting?
 

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!

RE: ground hunting?
 

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.

RE: ground hunting?
 

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.
Visit My Updated Hunting Page

RE: ground hunting?
 

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..

RE: ground hunting?
 

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!

RE: ground hunting?
 

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.

RE: ground hunting?
 

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

RE: ground hunting?
 

Cool pics AK.

Mauser06, Check out sneaky leaves http://www.turkeyhuntingsecrets.com/...mo-3d-leaf.htm

I pin these leaves to my hunting clothes and deer, turkeys and people walk by and they cant see me.