Short answer - I prefer setting up in a tree stand. My guess is that since about 1975 I have hunted 96% of my time from a tree stand of some ilk. However tree stands are not always practical, and sometimes flat impossible for the lack of trees!

I often use blinds. Total enclosure blinds can provide at least some relief from tough weather, and I am convinced I can get away with a bunch more movement when I am in a ground blind, as long as I am quietly moving.

When I hunt the woods IHAVE to use a climber, and I usually get a good ways up there. The steep ridges and deep hollows would laugh at me if I brought in a ground blind. If I hunt the fields and food plots I sit in an elevatedshooting house. Ground blinds just wouldn't work too well for my location.

A hunter can enter a ground blind without being seen as often as entering a tree stand. A ground blind can't be stolen if you take it with you. The drawbacks to a ground blind are your scent is being pushed by the wind at the same elevation as the deer. A ground blind is at a deers eye level.

i probablt prefer blind
elevated blind would be the best of both worlds

i have been the most succesful in the treestand because when you r in a stand and if you are high enough then most of the time the deer cant smell you

The first question to be answered is, where are you going to hunt (i.e. over a specific scrape, food source, whatever). Once I find the spot I'm going to hunt, I look for a tree that I can get my climber in and have a few decent shots. If there's no suitable tree, then I choose a place to construct a ground blind (I build my blinds from the materials that are there; I'm too cheap to buy one, too lazy to carry it in, and don't really care for the concept anyhow). I much prefer the tree stand, but harvested my largest buck (9 pt.) from the ground.

I prefer a ground stand (a folding chair). Most areas I hunt have enough elevation change that, with a gun, you do not need to be elevated to get a clear shot. I like to sit my chair by something that will break up my profile and be 50 to 70 yards away from the travel route that I am hunting. Here is an example of the type of map I use (a small part of one). It shows where I might sit, depending on wind direction. Every one in my party has the larger version of my map and we use it to get seperation and so everyone knows where everyone else is. The maps that I actually use look about like this only they are drawn from arial photos from the internet.

Bob

Both, NEVER limit the amount of options you have

you pretty much pinned it!

I think that you can be successful in both if you take the steps to be successful. I agree with Mottz that there are certainly pro's and con's to both methods. Obviously the terrain you are hunting has a huge part in weather you should choose one over the other along with the weather conditions. However, I would never limit myself to one method. To limit myself to a treestand during lousy conditions and come up empty when a ground blind would have given me a higher chance for success would be stupid.