anyone bow/gun hunt without blind or tree stand?
07-06-2009, 05:42 AM
#11
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Coralville, IA. USA
Posts: 3,802
RE: anyone bow/gun hunt without blind or tree stand?
About 95% of my hunting is done on the ground with no artificial blind. I use trees and brush for cover, and I don't wear camo. For early muzzleloader season I usually hunt in jeans and a t-shirt with my blaze orange vest and cap. To be honest, I think people overestimate the importance of camo for deer. I've sat still against a tree and watched deer mill about 30 yards away and never notice me. It's when you move that they bust you. I think scent is also a good way to spook deer, or at the least make them wary. I will use the spray scent killer stuff on my boots and outer wear, but I refuse to spend hundreds on the scent block clothes. What's more important is just being mindful of the wind and staying downwind as much as possible. That being said, I shot a big doe once that had come straight to me from downwind, apparently following my scent. At the time I had a big dip of Kodiak wintergreen in and had been spitting on the ground next to me. She walked straight in to me with the wind in her face, and I drilled her from 25 yards away. I think that she was curious about the strange but not alarming smell and wanted to see what it was. Oops!
Mike
Mike
07-06-2009, 10:06 AM
#12
Fork Horn
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 108
RE: anyone bow/gun hunt without blind or tree stand?
I hunt only from the ground without any blind, but what mother nature suppplies such as a windblow tree, bush or just lean or set up against a tree with my back. I have seen and harvested lots of deer that way.
07-06-2009, 10:36 AM
#14
Spike
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location:
Posts: 52
RE: anyone bow/gun hunt without blind or tree stand?
Hunting without a treestand during gun season is not bad at all. Actually I like it better without a treestand half the time because you can see more sometimes, and it gets old moving the stands. I've tried to hunt the ground during bow season but it can def. be tough at times, especially if most of what you hunt is a thicket. I've killed deer on the ground with my bow but most of the time your just better off in the treestand during bow season.
07-13-2009, 11:07 AM
#16
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Garfield NJ USA
Posts: 3,067
I hunt from blinds and tree stands in the early morning and late afternoon. For some reason I always seem to have better luck on spot and stalks when I'm out moving around during midday, like between 10 and 2. I can only sit for so long, after three hrs or so I need to get up and move around to get the joints going and the blood pumping. I personally like to cover ground when out hunting, it's not unusual for me to cover five miles or so on one of my walks.
07-14-2009, 01:31 PM
#19
Fork Horn
Join Date: May 2009
Location: ALABAMA
Posts: 281
I have hunted like that before and saw a couple of deer, but if you ask me I prefer the old treestand.The best thing to do when sitting on the ground is to get a light weight stool and find a place where no one can put a stand up at and do some sitting and waiting.
