I'm relatively new with the bow but it's been my experience that hunting from a stand is more successful that still hunting or spot and stalking whitetails. Mule deer however is just the opposite.

I stand hunt 90% of the time, however, if it is damp and a good breeze, I will do some slipping around.

I used to hunt exclusively from a stand, whether up or down. Then, back in the mid '70s, when I started to hunt the Adirondacks I began still hunting in earnst. I learned my lesson up there after the first two years of no deer sightings. I first hunted there the same way I hunted in the Southern Tier of NY.

Find sign-scrapes, rubs, trails, and set up accordingly. Problem is, in the Mountains, you could sit a week on a scrape line and not see a deer. Same way with trails. You have to go find them each day, and I developed into a pretty good still hunter. Have had great success since.

Pretty much it all depends on the conditions and gut feeling.

I agree with Wingbone. Where I hunt on public land theres a guy who still hunts with a bow in the woods and he really disturbs everything.He tromps around, he's not quiet at all and doesn't care about other hunters in area. He upsets a lot of hunters who have put in the time to scout and put stands up.

No doubt still hunting is much more enjoyable, but when you are talking under 20 deer per square mile and many square miles of woods, and for me a bow range of 25 yds, sill hunting with a bow won't put much (any) meat on the table. I have, however, converted over to still hunting during the muzzleloader season - almost got one last year and it was a blast. The term "still hunting" is often misused to mean simply walking through the woods - that type of "still hunting" is actually just a silent drive. Real still hunting is stalking and sneaking at such a slow rate (maybe 1 yd per minute) with favorable wind and enough breeze and dampness to cover your sound. Ideally, one should wear some sort of ghillie suit as well - I am going to make up a blaze-orange compliant homemade suit this year for my muzzleloader hunt.

Perhaps after I have some more experience with still hunting with a ML, I will give a try with the bow. And I will need a bit better bow that is reliable at 30 yds.

My brother used to still hunt with a bow in SW WI before the CWD days. Deer were as thick as fleas, he had a bow range of over 30 yds, and he made up zig-zag trails on his own land that cut through the limited heavy cover holding the many deer. He did well, but it in no way matched what I face up in NW WI.

Ground hunting most of the time,but if it's wet out I will give it a try if I get bored.

i stand hunt and still hunt with my bow mostly stand thuogh with gun and muzzle loader i mostly still hunt

You have a better chance of seeing God than killing a deer while still hunting on the State Land that I hunt. :nonono2: Tree stand or forget it.