Anyone had a a successful hunt doing this?
I figured some big bucks have been taken this way and just wanting to glean any additional pitfalls I've never weighed
I couldn't imagine the case of "red belly" I'd suffer from a feat like that,much less scare everything in the woods in the process.
I keep saying "the next time I'm gonna" but next time comes and I hesitate and lose.....
I will say that smaller people move quieter than large people and more so in and out of trees I would think. I also notice that smaller deer move quieter than larger deer as well.
I have shot a couple of fair deer over the years.
I concur,Sittin and shootin is far better.... :)I've been a treestand junky my whole life and just prefer to start every DEER hunt that way first.
My query is to the people who are in a tree and have the option to climb down and if it worked out for them.
Sorry I tried to help. My point was yes, it is quite possible to move into position and kill a mature buck with a bow. I did not realize that point of origination was a big factor as logic indicates it is not.
And no, yours is was not the better question.
If I took your response of encouragement wrongly,I apologize.I need all the help I can get.
Maybe "stand" doesn't mean treestand to everyone so I may have muddle the thread up
Thanks for the reply
Good luck to you and hope you give it a successful try soon.
I tried one a few years ago in IL. About 10:00 I noticed a nice 10 pointer in the woods across the bean field tending a doe. I watched them for over an hour in that spot. Knowing he wouldn't leave her, and that we had some other family members coming back shortly to hunt more (they would walk right by there and spook them without knowing it) I gave it a try. He won that battle, the woods were thick and the only chance for a shot was to belly crawl over a little rise in the open field. Oh well, it was better than watching my dad or cousin run them off.
Typically I like to stay in my stand though. I've had too many times where I've gotten down for some reason and then watched a nice buck chase a doe right under my stand!
I feel better now that a bunch of people haven't been successful at doing it so maybe I will go after the next one,maybe I won't.
Thanks for all of the responses......
Some people think that it takes more patience to sit in a tree all day than to stillhunt/stalk. I disagree.
I treestand hunted for almost 30 years before I developed the patience to stillhunt. In fact, it wasn't until I had developed the patience and more importantly the mental state of mind and discipline to sit in a tree for 12 hours that I became even remotely successful stalking/stillhunting. If you stalk/stillhunt because you can't sit still, then you aren't going to be very successful with either method.
So I actually backed out, snuck back to my stand and continued to observe the buck from 80 yards out lol.
I did not shoot the buck that night.
I can believe that for plains and mountain states. Totally disagree for most deer hunting regions east of the Mississippi. Besides, if one places and hunts their stands properly...it becomes "sitting an waiting" (for the opportunity that will present itself) versus "sitting and hoping".
If you don't hunt out of treestands then it's gonna be hard to rationalize what you risk by losing your position when climbing down
Anybody else climbed down and attempt to shoot one off the ground?
But truth be told, that was back before I knew what I was doing as far as stalking/stillhunting. Looking back on it what I'd failed to do (or didn't know how to do at that time) is CHANGE MY MINDSET from that of a "watch and wait" to that of a "act like there's a deer just past where I cannot see" approach. I still may have blown it but I would probably have gotten closer.....maybe!
Side note: What got me started on the stalk type hunting was when I had a treestand that I disovered after hunting it a few times in the morning was that I was better served to wait until I could see before I went in to it. One time I killed a deer on the way in.....and I was hooked. Over the course of the next 3 years I went from treestand hunting most of the time to rarely if ever.
It ain't easy, but boy oh boy, is it addictive!
Exactly... which is one reason I do not understand how logic can dictate that point of origin (being in a stand) does not matter. Another being you have to be sure you won't be seen or make too much noise, etc. while getting out of said stand. This assumes of course we are talking a elevated stand (treestand).
1. Consider understory and it's possibility that you won't have a clear shot
before climbing down as the vantage point will change dramatically
2. Leaving your treestand to setup on a trail that an estrus doe just walked down is a consideration and has more documented success so far than stalking a buck
Ever since talking with you a few years back my hunts now actually begin when choosing a stand location. You taught me there is a lot more to stand hunting than just sitting. I now have more confidence in doing this than trying to get down and end up only educating the deer.
Again though, I could see it working with a more agile person with the right conditions. Heck we hunt at least some for the excitement so try it with that in mind.
Good luck!
Point of origin matters immensely and it's the crux of the whole post,the stalking part is after you've made the tough decision to climb down and risk yourself.
If you can't stalk then stalking is out anyway but guys who do both have decisions to make while still in the tree.
archery 95 has a good point and one I've used.Kinda like turkey hunting... if you don't spook him you can always come back the next day with the possibility of stand relocation or not,especially if a hot doe is running that area.
Others considerations are where you are in the season other deer etc.
Still wanting success stories guys, thanks
Both bucks utilizing early feed that would soon be unavailable, one an early dropping white oak, the other a green bean field days away from yellowing.
Both times the stalk was successful. Both times I blew the end game. Rushed the shot and missed
Now that I recall, there's a 3rd and 4th experience as well. Both open fields, one early October with a 2 year old munching clover, I killed him after closing to 80 and fronting him 50 yards closer.
Last was a presumed 4 year old. Same clover field. Stalked within 100, rattled him the rest of the way, and on closer inspection decided to pass a 25 yard shot
Bake
I have seen deer from my tree stand that didn't appear to be headed my way...and have therefore, quietly climbed down (once on the back side of the tree) and stalked them. I am not sure if I am actually stalking them though....as I more or less extrapolate their path, anticipate where or what they are headed towards, and move to an intercept point. I think that I can remember seven instances....went four for seven.....so it worked about half of the time.
I do remember that the once treestand had creaked when I was climbing in it....when I decided to stalk that deer, I lowered my bow on my lifeline rope, and actually descended on the lifeline, rather than risk climbing down the ladder.....that added to the excitement of the evening. I had never tried that before....
I've done some grizzlies like that but never whitetails I don't know why it wouldn't work though.
Sorry that this is not a success story, but hopefully it adds to the thread in a positive way.
I'm definitely gaining some confidence in trying some interception/calling/stalking or a combination of all three....when opportunity strikes
I was hunting some older growth hardwoods and had watched them for quite a while. I was certain that they would not be coming past my stand.....dang.
The Amish guy to the South killed him during gun season later that fall. He had busted the 6inch droptine off. Pete
I figured where he liked to take his does and kept hanging my stand closer. They caught me trying to hang my stand in near darkness. I grunted some and they walked away. They were most likely unsure of what I was.
At day break I observed him breeding his doe no more than one hundred yards away. This went on for better than two hours. I considered making a stalk. Instead I remained in stand.
All of a sudden the doe stands up and just walks away. The buck must have realized it was over. He left in a direction that would take him to a well used bedding area for does.
This brought him by my stand at 15 yards. He is now on my wall.
Not the success story you were looking for Steve, sorry. But this experience taught me I probably have a better chance remaining put, especially if I hung my stand taking such knowledge into account, and hunting the land in a "progressive" approach from the start of the season.
Like someone else above said, you know what you are doing. I figured it was OK to put this in given the slow down in responses. I waited so as to not take this off course too much. Thanks!
Playing to one's strength,confidence in stand placement would raise concerns on randomly climbing down because a hot doe skirted you and you want to set up on her trail.
I like Bake's climbing down with the option to call as a grunt tube,snort wheeze,,bleat can all be the magic that seals the deal if you can get them broadside.
Really nice bucks are rare and the temptation very strong to leave one's perch to go after it....I thought some open discussion on risk/benefits would reveal some things not pondered.
I think any consideration of climbing down would need to take in multiple factors. Season timing, time of day, risk of spooking, available cover, weather conditions, etc. etc.
The farm I spend the majority of my time on in November is simply not conducive to any type of stalks, at least not around my favorite rut stands. And I've hunted it for 17 or 18 years, and have had a chance to fine tune things in areas, to the point that I am confident in my setups, like Habitat for Wildlife stated.
For me to consider a stalk out of my favorite rut stands, the conditions would have to be perfect. Bedded buck, high wind or wet ground to cover noise, a ridge top or other visual break to cover movement, etc. And I'd still have to weigh the risk of spooking as well. If it was a deer I'd never seen or gotten pictures of, maybe a roamer, the risk of course is less. If it's a buck I know is a resident, the risk is higher, don't want to spook him off the farm
Early and late season I generally do a lot of hunting on other farms, where I don't keep pre-set stands, and where I'm WAY less concerned about spooking bucks. And way less confident in stand setups. Essentially try to capitalize on feeding tendencies. In those situations, I still do take into account season timing, my available time to hunt, etc., but I'm way more likely to give a stalk a try, especially if I think the food source is likely to change, or I don't have any more days to hunt coming up quickly, etc.
For example, last year on December 6 or 7, I hunted a farm I only hunt late season. It's essentially a 150 acre CRP field, bounded on the north and west by thick brush and swamps, and crops to the south, a residence and pasture to the east. I spotted a good buck way at the other end. Stalkable. He was still acting rutty, big time, but I knew I had more days to hunt, more days to hunt this farm, and thought I stood a better chance of playing the moving-stands-chess-game.
I never did kill that buck with my bow, but stalked him and shot him on December 31st with a muzzleloader. I probably put 11 or 12 hunts into him, and the 3 times I saw him, he never entered the field at the same place, always entered after does, but from a different direction than the does. Cementum said he was 5 1/2, and where this farm is located especially, he didn't live that long by being careless
Bake
I peeked over the ditch bank and scanned the secluded part of the field and could not locate the deer. I thought for sure I had spooked him, so I slowly went back to the tree. I climbed up, waited about 10 minutes for the storm to pass and just as it did I looked into the field to see him making his way back out of the woods and into the field. It was the sickest feeling I have had while bow hunting whitetails. Had I just stayed put on the field edge I would have had a shot at a boone and crocket whitetail at less than 25 yards. I should have known that it was the hail, hard rain and thunder that had sent him back to the timber. The wind was perfect and my movements were out of his sight, any noise I would have made was surely masked by the storm. Bonehead move to not put all of that together...
The great thing about this place is people are judged by content contribution and a desire to be successful and helpful.Most here understand the "Wall of Fame" in very,very tall but only an inch thick!
Still looking pretty difficult to climb down and close the deal.....
