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Hunting on the Ground

I was wondering, who here hunts mostly on the ground. I ask this, because I have gone to the ground myself, the last several years, not because I do not like being in the tree, but because it has been very effective, especially in late season.......

When I started to bowhunt in the 70's it was spot and stalk out west, and in Wis it was early hang on stands and folding EZ steps (remember those). My only fall was because of one of those.......

When DB first came out I got into that, buying one of their BS-5 blinds (best one they ever made imho). Shot a few nice deer out of it, thru the net. It was later stolen on private property two years ago, and I have not replaced it........

However I stayed on the ground. Before going into too much detail at this point, who else is into this?

Since I got my ghillie suit I hunt from the ground! It almost seems unfair. I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is how I started many years ago. There were no tree stands on the market back then that I know of. I am getting back into it more and more.

I had a DB and sold it. Replaced it with a Bone Collector. I don't use it much since I like to see what is around me. I do use it for rain or late season in the snow.

Most of my blinds now are native vegetation. I enjoy building them and hunting from them. It is so nice to slip in to a blind and slip out after the hunt. Less to carry and saves time too.

I went back to ground hunting and really enjoy it . Its more work , You need to build two blinds to cover each trail for changing winds .

Last year I had Deer walking by looking upon the trees for me . I feel more connected to nature on the ground .

I went back to ground hunting and really enjoy it . Its more work , You need to build two blinds to cover each trail for changing winds .

Last year I had Deer walking by looking upon the trees for me . I feel more connected to nature on the ground .

Okay so lets talk tactics......... I do build natural ground blinds, or if I am lucky and find the right spot, and have a dead fall that happens to be there, I am in luck.........

However even in the NF, a good buck will notice a change of landscape, even a subtle one...So I try to get some done in the spring, so they have time to settle in......

The problem with some of those, is baiting. It just changes deer movement so much, so I have to adjust for that......

My answer is a portable chair. It has to be light, quiet, have a back, for long sits..... I did buy a Hunt More Chair used from a guy for 100.00 it is a superior chair, but I still find it too heavy.....

Last year, I tried a chair from Bass Pro Shop.... Its called a Black Out, and I give it 4.5 stars out of 5. It has goose feet, to adjust for the changes in the ground. It adjust quietly to 20 inches in height, and when the height is set, it stays there. It has a back, it is all one piece, it folds together, in its own case, that slips over my shoulder, by its strap. Weight is 5 lbs. Cost w/o shipping was 74.00.....

Like Ruger says, when the wind changes what do you do, well I just move, so I get the best wind I can..

Movement is your killer, ground hunting the compound does shine, so with the stick, my release is quicker than from a tree, but the deer are so close........

Wise old Does sure notice landscape alterations . I do lot of web during late winter , spring , and during storms .

A storm just went through Merrill so I hustled out to finisha wind fall ground line .

Headed that way. I am not as stable as used to be on stand. Lowered my stands last year down to ten feet from 16'. I will see how it goes.

I like a natural blind, don't like to be enclosed. G.Fred Asbells book Stalking and Still Hunting-The ground Hunters Bible is a good read. The chapter on ground blinds covers it all.

I started applying turkey tactics in my deer hunting last year and had great success. It works great for public land where you can't hang stands and you can hunt areas deer aren't accustomed to encountering hunters and people don't know where you're hunting. I like hunting near corn fields and crp where its thick and good trees aren't nearby. This is where the deer tend to be because people don't hunt those places generally.

By turkey tactics, I mean setting up where you expect to deer to be bedded by, or will come through and use calls and/or a decoy. I have a golf cart for my blind and last year I set up along a fence line with one of the last remaining unpicked corn fields behind me and a straw field in front of me. A thick woods ran perpendicular to my right. I carried my assembled buck decoy on my shoulders. I only had a 200-300 yard hike to my spot, I tucked my T2 in the fence line and set out the decoy 20 yards in front of me. I did a couple rattling sequences 30-40 minutes apart and 45 minutes before sunset I had a decent 2 year old come out of the thick brush to my right and came in on a string to the decoy. Just like a turkey, the buck never glanced at my blind. I got a shot at him and thought the shot was good, but didn't find him. But this year I have other locations where I'll be using this same tactic.

I do some what use natural cover, blow downs, brushy ditches or what ever I can hide in/on or close to. I rely on my placement or spot I choose along with my ghillie suit. I like just being CLOSE to ALL the animals that I see when I am hunting. And as I hate to admit that I've missed some very close shot due to being to close and "thinking" chip shot. But that's the GREAT part of hunting on the ground! Good Luck this Fall!!!!!!!!!!!!

Late Season = On the ground hunting food plots and standing crops. Very seldom do I get into a tree late season. Blow downs and brush piles along major trails.

I have a spot in some willows next to a pond where I like to sit early in the season on hot afternoons. The deer like to spend time in the clover and in the water. I have yet to harvest a deer from this spot, but this sure do get interesting every now and then.

Back in the 60's & 70's we would setup to shoot at 10 to 18 yards. With longbows and recurves. Got bagged a lot.

Now I setup to shoot at 25 to 35 yards with the Compound. Much easier to avoid big brown eyes.

I use one of those cheap 3 leg folding chairs with a back. Cheap and lightweight. As long as the ground is not froze you can dig little holes if needed to level it. I set it out from a big tree just enough that I can rock back on the rear two legs and get my back up against the tree. Very comfortable that way. When a deer comes you can easily rock forward and either drop to one knee or even stand up from it. A little brush or windfall in front of you really helps too. Those chairs work OK without a tree to lean against but can get uncomfortable in as little as an hour or two.

I had done a fair amount of sitting a couple rows back in a corn field looking over alfalfa or other crops. Combine it with a decoy and a little calling and it works pretty good. Need to cut a few stalks down for decent shooting lanes so make sure whomever the corn belongs to is OK with that. Have not done it for years, I should revisit it again.

Same with marsh hunting, used to hunt a lot in thick dogwood growing in very wet boggy marsh. I would make two little shooting lanes that give access to one or two runways and left a chunk of plywood there to stand on and set my chair on. One spot had a lot of duck weed mixed in with it and I could hear deer eating all around me, very intense waiting and any little movement would shake the boggy ground and the deer would feel it. That is why I only made 2 shooting lanes, if I tried to turn in any way the deer would spook.

I purchased a tree seat last year when I found a funnel with no sufficient trees. Strapped to the base of a spruce, added a few cover branches. I had 3 atvs pass within 10ft withiut seeing me. Going to use that seat more often than I thought.

I like just sitting on the ground and pop up onto my knees when I can see deer coming from a long way like this blind. I don't like hauling a chair around.

In a couple other areas I just leave a black or green 5 gallon pail with a lid on and store the seat cushion inside.

I hear ya Craig, but I need the back support, and that chair I mentioned, at least for me, is super light and portable........

I am nuts on trying to remain scent free. I know its almost impossible, but I try to do all I can. I lost my best grouse dog a month ago, but having a dog in the truck, makes you really scent concious, with the clothes tubs in the back bed.....

This year I am going to try and clean my clothes, in a bucket, using a plunger, and a product called Carbon Synergy.... I have been following its use, via marc anthony of Illinois, he has a web site, another ground hunter,....... He says its the only thing he found that works,,,,,,,,, watched some of his home made video, and has some incredible encounters of bucks at close range.......

I also purchased a 3/4 guille... However, I needed to customize it. My wife said, too hard on her machine, but I found a seamstress, in Iron River, and she said, she could sew a solid area for me, left inner shoulder area, and left side of chest area, going o make that a solid greeen color, so I have no problem with the bow........

going with the guille.......

I have several set ups on the ground... One that was a great idea before I actually started it ..but now finished is a awesome set... I is in a stone pile 9 up in a field... 8 started making a fort type blend digging stones out of the center and piling them up around me 7 til it was deep enough .. that and a boat seat cushion have arrow ed several deer..

Also have some stump pile sets just like that...

Last winter I used a hub blind on a corn field to get a sausage doe...

In my early days the tree stands were way out of my 12 year old price range... my first stand was a TSS intruder .. it was a plywood based climber that 6 of hugged the tree and crunched your way up... it was far easier and quieter to sit a bucket someplace...lol... Ground is good.. I love it

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