Yeti GOBOX Collection

Hunting from the ground

Fishman35

New member
Joined
Jun 17, 2017
Messages
7
I'm going to be hunting whitetails from the ground this year and I'm looking for some advice. Is it worth it or am I just more likely to get busted?
 
If you can be still and use the sun and terrain to your advantage you'll be fine. Gun hunting is certainly easier from the ground than archery but both are certainly achievable.
 
I shot a couple white tails with a bow over by Red Lodge, MT. It was lots of fun and I used the fence as my blind. I was busted constantly though. Definitely worth it.
 
The last 3 I have taken were from the ground. I am addicted! i have learned to always be on the lookout so deer don't sneak up on you(it still happens), draw your bow sooner and hold it longer, shoot through smaller openings to help conceal yourself, and use the terrain. My favorite spots to sit on the ground are in cedar trees I can trim out a hole and stand back in it, also behind down trees with leaves and limbs still on them.
 
First buck I shot I was 16 and got from the ground. Set up an ambush, similar to tree stand hunting but with a blind. Mine was a downed tree with a great back drop and tall grass in front of me
 
Last edited:
For sure worth it...though I found it not so easy when I had a double ear infection and couldn't hear a monster walking 20 yards from me...
 
definitely worth it! I know conventional wisdom is that you have to be more still on the ground than when you're elevated but I tend to believe the opposite. When I'm on the ground, my number one goal is to see the deer as early as I can. This means i'm moving around and scanning more because if the deer gets close before you can get ready, game over.
 
For archery hunting, I really need a swiveling seat. You can often get away with standing up and turning around to shoot when you're in a tree, not so much on the ground.
 
I stalk hunt them with my bow here in MS. It is a lot of fun and have killed 3 bucks in the last few years doing it.
 
I had an experience this weekend in NW Colorado doing just this as the pronghorn weren't accepting my blind as part of the landscape; I decided to sit among the sage brush about 10 yards from the edge of the waterhole in full camo incl. face mask and ended up having one of the more amazing experiences I've ever had in the field. I got buzzed at first light by 5 sage grouse flying no more than 5' over my head on their way to my waterhole and had a total of 9 pronghorn within 20 yards of me including a good buck whom, of course, waited for all the others to drink first; the experience was exactly what I've wanted since I've taken up bow hunting and required me to be almost absolutely still and silent for a long period of time as these circumspect Miocene remnants shared part of their day with me. As John said, our ancestors hunted from the ground successfully for millennia and I felt a certain connection with them by hunting this way...now I want to get a Trad bow! ;)
 
I think it is pretty cool on the ground. I once had a whitetail doe browsing on the bush I used to build my brush blind against, then her fawn joined her and she moved on. Never knew I was sitting there.
 
I'v had luck with it, but it's easier from a tree stand. Move slow, or better yet, have your bow ready and held back if you can manage it long enough. And if you find 4+ maple trees in close proximity to each other (usually maple trees), hope that a trail is near, because it really helps to have that many trees surrounding you. I've had deer within 2yds of me not pick me up because of my maple-tree "stand". They just can't pick you off for some reason even though you're on the ground...maybe they saw me as just another tree trunk?
 
It is a whole different perspective on the ground, I like to bow hunt out of a blind sometimes, its cool to have deer 15-20 yards in front of you not knowing your there, up close and personal, and like Cushman said , the native americans were the first experts.
 
I hunt both stands and ground, I do splurge a little on my stands as I love a big platform but I use bare minimums for my ground set up. I carry a spool of mono fishing line in my back pack, find a few cedars, pines or whatever tree are available and use the fishing line to tie branches together as well as tie off other branches and stuff to create your own blind. Like others have said, just play the wind and terrain as well as the sun and hope for the best. Good luck.
 
Back
Top