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Bow Hunting From the Ground?

Ski said:
My statement was more about the excitement than the style. Nothing beats the adrenaline rush of having a rutting buck just feet away with nothing preventing him from charging. Heck even being that close to a yearling doe without being noticed is a rush. Bow hunting from the ground is just flat out exciting. And it's difficult. I do hunt several other ways and always will depending on situation, but bow hunting from the ground is far and above my favorite.
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I have no doubt it is a thrill. That's why all of my stands are set-up for bowhunting distances, even though we MZ and gun hunt. Most of the mature bucks I've killed were at 16 yards and under.
 
I have killed a bunch of deer from the ground with a bow in Tennessee. No blinds or anything of that type, all spot and stalk, or try to figure out where they are going to and cut them off. For every deer I killed from the ground, I have blown many other chances to kill from the ground. I have killed them from a few feet from the end of the bow to 50 yards on public and private. Spend tons of time at it and use the fields and woods to your advantage. 2 of my P&Y bucks were killed from the ground. I don't hunt from the ground much anymore, getting to lazy to. It is the ultimate rush to me in deer hunting.
 
I killed my personal best last year off the ground on the velvet hunt @ 14 yards…
 

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timberjack86 said:
I killed a few on the ground the last year I bow hunted. I think after I accomplished that the fire went away. I still love to deer hunt just don't care much for bow anymore.
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We are completely opposite. I have no desire to kill one with a gun anymore. You can't beat putting an arrow through one within 20 yards, from
The ground just makes it that much more intense.
 
SinningSaint33 said:
We are completely opposite. I have no desire to kill one with a gun anymore. You can't beat putting an arrow through one within 20 yards, from
The ground just makes it that much more intense.
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IMO if your hands aren't shaking you need to quit hunting unless it's for the freezer only. At my age I don't care much about getting up in trees anymore and shooting a deer, any deer, from the ground with a bow is about the top of the mountain as far as a challenge that we have here.
 
I've killed four from the ground with selfbows a few years back, all does. Back in the late 80's, I did get one buck with a compound from the ground when he came in on me and bedded down 20 yards away.

To me, what makes it difficult is when groups of deer come in on you and are feeding around you for several minutes. Inevitably, one gets downwind and busts you while you're focused on shooting another.

Finding the perfect spot was key. Large blowdowns are great places to tuck in between the limbs and hide. They also keep the deer from getting too close to you, and they can divert deer to your direction if they are near a well used travel corridor.

These days, with a bow, I'd rather be in a tree though.
 
I've read about setting up on a fence crossing and drawing just as they jump the fence. Seems maybe putting a limb over a trail you're set up on at just the right place as something ordinary but new to distract them for a second or 2? A lot of the ''hunting" would have to be done beforehand, you'd have to think it through pretty well to create some chances.
 
Iglow said:
I've read about setting up on a fence crossing and drawing just as they jump the fence. Seems maybe putting a limb over a trail you're set up on at just the right place as something ordinary but new to distract them for a second or 2? A lot of the ''hunting" would have to be done beforehand, you'd have to think it through pretty well to create some chances.
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A good friend of mine is great at piling brush and hinge cutting trees to funnel and divert deer in his direction. It's all very subtle, and the deer movement just seems to flow where he wants. All on his property of course.
 
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Lost Lake said:
A good friend of mine is great at piling brush and hinge cutting trees to funnel and divert deer in his direction. It's very subtlety done, and the deer movement just seems to flow where he wants. All on his property of course.
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If you make it easier to go around than over it works like a charm. I've done it a bunch of times to move a trail closer to a tree I could get up in with a climber. I'd drop the diverting tree, rake a new trail where I wanted them to go and put a trail of corn along it during the summer and within a week it would be the new trail.
 
Lost Lake said:
A good friend of mine is great at piling brush and hinge cutting trees to funnel and divert deer in his direction. It's very subtlety done, and the deer movement just seems to flow where he wants. All on his property of course.
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This is great but you must do it early before the season and just a little at a time or it could spook them to totally avoid the area. I've done this by just making the trail I want them to use more accessible by making other possible routes less accessible. Putting downed limbs up enough intertwined together to make it look unaccessible. Deer are basically just like us taking the less obstructed route .
 
Snake said:
This is great but you must do it early before the season and just a little at a time or it could spook them to totally avoid the area. I've done this by just making the trail I want them to use more accessible by making other possible routes less accessible. Putting downed limbs up enough intertwined together to make it look unaccessible. Deer are basically just like us taking the less obstructed route .
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I kind of disagree. I have cut trails to walk in through some mean thickets thinking I was creating a way in to the area I wanted to hunt and be as incognito as possible, only to have deer, even a couple of nice bucks, come down the trail I cut open a couple hours later. Even killed a few deer and for sure have seen them use fresh made trails.
 
Buzzard Breath said:
I go through phases where I feel like doing it, sometimes. Mainly, in the early season when I'm hunting food sources and have a chance to observe the deer feeding before deciding if it's one I want to shoot or not. During the rut, I struggle with making a split second decision on whether or not a buck meets my self-imposed criteria for being a shooter. I err on the side of caution and will pass, only to see it walking up the next ridge and I'm kicking myself for not shooting. The little bit of time and viewing angle a tree stand gives me makes all the difference in the world for helping me make quick decisions. If I just wanted to kill deer, I'd be a ground pounder. But, for what I'm wanting to do, I'll be in a tree stand for the rut.
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I think this is my struggle when hunting on the ground with any weapon. I love the vantage point of a tree stand and the extra time to ready myself and decide whether I'm going to shoot. Heck even then I have been to slow on occasions and have had many missed opportunities through the years.
 
Headhunter said:
I kind of disagree. I have cut trails to walk in through some mean thickets thinking I was creating a way in to the area I wanted to hunt and be as incognito as possible, only to have deer, even a couple of nice bucks, come down the trail I cut open a couple hours later. Even killed a few deer and for sure have seen them use fresh made trails.
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Have seen it many times myself. Try this : run a combine path in a standing corn field where the corn meets a wood lot. Then jump into a stand overlooking that cut path.
 
dsa5455 said:
I think this is my struggle when hunting on the ground with any weapon. I love the vantage point of a tree stand and the extra time to ready myself and decide whether I'm going to shoot. Heck even then I have been to slow on occasions and have had many missed opportunities through the years.
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I've thought about it the same way, but got to thinking if I can see them they can see me regardless and they are gonna smell you if they are downwind in either case. I read somewhere, maybe that John guy and his son Chris, his book and he said if you're not up 30 feet or so, well above normal eyesight level for deer you're probably better off and no worse to be on the ground.
 
Iglow said:
I read somewhere, maybe that John guy and his son Chris, his book and he said if you're not up 30 feet or so, well above normal eyesight level for deer you're probably better off and no worse to be on the ground.
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I would have to agree with that sentiment. Or at least I can't disagree with it. I get picked off in a tree when I'm sitting still as can be and wind in my face. On the ground I almost never get picked off unless/until I move. Anytime they get down wind they smell me regardless if I'm in a tree or on the ground. But to see me when I'm not moving, only happens when I'm in a tree.
 
Ski said:
I would have to agree with that sentiment. Or at least I can't disagree with it. I get picked off in a tree when I'm sitting still as can be and wind in my face. On the ground I almost never get picked off unless/until I move. Anytime they get down wind they smell me regardless if I'm in a tree or on the ground. But to see me when I'm not moving, only happens when I'm in a tree.
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Deer are not accustomed to large objects moving in trees or just being in trees, they are accustomed to large and small things that move on the ground like turkeys , calfs, cows coyotes,dogs , other deer on the larger end and coons, squirrels , birds, etc on the smaller end. If you don't pieface them, stay outta the sun and in shadows, don't look directly at them and don't move at the wrong time given that they haven't smelled where you walked it's probably more doable than most of us think. We probably think it's so tough cause we've grown up hunting from treestands and never really truly tried, at least that's in my case.
 

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