# Deer Hunting Ground Blind or Tree Stand?



## MichaelZ (May 21, 2013)

This was brought up in another thread on long bows, so I thought I would start a new one. Do you hunt deer from the ground, or in a tree. Or both? Have pics of your stand or blind? 

For bow hunting, my favorite is a simple ground blind like the one shown below. Burlap stapled to sticks. Or, if enough trees, simply burlap fastened to trees.It can be tough to shoot the deer, but it is also pretty darned exciting to be at their level.


----------



## TRellis (Sep 16, 2013)

To me that blind is elaborate. I usually split my time hunting between a tree stand and on the ground. When on the ground I usually stalk and sometimes when I stop at a particularly nice spot I just set up one of those camouflage umbrellas, but on its side, alongside a big tree and/or rock and sit behind that. 

Many times while stalking I will spot a deer coming my way and just use the terrain, trees, rocks to hide behind. Whatever is available. Sometimes nothing is available and I just make myself as small as possible.

I do remember one time I got caught on the side of a field by three bucks who just stepped out into the field. They were staring me up and down. I just took off my hat, veil and jacket and they calmed down (it was really early in the season). I picked up my bow and starting ambling toward them. They stupidly let me get within 35 yards of them. I just brought my bow up and shot the biggest and nearest one. Not quite a moving (on my part) shot, but real close. More of a snap-shot. That buck then moved all of 20 yards before dropping.

I have gotten deer each way. I never kept count as to which way was more productive.

TRellis


----------



## solsikkefarms (Jun 1, 2013)

used to hunt on the ground, mostly driving and stalking, filling truck beds with big monster bucks on a daily basis. People would drive past our farm to see how the season was going based on what we had hanging out front, back in those days we had a hunting group of 20 some people and covered thousand of acres. These days with all the people moved out to the country that is no longer an option, with all the farms split into hundreds of little 5 acre plots and houses dotting the woods. Now I sit the whole season in a very elaborate 3 man tree stand in the middle of our 80 acres and hope and pray that I see deer. But reality is that once the first shots go off opening morning the deer simply take cover and since there is no pressure to move (only people in the woods are taking the short walk down a manicured trail to their stand to sit for 2 hours before calling it a season and going back to the city)... now, once it gets dark, or the season ends.. deer everywhere... bahh

Luckily We have all the wall hangers we could ever want, and don't really need the meat these days, so on the rare occurrence we see deer moving during the day, we generally just let them go so one of the new generation of young hunters gets a chance at one.

Rambled on long enough, I will try to find a picture of my stand.


----------



## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

I have only ever hunted from the ground, and I have never used a blind of any kind. I lean up against a tree, and I simply do not move. I have never had issues getting within spitting distance of deer.


----------



## TRellis (Sep 16, 2013)

farmerDale said:


> I have only ever hunted from the ground, and I have never used a blind of any kind. I lean up against a tree, and I simply do not move. I have never had issues getting within spitting distance of deer.


... But do you hunt with a bow or gun or both?

There could be a difference in the definition of "spitting distance" when comparing gun hunting and bow hunting.

TRellis


----------



## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

TRellis said:


> ... But do you hunt with a bow or gun or both?
> 
> There could be a difference in the definition of "spitting distance" when comparing gun hunting and bow hunting.
> 
> TRellis


Spitting distance to me is under 10 yards. Long distance is anything over 80, give or take.

I do not bow hunt. But I hunt like I am carrying a bow, because it is how I enjoy it. Bow hunting is almost impossible for me, because the dang seasons here are exactly at combining time, dangit!

I haven't shot a deer at more than 80 yards for a long time, and most, ( 90% plus), have been under 30. Moose and elk and bear, I usually don't wait that long to get that close, but deer are so easy to hunt in comparison...


----------



## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

I hunt from ground or hanging off a tree, depends on the area and lay of the land. But honestly,I have taken a large percentage of my deer while "still hunting". Just this year I took another doe while blood trailing my first kill. Of course that is always dependent upon your method of still hunting also. When I'm on a blood trail I only take 1-2 steps and look for blood then look around to see deer then do it again. It's a slow process but that's how I prefer to hunt.

Wade


----------



## jbo9 (Oct 30, 2012)

For bow hunting, and occasionally for rifle, I will hunt from a tree stand. It is different than spot and stalk or still hunting. There is a different thought-process involved, you pick the spot and let the deer come to you. Generally, they tend to be more relaxed, but your emotions go through the roof, a bit high-strung. 

When I first started bowhunting whitetails, I tried it like I had rifle hunting for muleys, which was somewhere between spot and stalk and still hunting. You covered lots of ground and it was always a question of who saw who first. If the deer won, they tended to walk away. If I saw them first, then I had a chance.

You wouldn't think that would work with whitetails. But I've had deer run right up to less than 10 yards, in the wide open. No camo, no special scent prevention, simply holding still when you first get a glimpse of movement.

Around here, if you don't hunt from a pickup, you have a great big advantage over most people. I've walked down a county road, less than a minute after a pickup passed me, and saw nice bucks that simply laid down when they heard the vehicle noise. I had a doe lock up, half a step away from a shooting lane, seven yards away, when she saw a pickup driving down the road, half a mile away. Once the pickup was out of sight, she did an about-face and returned back to bed.


----------



## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

solsikkefarms said:


> used to hunt on the ground, mostly driving and stalking, filling truck beds with big monster bucks on a daily basis. People would drive past our farm to see how the season was going based on what we had hanging out front, back in those days we had a hunting group of 20 some people and covered thousand of acres. These days with all the people moved out to the country that is no longer an option, with all the farms split into hundreds of little 5 acre plots and houses dotting the woods. Now I sit the whole season in a very elaborate 3 man tree stand in the middle of our 80 acres and hope and pray that I see deer. But reality is that once the first shots go off opening morning the deer simply take cover and since there is no pressure to move (only people in the woods are taking the short walk down a manicured trail to their stand to sit for 2 hours before calling it a season and going back to the city)... now, once it gets dark, or the season ends.. deer everywhere... bahh
> 
> Luckily We have all the wall hangers we could ever want, and don't really need the meat these days, so on the rare occurrence we see deer moving during the day, we generally just let them go so one of the new generation of young hunters gets a chance at one.
> 
> Rambled on long enough, I will try to find a picture of my stand.



we still do drives , most of the crew we had 7 this year is getting old and I am doing a lot more driving , on top of that this year the only people getting much for deer were getting them on voice drives , drivers 20 yards apart and a lot of them pushing them pines hard wooping and barking 

we have had 14 some years and it gets much more productive definitely getting more difficult every year to do the drives with old land owners selling dieing or both 

we managed one doe from a set of pines we drove 

also archery hunters are getting thick with the cross bow now available to everyone


----------



## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Didn't care for this much



This worked pretty good until Deer got Educated it was there.



This works excellent very mobile.



big rockpile


----------



## Micheal (Jan 28, 2009)

Son-in-law and 2 of his buddies hunt the property, they use both and don't seem to have any better luck with any one setup... and that's 5 tree stands and 3 ground blinds. Guess they rotate between them not hunting from any one spot for more then 2-3 days..... And they always - so far anyway - have filled their tags.


----------



## dltasig7 (Feb 5, 2015)

I'm not much for heights of any kind, but I will get into a tree stand that is big and sturdy (no climbers or bicycle seaters for me.) Yup, I'm a big chicken. I would hunt out of a raised, wood blind (on stilts) that I made myself. Overall, especially when new to the property, I take a 5 gallon pail with my cushion in it or sit on the ground backed up to a tree. Stalking and drives work for us too.

Some of us are "high tech" - camo, stealth and scent nuts; and others swear that it's the amount of time you spend in the woods, how well you orchestrate drives, and how well you've done pre-season scouting and shooting laneway maintenance.

My grandfather used to crash through the woods in his regular bibs and wool coat while smoking, and filled his tags every year.


----------

