What my early deer this year has taught me!

[Cobson]

I refused to believe that there were no white oaks on our whole 200 acres that were producing so I kept looking and finally found 4 trees that were in various parts of the farm to hunt near..... the best one sits alongside a patch of rye right next to a bedding area ( 5 year old clearcut) and was loaded with tracks etc... So I get my deer ( a 3 pointer) and now with two buck tags left, and meat in the freezer - I decide to hunt from the ground more and try to get my first deer on the ground!

Don't get me wrong, I am not the guy who has killed so many deer with a bow that it is no big deal - It is just the stuff I have learned has changed the way I hunt! This is a lot of fun to go try new stuff and see what works!

Ground blinds - can't speak for where y'all live but in TN with 2 month gun/muzzleloader season - our deer are pretty spooky - the more of a blind I used the quicker I got busted - I have found the less brush I have the better off I am - to a point - you can't sit right out in the open and not get picked off bit a little clump of brush is more than enough to hide you if you don't give them any reason to look at you - i.e. movement or smell. It seems the bigger the "new" brush pile the more they study or avoid it!

Camo - DOES MATTER - I know lots of y'all take deer in blue jeans etc... but I have found that if I wear a mossy oak leafy suit and sit up against a tree with a darker bark - they will walk right by me - I also have several downed trees from logging a few years ago where the brown leaves dried on the branches - sit next to them in a brown nat-gear suit and they walk right by....

Wind always matters - knew that anyway but I have not found myself getting picked off more on the ground than in the tree - I don't get much above 15' so obviously you guys who go way up are better off but it hasn't messed me up like I thought it would.

It is wild to be so close to big game animals on the ground and feel so out in the open and they have no idea you are there.

You can get away with a lot more movement than you think - I have hunted for years with guns from the ground and it never ceased to amaze me how close they would get with me right out in the open. They would usually pick you out inside 30 yards but I am talking about no face cover - blaze orange - the whole 9 yards. I guess this is what motivated me to try for one from the ground - I still like my tree stands but I won't hesitate to put two type leafy tops in my backpack and depending on where I sit just blend right in

Lighter bows - I have found I don't get picked off if I don't move and lighter bows ( my current bow is either a bob lee 51#@27" or horne longbow 55#@28") allow me to shoot sitting down or in awkward positions and have increased my shot opportunities. I have killed two does since all this began and all were pass throughs - the shots were also inside 17.3 yards of course! I don't mean to tell folks what to shoot - I am just relaying what has worked for me so far this year!

Hope this helps one and all, new to posting here but have lurked for awhile and enjoy the site! Good luck and hunt safe!!!

Pat O'Bryan

[Bill Carlsen]

Good luck with your other tags. It's nice to have one in the freezer...just seems to make the rest of the season more relaxed. I love hunting from the ground and wished I lived in a state that had more deer density so I could do it more often. I have found everthing you have said to be true and when I am on the ground I carry a very comfortable stool or strap on seat (Gorilla seat is my favorite) as the ability to sit still is the most important thing, I believe. I also carry pruning shears to clear shooting lanes, a small garden hand rake to bare the ground and a grunt call to make the deer think that the little bit of noise I make is being done by an anxious buck. The only time I find real difficulty on the ground is when I am hunting close to houses. Deer see EVERTYTHING on the ground in those circumstances and seem to be more alert than they are in the woods. They even seem to be more attuned to unatural sounds, as well. But when you connect from a ground blind it is just all the more special. I hear ya and, again, good luck. Don't forget to post pics. :cheers:

[James Wrenn]

Everything you said makes lots of sense to me.I usually hunt from above but have one of the pop up blinds set up this year in a thick stand of pines.It is close quarters and I have to have a perfect wind to sit in it.I have set there twice and have had 4 different bucks with-in 20ft so far.No big one yet but with the rut hoping to start as soon as this darn weather cools down in the next day or two I still have hopes. :) We have a lot of places where everything is so thick and no trees to get up that I hope to get better at this ground level stuff. lol It is pretty exciting when you have deer so close you could about touch them at eye level.And yes a light weight bow is the key for me.I started off at 48lbs and have settled in at 46lbs this year.To be legal here I have pretty much maxed out.Good luck on the rest of your season.I hope to finish mine up early this year and play with bows or chase treerats more.