Do you prefer to hunt from the trees or the ground for deer?

[rabjr]

Yeah and how far have you actually seen them go after bolting? My line of sight is 9' high off my CATV which I know is higher than your seat, so maybe I see more than you? They usually don't go far and go on high alert, trying to hear or see something. And our herd continues to grow up here too.

 

[ronrryan]

Marmotslayer, I hunted all over upstate New York for over fifty years (at least east of the binghampton/corning corridor)and it was common for a stand to be called a "watch". Bob's watch,. Jack's watch, even (ahem) Ron's watch, which was later renamed "the meatlocker" for good reason. All of these were on the ground, not too much tree stands then , except for archers. Good smoke, Ron In FL

 

[mbw907]

I have had good luck from the ground as well as a deer stand.I see more from a stand, but have great luck on the ground if the position is just right. One year I set up in a small funnel going through some hardwoods. I chose a hillside behind a blown down tree and I did really well. I will have to agree about the treelounge stand, though. I have two of them and I always nap a little when I am in them. I love hunting deer whether in a stand, walking and stopping, or in a ground blind. I just love being outside and in the great and awesome presence of the Whitetail. :wink:

 

[rja72]

I hunt from the ground. I usually get downed branches and make a blind out of natural materials laying around. Don't need to carry anything in or out but a hand saw and clippers. Nothing for anyone to steal. I can change spots very easy.

 

[Protrucker]

When archery hunting, I prefer to be up in a tree stand, but I have taken deer while ground hunting with a bow.
When gun hunting, I've done it both ways, but the majority of my deer have been taken from on the ground. Still hunting thru thick brush is one of my favorite ways to hunt & has produced some of my best bucks. :thumbsup:

It just doesn't feel like traditional hunting....using a flintlock from a tree stand either.

 

[Vaino]

Getting back to "two triggers", it's been my experience that it is only true in certain circumstances and involves only sound and sight. If they only smell you, they're gone and many times w/o the hunter even being aware. Last year for awhile my tree stand location had the wind blowing toward the direction that the deer usually came from and the ones I saw refused to enter the valley and veered off approx. 100-150 yds before reaching it. No how did they see or hear me....Fred

 

[Zoar]

I agree with you guys about hunting with the wind. Absolutely. AND while that is true, one can make matters worse with too much soap or picking up foreign scents to the woods.

I have hunting clothes, including rubber insulated boots. They stay outside from 3 weeks before hunting season till I am done. I wash the under layers in well water and a touch of baking soda. I do not wear them anywhere else. This does seem to help.

Also, I find it surprising how some guys will hunt then go out to bars and restaurants and sit around with their hunting clothes on for hours and hours and pick up all that food and human scent then go out and hunt again and repeat.

Indeed deer have incredible noses. We all should hunt 'the wind' yet there are things people do which they might think is helping when it is hurting. Deer and soap / scented mouth washes do not "mix".

 

[brubincam]

-----I don't use any cover scents at all and have had deer walk right past me and bed down 15 feet away--got an 8 pt once at 2 ft away from me-----

 

[Goshawk]

Zoar,

I pretty much follow your same procedure when washing and airing out my cloths too. In addition, I store my hunting cloths in clear large sent free plastic bags (if they are not wet) with some small pieces of pine (w/o ticks) into the bag from the area I will be hunting in. Not so sure if it helps much, but it I don’t think it hurts. Whenever I am checking my camera, scouting an area for any new deer sign or activity I squirt some very diluted red fox urine on my rubber boots and it the area. It helps the “foreign scents” become not so foreign. However, it doesn’t work out too well when one of my family members needs to use my old hunting vehicle for school or work. The direction of the wind is definitely a MAJOR factor and is something I always consider.

A few yrs back I helped a guy drag a bear out of the woods. He shot it about 25yds from his ground blind. When he approached me he reeked of cigarette smoke and I thought to myself he must have just lit up a victory smoke. But when we back to pickup the rest of his gear there must have been 30 cigarette buts on the ground where he was sitting in the blind! Must certainly have been his lucky day!!!!

Here is a video of a nice buck walking through the same path that the doe in the earlier video. The buck made its way to the up the hill and would have come out in the red circle on the left of the picture above 12 ”“15yd shot. Now if he will only cooperate during Buck season! By the way it looks like he’s a 12 pointer.




Good Hunting
.690RB

 

[Ron_T.]

Ground... gittin' too old to climb trees!


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

 

[jethro224]

I see more deer when I hunt from a treestand. By a large margin.

Yet, I love still / walking / ground hunting. I just wish I saw the same amount of deer.

Also I have taken more deer from tree stands than when on the ground. So far.

Oh an I do not recall who posted about how they wash with IVORY soap before they hunt. Deer hate and can detect the smell of ALL soap very well. Washing with pure water or maybe a little baking soda and a good rinse will yield better results than using soap of any kind but IVORY has a very intense smell that the deer can pick up. (Note one of the best DIY deer deterrence for your garden is to take IVORY soap drill a hole through it and string it along the fence or in the trees AROUND your garden.

Two weeks before hunting season I put my clothes and ALL my gear outside on the wood piles. I wash with well water and a touch of baking soda and make sure I rinse really really well. Deer detect ANYTHING FOREIGN and what is NOT indigenous to their surroundings.

A long time ago I used to buy the special unscented hunters soap. For years now I have used IVORY soap for showering during the entire hunting season. It's lots cheaper. Sure it smells like soap. It doesn't smell like DEODORANT SOAP tho. No perfumes.
ANY deer that gets downwind of me to smell the faint scent of Ivory soap is also gonna smell the dog I scratched on the way out the door, the Jeep I rode in, the breakfast I ate, and my own stinkin' scent. So I hunt where the wind tells me to and try to avoid walking where the deer will cross my trail before I can get a shot. I hunt all day so I also eat, drink, pee, and SMOKE :shocked2: while I'm deer hunting. I do pretty well at it too. (Hopefully I'll do pretty well at it again next weekend )

* roundball Said:

You must have some very special deer up there




*Swampy said: No it's deer in general, they usually need two of their senses to trigger before getting the hell out of there. I've been surprised by deer that smelled me and trotted a few yards or stomped off a ways and were easy shots cause they didn't hear or see me.

I've seen this go both ways. Some deer get a whiff of human and they're gone, other times I've seen 'em catch wind of me and either run off a short distance and stomp & snort OR actually come looking for me. :shocked2:
I've been hunted by does and young bucks to 2 1/2 years old. Older bucks tend to just sneak away.
Last fall a 2 year old caught my scent and came looking for me. I was in a tree with my bow that day. He couldn't find me so he ran way out around behind a couple of button bucks and herded them right over to me. He never came closer than 30 yards but made sure those two nubby bucks stayed right there for a little while. I guess he wanted to see if they'd get shot. I never saw anything like it before.

 

[buttonbuck]

I had a doe a couple years back about a 2 year old stand at the fence and bump a 3 legged fawn over the fence wait 30 seconds and then cross. I shot the 2 year old and the fawn second since I thought it was injured by the shot I heard 100 yards off and 2 minutes before. Both dropped instantly. The 3 legged fawn had a spattering of calcified bird shot in the elbow joint. I picked thorugh the shoulder for more shot. Anyway I was up a tree but have hunted on the ground for a lot of bow season got very close no shots.