stand, blind or still hunting

[john4645]

Just wondering, with a tradtional muzzleloader how do you guys mostly hunt whitetails? Tree stand , ground blind or still (stalk) hunt? I find myself getting away from tree stands but I would not mind trying a ladder stand. last year I shot a buck from a ground blind, that was fun.

 

[KyFlintlock]

I enjoy stillhunting the most, but if I want the best chance of killing a decent buck, then it has to be from a stand.

Good luck!
wess

 

[ldykeman]

I have a permanent stand which looks suspiciously like an outhouse, but is open from 4' up to 5' up on all sides. It is on private land and has been a productive spot for over 20 years now. My wife has two pop-up protable blinds which I have waterproofed. She selects two likely spots on the same property as my stand each year, and uses one or the other depending on conditions.
Larry

 

[snagg]

John:

This will be my first year with the f/l. But, in New York I will be on the ground amongst a clump of trees. In Pa. I will be in a tree stand. For the extended season I plan on still hunting.

snagg

 

[playfarmers]

I shot one while sitting in a clump of trees, and one still hunting this year. I like sitting as long as I can in the morning, then still hunting the area. I got far more chances still hunting, this past year, but most years it is the other way around. For me still hunting depends a lot on the weather. If it is damp and a little windy to cover my noise, I have good luck sneeking around.

 

[freetrapper20]

Yes to all 3. Depends on area/terrain I'm hunting.

 

[Russianblood]

I'll be using a pop-up ground blind this year. It's my first year hunting deer with a muzzleloader and my blind is strategically placed for the types of shots I can make with my smoothbore flintlocks.

(Now I just have to find out if my stategy works) :hmm:

 

[roundball]

I haven't tried still hunting in 15 years...was too impatient back then and wasn't any good at it...only shot one in a dozen outings and that was because it was a snow white albino doe that stood out like a neon sign through the black/gray winter woods, popped her with a .30-30.

Stand hunted ever since and in good travel routes, found it to be so productive that's all I do.

In fact, I've gradually put up less and less treestands over the years to just a single treestand now for one location next to a regrowth area where the wind is fickle...if I get there and the wind is wrong, I hunt the tree stand, but if I have the wind I just sit in the ground under it...much more comfortable, safe, enjoyable, etc...killed more and bigger deer just sitting on the ground with a few local dead fall branches pulled up around me than any other way...wind direction & movement is everything.

 

[Vaino]

Presently use a ladder stand but for many years just stood on the ground w/ good success. A ground level blind would be nearly as good as a tree stand, but body odor is more of a factor than using a tree stand and visiblity is a lot less. Still hunting is an enjoyable way to hunt if there aren't any other hunters around and where is this nowadays? Still hunting in crowded land just moves the deer into the guy that's sitting. "Stop and go" hunting w/ 3-6 people is a very productive way to hunt, but requires discipline and patience which not all possess. Driving is a popular and efficient method of deer hunting, but requires knowledge of the terrain and a "field general" to move things along. Have participated in all these methods of hunting thru the years and am now content to sit up high in my ladder stand and enjoy the remaining hunts....Fred

 

[PitchyPine]

First year with a muzzleloader for me also, i will probably be in my ladder stand opening day, it`s in a good funnel spot and the deer get pushed through pretty good. If it`s snowing or windy i like stalking also. I also have a climber stand that i move around, I have to see how hard it is to maneuver in the stand with this long Blue Ridge first off.

 

[walley]

If it's warm and or windy out, I go up a tree to
try and keep my sent above the animals. If it's
a cold calm day, I'll stay on the ground either
in a blind or stalk hunting.

 

[PreglerD]

In Bavaria, Germany tree stands are very common. There you can wait for the deers. Because forests are not so big as in the US and there are many other peoples who don't hunt this mezhod seems to be the best one to get a deer (roe, red deer, wid boar). Now in autumn and winter a bait is brouht out at the stand in order to entice the roes. They normally come in the late afternoon or early evening. a very fast method of hunting. It takes only 1 hour to get a roe when they have noticed the bait and get there regulary.

 

[netoleon]

I gave tree-standing a limited trial. It's supposed to be the most effective, which I understand, but it's not very historical. Plus, unless you use a climbing stand ( really not historical ) I reckon you need a few stands around your hunting property to accomodate wind direction, time-of-day, etc. I also nodded-off once or twice up on my ladder - didn't like that at all !

I've "arranged" quite a few ground stands using whatever came to hand in the woods. It seems to work fine, and it's easy to set-up a few so you can chose the best one for current conditions. Then again I'm very fortunate in having the run of my neighbor's 200 acres - I've never hunted anywhere else yet.

I also Still Hunt quite a bit. Too antsy to stay on stand for a long time, I'm OK prowling slowly for a few hours straight. It also gives you an opportunity to scout and hunt simultaneously. But it's also easy to blow it and get upwind, or in sight, of your quarry without even realizing it. Seems like more work, but it's a traditional way to hunt. In backcountry skiing we call that approach "Earn your turns" - i.e.; ya gotta climb up the hill before you can ski down it !

 

[Goldhunter]

While we don't hunt Whitetail here, for Mulies it is generally still hunting and spot n stock. Tree stands are becoming a little more popular, though. Wish we did have Whitetail. Would like to try it some day.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I like to find a "natural" blind and work on it a bit with supplemental sticks and vines. A downed tree gives a seat and enough cover to break up your front AND background outline (a big mistake leaving a clear opening behind you). I had one that started that way and I hunted it 25 years until the land (owned by Cotton-Hanlon lumber/furniture Co.) was leased out for paying hunters (who proptly posted that and hunted the surrounding farms AND their lease and were otherwise slob hunters). No original parts of the initial tree remained but I added to the tangle every year AFTER season so it sat and blended in without me. :winking:

I carry a tie-on seat I put at ground level for when I want to sit (until three hours after sunrise & again two or three hours before sunset). The rest of the day I generally still-hunt. I've picked out a couple promising spots on my recently acquired land for elevated tree stands, but haven't actually installed one. I have a tendency to nod off if the temperature suits my clothes.

 

[rebel727]

Got three shoot houses that look kinda like outhouses, fully enclosed with a padded rifle rest in a wide slot in the door. These are in the edges of the smaller fields and two ladder stands in the big fields.

 

[Rebel]

Kinda look like outhouses huh? Ain't that why they call them shoothouses? :grin:

 

[Slamfire]

I'm gonna start out on the tree stand, overlookin' the hollar behind my house. If I don't fall asleep, I'll get up after a couple of hours and poke around some. :rotf: Then down in another hollar to a ground blind. :thumbsup:

 

[hobbles]

Mornin john4645
In the Downs \
The deer side
That's my habitat in the background, It' my lazy one, don't have to walk to far,,
The far downs
Upper pond
deer side

 

[shmrck1]

John,
Where I hunt the first two maybe three days
is very heavily hunted so I just find a good
spot and wait for all the comotion to bring them
to me on the ground. After that I get into my
very,very slow walk and look mode. Works for me.
I have never hunted from a tree stand(Get nose
bleeds if I get more than 6feet off the ground) :rotf: :rotf: I guess the real reason is
I just don't like being confined to that small
of an area for any length of time.
snake-eyes :hmm: