#3095982 - 12/26/12 10:29 AM
Re: Hunting from the Ground
[Re: Hunter 257W]
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Winchester
Non-Typical
Registered: 12/05/03
Posts: 25339
Loc: TN
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Very very rarely hunt from the ground, only when the situation forces me too. I much prefer to be 20+ ft up if at all possible.
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#3096138 - 12/26/12 12:50 PM
Re: Hunting from the Ground
[Re: Winchester]
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WMAn
6 Point
Registered: 11/05/10
Posts: 803
Loc: Williamson County
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156p&y,
Are you hunting places you have scouted/hunted in the past and are very familiar with? I like to use a strategy similar to yours, but I find myself always worried about what I'm missing. I sometimes press on farther only to discover that I would have been better off sitting down 50 yards earlier. At that point, I feel like I have ruined my chances by walking over the area where deer are most likely to come through. How do you handle this?
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"I will remain what I am until I die, a hunter, and when there are no buffalo or other game I will send my children to hunt and live on prairie mice..." - Sitting Bull
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#3097010 - 12/27/12 12:17 AM
Re: Hunting from the Ground
[Re: WMAn]
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156p&y
10 Point
Registered: 10/23/01
Posts: 4097
Loc: Franklin Tn
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I've hunted this place for many years, and it has taken me many years to figure out how to move on it. When it comes down to it I really don't know exactly where the deer will be coming from but I try to move in a pattern that will not mess myself up. Now whether or not they are coming in from adjoining property I really try not to worry about that because I can't hunt it anyway. I mainly do not like to bump deer in the morning because my hunt has just started, I don't really care about the afternoon when I walk out because the deer have hours upon hours to go anywhere and forget about it during the night.
Even though I do this on land I hunt on a regular basis I prefer to do it more on new tracts of land more than anything. Basically because I get to scout the whole time I'm hunting my way in. There have been many times that I thought I had a determined destination but sign has told me to sit down and hunt; and it has paid off many times.
I do think that this method of hunting works by far the best during the rut. I firmly believe that just a matter of 200 yards can be the difference of seeing all the rutting activity or seeing none at all; which is the main reason I do not like to bump deer during the rut. If I am seeing deer I just sit and watch, if I am not I keep moving.
During early and late season I would rather sit in one spot, it seems the deer move very little in distance from bedding to feeding areas this time of year.
As for not walking over areas the deer will be coming from I almost always try to move in a U shape or L shape downwind to get to where I want to go. I'm not just wandering but checking places of interest along the way.
It also helps if your hunting open hardwoods, thicket stuff can be nearly impossible to move through without spreading scent everywhere, and I usually will skirt the edges around thick cover.
I would also say my binoculars save me more than anything, but for myself I have to slow myself down a considerable amount and force myself to use them. I've even had experiences where I spot deer within 30 yards laying down that I would have never known they were there without the optics.
A lot of it is a mental game though for me. If I find myself thinking "I should hunt here" I have learned that I just need to listen to that and relax, sit down, and hunt. When I over think is when I screw myself.
I do know one thing for a fact; no matter how long I have hunted a farm things change weekly. Deer will for sure move through certain areas always but the sign I want to hunt always changes. So basically for me I am using it more as a way of scouting than hunting; which means I probably scout more than I hunt during rifle. It is the only way I can sort of assemble a "pattern" on a mature deer. Plus I have had big deer literally fall into my lap by hunting this way and following the sign.
My dad and I were talking about this exact subject the other night and we have killed more than 90% of our wall hangers by hunting this way, from the ground. We think your scent saturates a massive area when hunting stationary from daylight. I have 13 mounts in my house ranging from 120-175 and 11 of them have been from the ground. I think my dad has about 7 and all of his are from the ground and range from public to private land.
Sorry for such a long post but I obviously believe in this method and enjoy it.
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