Bow Hunting From A Ground Blind

Bow Hunting From A Ground Blind

By Freddie McKnight

The ideal image of bowhunting is from an elevated stand, but there are some situations that do not allow for such a platform. Hot spots such as reclaiming fields, clearcuts, and even pine thickets simply don’t have trees big enough to hold a stand, yet are as hot a place to hunt as any. Through the use of portable ground blinds and natural ground cover, one can have as much success on Terra Firma as they can hanging in the air.

Scent is a major concern when bowhunting, and at the same level as the deer, it is of the utmost importance that you hunt with the wind in your face. Once short blast of your scent at this level and your hunt for the day, maybe even the season, will be over. Take the time to approach your stand with the wind in your face and make sure that it stays in your face. If the wind shifts, leave the stand immediately. In this manner you may be able to preserve the hunting location for later use.

One of the easiest ways to get into a ground-hunting situation is through the use of any of the commercial ground blinds on the market today. You can simply go to a location, set up the blind, and be hunting in a matter of minutes. Sometimes the deer readily accept this, other times they grow suspicious. One of the ways to combat their suspicions is to add natural cover to and around the blind. Tree limbs, leaves, and grasses can be added to the hideout to make it appear as part of the natural landscape. To the deer, this new scene is nothing more than a tree that has fallen since their last visit to the area.

To add an element to take the deers’ eyes off of the blind, you can add a decoy to your setup. This will often times lock their eyes onto the fake and off of your hideout. Calling from within the blind, the deer will key in on the decoy in the open areas that you can hunt in this manner. Be sure to use some sort of deer scent as an added attractant, especially if you are using this set up during the rut. In fact the rut may be the ultimate time to employ this method as any buck on the prowl will check out a doe decoy or face off with a buck decoy.

If you are not able to use a commercial blind, you can always rely on Mother Nature to do her best for you. Freshly fallen treetops are great natural blinds that are ready made for the ground bowhunter. With a few clips of some limbs for shooting lanes, you have the natural hideout ready to hunt. Grapevine thickets are another type of ground hunting blind employed, as are laurel patches, clearcuts, and briar patches. All offer great ground concealment while using natural cover for your hideout. Once again make sure of the wind direction when entering the area and while hunting. Use of a seat and rubber boots will minimize the amount of scent you leave behind. In this manner you can sit in this hide multiple times without the deer catching on. Unless major changes take place over the course of a year, locations such as these should be great from one year to the next.

Along with cover, I purposely like to hunt the ground during the rut. Moving through locations that show good sign of bucks in the area (rubs, scrapes, and droppings), I like to call and/or rattle every so often along the way. This is a great way to conduct midday hunts during the rut portion of the bow season so as to not be sitting in a stand all day at one location. True the latter may be a great way to take that big buck, but not everyone can sit in one place all day. Your mind gets to wondering what might be over the top of the next ridge. By going ground hopping you are scouting as well as hunting. Maybe you might no find success in this manner, but you could stumble across an area that is hot for a tree stand in the process.

Stillhunting is not thought of much by bowhunters, but on those days when the wind is blowing or the rain is falling, it is an ideal time to be out stalking with the prowlness of a panther. Slipping up into bow range of a deer on their level may be the utmost level of success to a bowhunter. It is not an easy accomplishment, but it can be done.

Keep in mind when hunting on the ground to keep your silhouette broken up as much as possible. This is perhaps the item to key in on the most. Also be sure to keep your movements to a minimum and when you have to move, do so slowly. Turkey hunters will be good ground hunters as they are used to having to do this on those incoming gobblers.

The last great method of ground hunting whitetails has to do with conducting drives. All through the archery season a small group of us assemble periodically to do a day of nothing but pushes. This is an exciting way to break up the monotony of sitting in a stand or blind all of the time. In this manner we are scouting, hunting, and covering vast amounts of ground. Knowing what deer we see in each area, along with the sign found, we can formulate a game plan to come back later and hunt those deer.

Ground hunting may or may not apply to you, it is not for everyone. Still each fall there are thousands of bowhunters and crossbow hunters that utilize this method to achieve success. It is perhaps the most exciting way to hunt deer, on their level with senses at full alert. Success here is the ultimate that bowhunting has to offer.