Taking whitetails from the ground

[RockinRam96]

Hunt transition areas. So between woods and a meadow, between hardwoods and conifers between woods and streams/ water bodies. Whitetails love to travel these transition areas because they can disappear into one or the other very quickly.

After watching quite a few episodes and listening The Hunting Public guys do this a lot. They tell you their doing it but don’t tell you that is their tactic. Great play.


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[TreeStandAthlete]

I really like ground hunting on ag fields. Use your blind or build a brush blind and just take a stab at where you think they'll come out the first night but focus on visibility. The first night is your lottery + glassing night. If you don't see any deer, move to another field the next day or abort fields all together, rinse and repeat until you see animals. If you do see deer just pay attention to where they come from and where they go etc and use that to go in for the kill the next day. The big key here is don't get winded (duh).

I've had the best success sitting what I guess you could call ag field "pan handles". I'll make a little brush blind in the tree line at the point where the handle meets the pan so most of the handle will be a shootable distance but I can still glass up the pan of the field.

The biggest piece of advice I can give for ground hunting whitetails is be confident in yourself and the hunt. Don't be afraid to go with your gut and try things out. Taking whitetail from the ground can be done, and it's nowhere near impossible (unless you're way down south with the tweaker deer). Positivity is 3/4 of the battle. Best of luck!

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[FLS]

It looks like there is Ag near you. If there is, especially beans, that’s what the deer will be feeding on early season. Find trails going to the feed and work backwards. Small trails will usually lead to a bigger one. When you start finding lots of droppings, setup downwind and wait. That’s where the deer are staging to go out and feed. I prefer a blowdown or something natural. As the season progresse food sources change and you will have to adapt.

 

[J.Wells]

It looks like there is Ag near you. If there is, especially beans, that’s what the deer will be feeding on early season. Find trails going to the feed and work backwards. Small trails will usually lead to a bigger one. When you start finding lots of droppings, setup downwind and wait. That’s where the deer are staging to go out and feed. I prefer a blowdown or something natural. As the season progresse food sources change and you will have to adapt.

Yes there is about 100 acres of Ag that's right across a river but I believe they are all hay fields

Goal is definitely to find the food

 

[J.Wells]

I really like ground hunting on ag fields. Use your blind or build a brush blind and just take a stab at where you think they'll come out the first night but focus on visibility. The first night is your lottery + glassing night. If you don't see any deer, move to another field the next day or abort fields all together, rinse and repeat until you see animals. If you do see deer just pay attention to where they come from and where they go etc and use that to go in for the kill the next day. The big key here is don't get winded (duh).

I've had the best success sitting what I guess you could call ag field "pan handles". I'll make a little brush blind in the tree line at the point where the handle meets the pan so most of the handle will be a shootable distance but I can still glass up the pan of the field.

The biggest piece of advice I can give for ground hunting whitetails is be confident in yourself and the hunt. Don't be afraid to go with your gut and try things out. Taking whitetail from the ground can be done, and it's nowhere near impossible (unless you're way down south with the tweaker deer). Positivity is 3/4 of the battle. Best of luck!

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Love this!!!

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

View attachment 320011After talking with you guys I've really dialed in on this area. It's about a mile deep and there's a couple food plot areas within 200 yards of the river. I called our conservation agent this morning and he said it's hit and miss on whether or not they plant it so I'll just have to check it out in person. I'm gonna look for trails along those clearings and then spend some time hiking the river trying to see if they are crossing into near by hay fields.

I'm gonna be marking down and tracks trails or sign I'm seeing and also gonna be looking for good places to set up an ambush

You have gold mine of Topography to hunt there. Are you listening to the Southern Outdoorsman podcast yet? If not, you should be. I see a ton of potential in there.

 

[MallardSX2]

I have killed a few whitetails from the ground with my bow. None have come easy.

 

[*zap*]

if you can shoot your bow while sitting on your ass on the ground that would help a lot......less gear to carry and just a pair of ratchet pruners to cut your shooting lanes.....should be cut in a v with you at the point. Good cover in between the two lanes and if you see a deer come from one side you can get drawn and shoot it when it hits the other lane...

 

[kfili]

Im no expert, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. I've killed one deer (doe) still hunting with a bow (compound before I swapped to trad- 32 yards, would not have taken with recurve, but could have gotten closer so maybe I still could have gotten it done?). I had a spot where I would always see deer coming from, killed a few from the treestand there, had a day with rain in the morning and a ton of wind so perfect conditions. I moved real slow when the wind was moving and would stop for long periods of time. With what your doing I would spend the first day doing something similar if you can, then when you find a good area, make sure you have real good cover and be patient, you have to be careful, you dont want to blow through the best area by moving too fast- I need to heir on the side of caution and try to slow down.

 

[J.Wells]

if you can shoot your bow while sitting on your ass on the ground that would help a lot......less gear to carry and just a pair of ratchet pruners to cut your shooting lanes.....should be cut in a v with you at the point. Good cover in between the two lanes and if you see a deer come from one side you can get drawn and shoot it when it hits the other lane...

Yeah I'm gonna start doing alot more practicing from the ground!

 

[J.Wells]

You have gold mine of Topography to hunt there. Are you listening to the Southern Outdoorsman podcast yet? If not, you should be. I see a ton of potential in there.

I'm not a listener but I'm about to be!

 

[24on48hunting]

A good ghillie suit or leafy suit will help a lot.
Blowdowns or exposed root balls on blowdowns will really help break your outline up, but finding one in the perfect spot is a rarity.
I like to hunt creek or gulley crossings, where the deer tend to watch their feet momentarily. That will buy me enough time to draw while they’re looking down at their feet. A large tree near the edge that can be used as cover until they’re quartering past you would be ideal, otherwise, make a small ground blind in a good spot near the crossings.

 

[itsjustnewman]

lots of good back cover and the wind is your best friend or worst enemy. Find the right ambush spot and stay there. If you're trying to spot/stalk whitetails you're probably going to just get frustrated.

I personally can't shoot any of my trad bows in a ghillie suit because it always gets in the way of the string. I have been able to wear a boonie with leafy camo netting on it to breakup my head/shoulders though. Our deer here in SC get hunted from Aug 15 to Jan 1st (any weapon, all season) so they are as spooky as they come. I've had a few opportunities from the ground but it doesn't come easy.

 

[JR Greenhorn]

As you'll be hunting public land, how much hunting pressure do you expect there to be?

I've WT hunted wooded stands between ag fields here in MN most of my life. I don't do archery, but this is a shotgun/slug zone, so shots are typically under 50 yards anyway. I grew up ground hunting, and still prefer it. The #1 thing is picking a good spot to set up. As mentioned above, back cover is more important than front cover. Think about sillohuetting (not just against the sky, but agaist the open space beyond you) and getting snuck up on from behind. Slug hunting makes it easier than needing room to draw a bow, but I like to sit under trees (especially cedars), or on a small stool in tall grass. Sometimes you can break some branches to make a spot in a clump of bushes or the edge of a thicket of brambles. That can work well, but you run the risk of shaking the whole bush if you bump a branch.


With archery in the early season, deer will likely behave "naturally" (i.e., as all the shows and podcasts tell you they do), but as the season progresses in areas with strong hunting pressure, their patterns change. Under hunting pressure, deer feed at night and wait out the day bedded down. When trail cameras came out, they confirmed what we always knew anyway--the deer feed leisurely at night from an hour after you leave until an hour before you get there. They do seem to go for water in the mornings, but they'll head to cover eventually. You don't want to sit where they are headed, you want to be on the way there. They'll avoid good cover if someone is set up in there, or too close. The advice about edge zones above is very good.

For pre-season scouting, do not be careful about hiding your presence. Deer accustomed to having humans around are less skittish. They won't abandon a place because you've been there, they know humans don't stay long. After opener, you want them to notice the other hunters, but not you.

Once you have other hunters in your area, you need to account for them. If a hunter is set up on a movement route, such as an edge zone or established game trail, deer will follow the route until they detect/suspect the hunter, then take a detour around. Eventually they will get back to their original route. Sometimes you can find new/temporary funnel points between but "further down the road"/route from where other hunters are set up. I've probably had the best luck with this approach, but there is a lot of hunting pressure during slug season.

Under pressure, the best time tends to be late morning, after a lot of hunters have sat for the morning, but are now starting to head out for coffee/breakfast/beer. That usually pushes deer around a lot, and you want to be sitting "on the way out" when deer are getting away from that commotion. Once it settles down again later is a good time for your own break.



Don't be afraid to change spots if you haven't seen anything for a couple hours, just consider how your movement will affect anything that might have been in the area you didn't/couldn't see. It's better to be in a bad spot watching out-of-range deer moving than to be in a great spot that nothing is passing by. If you see deer you can't reach, while you watch them try to figure out where the best spot would have been, and what is affecting their movements. You can learn a lot of general info online, but it's hard to beat learning the details of a specific location. Of course pay attention to what might cause them to come your way, and be ready just in case.

Remember that to get a shot opportunity, something has to changing locations, ideally the deer.

 

[Fordguy]

Saying this reminds me of the scene in Escanaba in Da Moonlight when they're trying to convince Reuben Soady to set up his blind on the shoulder of M-35, lol. But...
I've arrowed a bunch of deer on the ground by finding trails that lead to road crossings, on fairly busy roads. Wear good camo, pick lanes that allow for a broadside shot, and from personal experience deer are very focused on the cars that go by and less focused on the smaller movements that you make.

 

[Foggy Mountain]

Saying this reminds me of the scene in Escanaba in Da Moonlight when they're trying to convince Reuben Soady to set up his blind on the shoulder of M-35, lol. But...
I've arrowed a bunch of deer on the ground by finding trails that lead to road crossings, on fairly busy roads. Wear good camo, pick lanes that allow for a broadside shot, and from personal experience deer are very focused on the cars that go by and less focused on the smaller movements that you make.

Like this?

 

[Fordguy]

Like this?

Lol. I wish. But when they have their attention on traffic 50 yards away, and you are slightly behind them and off to the side at 12 yards or so it can be almost that easy. I've had people slow down to look at the deer and used that distraction for my shot. Most of the time (where I hunt) the deer won't run from a vehicle until it stops but they will stare at it really hard.

 

[Foggy Mountain]

Lol. I wish. But when they have their attention on traffic 50 yards away, and you are slightly behind them and off to the side at 12 yards or so it can be almost that easy. I've had people slow down to look at the deer and used that distraction for my shot. Most of the time (where I hunt) the deer won't run from a vehicle until it stops but they will stare at it really hard.

I’m not breaking your chops, just a funny pic and seemed appropriate

 

[TREE ‘EM]

Still hunt heavy cover on light rain days or high wind days. When you think you are going slow, slow down some more.

This

Binoculars are your friend. Still hunt your way through bedding cover glassing every couple steps even if you can only see 10 or 15 yards ahead of you. You’ll be amazed by what you would miss with the naked eye.

Forget the Gilly suits and fashion camo. They don’t replace skill.

 

[J.Wells]

Sweet thank you so much guys!!!!!!! We went scouting and found quite a few potential spots and we hope to go hunt next Thursday Friday and Saturday!