Tell me about experiences you have had with good bucks hunting out of a ground blind.... The good and bad. I am speaking of natural and manufactured blinds here. Success photos are encouraged as are sob stories of the ones that didn't work out.
Ok....I'm going to be one of "those guys" but here goes.... WHO NEEDS A GROUND BLIND???? Btw...I had one too many margaritas tonight. And when I say one...I literally mean one! Those Mexicanos sure are liberal with their tequila. :D On a serious note....I've never tried deer hunting from a ground blind. A few things deter me from the practice. I'm afraid someone will steal it or that the wind will blow it away. I'd love to get into hunting out of natural blinds though. AND now time to brag....Sorry! :D
The wife took this buck out of a ground blind we sat up after she had to pass on shots at 15 yards on another buck she was hunting (Pistol Peat) from her tree stand. She thought this one was another buck we call Flyer that had a longer sticker off of its G2, soon as she seen the sticker she started looking for her shot, siad she knew she shot the wrong deer soon as he ran off after the shot. It's about 20" smaller than the one she thought she was shooting. LOL The wife has killed a bunch of deer in Dec and all of them have been out of a ground blind, or a blind of natural materals. She will not hunt out of a tree stand when it starts getting bad. Honest, she's not drunk, she just has trouble keeping her eyes open when the flash goes off. See!
John That is impressive and congrats to your wife. I know in the past you had said your wife took her hunting serious. Taking them off the ground in ground blinds or self blinds... that is pretty neat. Your buck this year was also taken from the ground... right ?? Tim
The wife is hard core! I remember one season she hunted from Oct 1st to Jan 1st and only missed 2 days of hunting. And yes Tim, I had went into that spot to look for a good tree to hang a stand and not only found a good tree to hang a stand, but also found a great natural ground blind I did not have to stink up the area doing anything to, that gave me a 26-27 yard shot to the trail he had been using between a fence roll and a silage field. A good drop in temperature and a great NW wind that day is what made me decided to wait on hanging a stand and hunt off the ground. Just one of them times when you seen it, you knew. Ruttnutt also got his Buck from the ground this season with a 30 yard shot on a spot and stalk. Several deer actually. Time to start looking for next years targets. Seen a great young non-typical 2 days ago that just went to the top of my hitlist if he stays that way, but I better not hijack buckeyes thread talking about it.
Buckeye, I've only played with two different styles and makes. Both Primos Cabelas exclusives. The hub style, Predator Den Blind is my favorite. It's huge, of decent quality, but won't break the bank. I have had it out for the 09 late season (4 weeks), the 10 Spring Gobbler (6 weeks), and all of this season (since Sept). The best part, it's like 150 bones. http://www.cabelas.com/product/Primos174-Ground-Max174-Predator174-Den-Blind/745387.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3DsearchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3Dblinds%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%2BProducts&Ntt=blinds&WTz_l=Header;Search-All%20Products I don't have a buck story from it, but I have two spots that I basically couldn't get any form of stand to, that it makes easy. I'm sure there are more expensive ones out there that have a few more bells, but I just couldn't wrap my head around leaving them out for extended periods. BTW, looks like 20 bucks off orders of 150 or more, that thing just got cheaper.
Scott, Hunting Big Whitetail Bucks out of a Blind IMO really takes the right setup. Brushed in extremely well and left in place for a good period of time. It might be possible to pop up a blind half way brush it in and take a good buck. A blind Hog also finds an acorn once in a while. I think doing that consistently would be impossible, at least where I hunt. It's funny but Mule Deer and Antelope are entirely different when it comes to blinds as are Turkeys Dan
I've hunted off the ground quite a bit for whitetails, some seasons more than others. I've had some success but not a lot. Its tough to kill big mature bucks off the ground. The wind is usually a p.i.a. and you get away with very little movement, usually 0. Noise is also tougher to mask while on the ground. I've hunted mostly out of natural blinds and I do have a double bull pred camo blind now. Used to have a DB t-2 until it got stolen. Which is another issue. If you use a man made one you have to pack it in, set it up and brush it in really good imo to fool an old buck. Then you pretty much need to leave it there so you dont have cause such a disturbance of setting it up and tearing it down. That is one reason why I like natural blinds better. You can slip in and out of them without any disturbance. Man made blinds are great for drawing on approaching bucks but suck for low light like I often hunt in under the canopy of hvy timber conifers. The natural blinds I have used and still use are positioned on the tops of ridge lines. Natural blinds on on mountain sides or down in ravines suck for wind. You really end up just educating the deer for the most part. Here in the swirling winds of the mountains anyway. My best and most productive ground blinds are in mountain ridgeline saddles. Its the only place I can get a decently consisitent wind. If you hunt out of a natural blind your gonna want to make sure an give yourself plenty of cover. You need to be able to see a deer or hear them approach, get drawn without them seeing you or it's a bust every time. I always clean off the earth in my natural blinds for a quiet surface to kneel on or set a small stool on...when I get set up in my blinds I often take off my boots and sit in my socks ( if its not to cold) so I can shift around minimally while being totally silent for a shot. The deer I hunt are so stinking spooky from being hunted by big predators that they just wont tolerate anything out of the normal making any noise on the ground. My favorite times to hunt my natural blinds are actually on crappy weather days. when there is enough wind to cover some noise and even a little drizzle to help with scent. If the earth is wet I can usually always keep my boots on. I hunted off the ground out with Tim in ND too and basically everything I implemented in my forested mountains here I did in the same fashion in the ND pairie lands. Good cover, clean ground floor and the best wind I could find. In ND the winds were much more consistent. Out there instead of tucking into timber, I tucked into the brush in the tree rows or into the cain grass. I like to have plenty of cover on my right and left sides with basically a shooting lane right in front of me.. So that I can pick up an approaching deer from either side, draw early and let him come by. This seems to work the best and has worked the best for me. Yes it means holding my draw for over a minute at times but I have had NO luck drawing on my bucks with them in close.. they always pick up some form of neg stimuli if I draw too late. I have shot a couple really nice bucks off the ground in Idaho and blew it on a big one in ND. Hunting off the ground is awesome though, eye level bucks with a bow is a completely different experience for me personally than from a stand, and I love it all.. but its pretty darned cool if you can get it done on the ground. The last buck I killed off the ground was my "stretch" buck. Oldest buck I have ever killed, aged at 9.5 or 10.5 by my taxi's biologist. I think he was so old, senile and deaf that I got lucky enough to get him killed. It was on a very crappy weather day were the wind was just right, on top of a ridge ..and it was really noisey out. I hunt a lot of clear cut situations. If thats what your facing then I'd used the debris in the area to build some natural blinds to tuck into and see what happens.. Good luck Scott.
I've seen some good bucks while hunting off the ground out of natural blinds. Biggest buck I ever saw while hunting was back in 2002. I was hunting a pine thicket, and in there was a blown over tree. I spent about an hour creating an awesome blind inside of the downed pine tree. I would have deer walk right on the edge of this blind without ever seeing me. That night, right before dark a few does were out in front of me and I heard a grunt from behind me. All I saw was a giant rack about 10 yards from me, but i hadn't cut a lane that far back. He ran out to where the does were and stopped about 20 yards. I don't even remember aiming, but I shot WAY over his back. My buddy missed the same buck from the ground the following year. He was a 12 pointer that should of went 180+ I do have one of those Primos Predator blinds, but I have only hunted out of it a handful of times. I masy try to drag it out more next year, but I prefer to be in a tree these days.
This Big Boy was on a food plot when I arrived about two hours before sunset. Tried to put a stalk on him, but food plot is too big for me to get within bow range. Eventually he sensed something and pranced away. My hope was that he might come back later since he hadn't seen or smelled me. Sure enough, I wasn't in the ground blind 5 minutes when he showed up again. He settled down and started to graze just 25 yards from me...but at an angle that made a shot from the blind impossible. Finally, I tried to contort myself into some kind of form that would allow a shot, but once I drew back I realized the arrow wouldn't clear the bottom of the window. I had to let off, he heard me and spooked. He ran about fifty yards and stopped, then started heading away out of bow range. I thought I'd lost him for sure. He hung up at the edge of the food plot and for the longest 2 minutes of my life stood there deciding whether to return. Ultimately, he did a U-turn and came back in at about 20 yards. Fatal mistake.
ive been looking at getting into ground blind hunting latley, just kinda scared that the bigger bucks will sneak me out =[
Not a buck, and not really from a blind but I did shoot him from the ground at 8 yards. I just stuck myself in a little natural corner created by some 5-6' spruce trees.
My buddy has a blind (hes afraid of heights) and me and him were going to hunt out of it this year and didnt get to it....we are going to try and take a few does next year out of it...hes never shot a deer before, i think it could be a good way to get him into it.
I had a massive 12 pointer pushed by my blind by a car once three or for years ago, that's my only experience with big bucks and ground blinds.
hey buckeye, I can tell you a thing or two about groundblind hunting. About 6 1/2 years ago I became a above knee amputee from a bad motorcycle accident. I had been bowhunting since I was 12 and knew I needed to find a new method of hunting, treestands would no longer be a option. About a year after the accident I had a Eastman pop up blind and was starting my new adventure. I will be the first to say that I had my doubts about the whole ground blind thing but I did manage to kill a small buck that first year, and even though the buck wasn't a trophy it sure made me feel great. I've learned alot since that first year, I now use a doublebull dark horse, expensive, but worth every penny, they seem to just blend in and also give you more shooting room. I have also learned to set the blind in areas that I can see as far as possible, you lose that birds eye view that you get out of the tree, and sometimes deer can be in shooting range before you even know they are there. I have killed 3 nice bucks since the first buck and a few does, thats not to say I havn't had some chances at a few giants, But when its a giant I have noticed you better not think to long or it will be to late, I think they just know something isn't right. But when you draw on deer at eye level it is a rush. It also takes out the weird shot angles that you take out of a tree, and makes tracking alot more simple.
Tyler's buck at 12 yards 15 yards 12 yards passed on him at 20 shot and missed him at 30 Got busted by him at 40- 45 yards. I was trying to sneak into his bedding area on a morning hunt. Just was stepping into the cattails when he popped over a small knoll. It was right at daylight. Had I gotten there a minute sooner !!!!! Got delayed because I forgot something in the truck and had to go back and get it. I think it was my wallet with my license in it. That one hurt. Passed the buck that dropped these at 25 yards. Still kicking myself for that one !! Tim
Yep, Tim Is a stud!! Probably doesn't even own a tree stand. I wish I could comment for myself Scott but haven't had to many chances with big bucks up close on the ground. When I do ground hunt, I make natural blinds. I've got some great set ups for It but have been to chicken **** to follow through and do It when hunting an older buck (s).
