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Post by deerhunter23 on Nov 1, 2013 2:29:57 GMT -5
Hey fellas needing some help. Here it is a little after 3a.m. And I'm laid up on the couch with what I think is a broken foot. Let the dog out and while coming back in I slipped on the wooden porch steps, in flip flops. Needless to say the top of my foot is severely contused and possibly broken. Even if not I can see where this is going to cause a problem with my climber. Is it sad that as I'm laying here in pain all I can think of is where does my deer season go from here??!! I think thats what is causing the most pain! Man this sucks! Anyway, I'm already planning ahead just in case, ive never used a blind but I do have some good spots to put one. How much different is blind hunting compared to stand hunting? Obviously I can see alot further in the stand but what about some of the more detailed secrets ya guys got? Like how long should I let a blind sit before hunting it? Will be spooked from the change of scenery? Scent any different? Idk really what to ask I have a million things running through my mind right now..any help or pointers/do's and donts..i told the wife give me til the morning to see what shape im in before she drives me to the VA hospital that's 2 hours away.
I'm bumming pretty bad right now. Ive logged alot of hours this year so far and for the most part its been pretty slow. I do have a doe at the processor and I've seen a couple good bucks. This year just looked so promising. This is the first year ive had since being in the military that ive hunted like ive wanted to again. Ive even landed a 100 fresh acres thats hardly been hunted for awhile, we all know how hard that is! Now with the rut heating up, good timing for something stupid to happen right!
I feel like im venting and this post could turn into a novel! Ive got to try and walk to the potty now! Thanks for the help in advance guys and gals. Any advise would help as im totally in the dark on blind hunting. I may be jumping the gun and I hope I am, maybe its not broke but I have a good picture of how this is going to go.
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Post by dbd870 on Nov 1, 2013 4:28:55 GMT -5
I have to agree this season has not been what I thought it was going to be so far. A new blind sticks out pretty well, I'd try to get it in some cover and brush it in. The thing I dislike the most about them is the loss of vision around the area, however it beats not being out there!
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Post by bsutravis on Nov 1, 2013 8:42:39 GMT -5
One of the biggest hiccups with blinds (I'm in ine as I write this) is the smell of the blind itself. I put mine out at least a month before the season starts just to let it air out and get washed by the rain. In your situation iltyats not an option! If you are gun hunting you'll be ok putting it up when you go out, just try to brush it in best you can. The problem is with bow hunting from the blind.... Getting a deer within 30-40 yards of a newly placed blind is gonna be tough. Play the wind like in a tree stand and try to almost set the blind so you are ambushing the deer before he sees the blind. Another tip, my son and I have found that the best chair for a blind is a simple metal folding chair ($10 at Lowes). Yes, you have to be very careful not to bang anything against it but once you are sitting they are actually comfy and they let you glide and slide yourself to reposition for the shot with silence and ease! Hunt w a buddy, carrying the blind, chairs, and gear can be a pain by yourself!
Oh yeah, also... Wear black instead of camo if you can and punch down the windows so only what is needed is opened! Keep it as dark inside as you can.
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Post by Jamie Brooks 1John5:13 on Nov 1, 2013 8:52:50 GMT -5
I put acorn powder on mine, but can't say that it helped, because I don't know the difference. They did seem cautious around it, but they get use to it. I did put natural brush and limbs on and around it. I actually store my hunting clothes with acorn powder.
Put it up as soon as possible; I'll help if you need it.
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Post by schoolmaster on Nov 1, 2013 10:14:48 GMT -5
I have hunted from the ground for years. Just started using blinds a few years ago. When you hunt from the ground you have to sit still. If someone saw you they would come over to check if you were still breathing; that kind of still. Keep your face and hands covered up. A deer can see the shine off your skin a long ways. Be very meticulous about your scent. Only raise your bow or gun when the deer can't see the motion. I hunted for 16 years on a pair of knees that needed replaced, so I know it can be done. You just have to be careful and use common sense. I put off rotator cuff surgery so I could hunt the opener of the mz season. I killed a 14 pointer on public ground that weekend and it took a lot of concentration to make me pull that trigger. After pulling the trigger I was glad I didn't have to shoot any more. Hey its just a matter of how much you want to hunt. Handicapped hunters do it all the time. If I had "100 fresh acres" to hunt, I would find a way to do it, whatever it took. You can't kill a deer sitting on the couch. Get after them and good luck.
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Post by firstwd on Nov 1, 2013 16:56:53 GMT -5
Scent away spray works on blinds too. Like anything else, it needs to look like it belongs. We set two blinds with cameras and it's been nonstop deer and turkey starting the same afternoon. I got 8 different bucks on one, including a 10 point pushing 140 and a 150+ 9 point on the other. One 2 days one 4 days after we set them.
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Post by featherduster on Nov 1, 2013 17:52:26 GMT -5
Years ago I hunted a farm that didn't have one tree on it however it bordered a very nice woods along two of the longest fence lines, the field was very large and hilly. I had a 9'x 5' utility trailer with 4' sidewalls, I would build a cheap blind in the trailer which sort of resembled a phone booth. I had bar stool inside that allowed me to turn a full 360 degrees with offset windows so the deer wouldn't see my silhouette. I would take the trailer and set it on blocks along one of the fence lines on top of one of the hills so I had a good view. I was always high and dry along with warm and out of the wind. I also always killed a deer or two every year.
I think the problem people have with ground blinds is that we tend to over think the camo idea. I would always laugh when there was fresh snow on the ground I would see all sorts of deer tracks all around my trailer. The best thing about the trailer was when I killed a deer I had the trailer right there to load the deer into.
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Post by steve46511 on Nov 1, 2013 19:15:22 GMT -5
I'm a dinosaur.
Just a WILD guess but "close",(and I feel conservative) I've shot MORE THAN 50 deer sitting on a bucket or stool, back to a tree, being careful to have something breaking my outline in as many directions as I can imagine........and I don't feel I'm sacrificing MUCH, OTHER THAN how far I can see one coming.
Little bugger CAN walk right up on you!! (In a tree stand too of course, just saying).
A stickler to have my face blackened. Anyone finding any Tink's Camo Dust laying dusty on the shelf somewhere LET ME KNOW. I mix all four colors and it comes out charcoal(ish) and has worked for what? 3 decades? 4? I forget.
Now for the part that will raise eyebrows. I have shot as many with a plaid jacket on as with camo BUT.......HIGH CONTRAST plaid OR camo. The darks need to be WAY darker and the lights WAY lighter. Even black and almost white works ok as far as I am concerned. Yep, I HAVE camo, most of it worn this time of year just because its what I have for colder/windy/rainy weather.
Even "worse"? I smoke. (Yeah , yeah...I KNOW I KNOW, gotta stop but DOWNWIND IS DOWNWIND!) But the POINT I am going to make is that I have had to drop a cig and put my boot on it more times than I can remember to pick up my longbow/recurve/ML...handgun.whatever to whack one. Drives my buddy INSANE that I "get by with that". I have no explanation other than something lots laugh at me when I say it (but that's ok too. :-) ) and that is this:
Faith. I have faith in high contrast colors or hues, large pattern, outline being broken up and moving SLOWLY if I must (or just want to). IMO, when the wind IS BLOWING (like lately?) something NOT moving is as scary to a deer as something moving slowly. ** THEY DON'T SEE ME BECAUSE I DON'T THINK THEY WILL**. Kind of a power of positive thinking thing? Who knows.
Yes, yes.....I will have doubters, I will have those scoffing at me for this but it is the truth. Three deer last year (didn't bow hunt though due to health), in four days during gun season. Never even got in a stand THAT year. Year before that? one with a bow, one with a gun from a stand (but THAT ONE SAW ME), Year before that, Buck while leaning against a tree in a lane, Year before, buck and a doe with a recurve, sitting on a bucket half under a low limb and against the truck, and on, and on. My memory is horrible, LOL. This year I had 3 does at less than 20 yards bowhunting but they came STRAIGHT from upwind and I was NOOOOOOOOOOOOT expecting that and wasn't set up for that direction since on my right and I am right handed.
Cover? Tree to my left, pair of 10 inch logs running diagonally beside me. Jeans and a baseball cap, predator jacket, light weight (lots of pockets!! LOL)........sitting on a stool, and yes I had a cigarette lit when I first saw them at 20-22 yards, put it out, got the bow picked up, got half turned...till the second doe nailed me. If NOT on my right? I would have had a shot since wouldn't have had to turn 90 degrees.
Whole point here is sitting on something comfy on the ground, or just standing by a tree has worked for many, many, many generations. For us old timers, we can remember when "tree stands" came to be but........
WE KILLED DEER BEFORE THAT WITH MUCH INFERIOR HUNTING WEAPONS, BOTH bow and gun so obviously?>>> Hunting "au natural" will work and I make you a promise. IT'S SO exciting that still today it is my bread and butter for having fun out there. I'll hunt a stand some here soon but when the leaves are gone?
BACK TO THE GROUND for me. I respectfully refer you to my signature line. Such is a way of life for me, in the woods..and out.
God Bless!!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2013 19:28:51 GMT -5
That's very interesting, Steve. Let me ask you this, just out of curiosity. Were a lot of those deer you mentioned in the above scenarios younger deer? Any really mature does or bucks? I wonder because, I notice I get away with a lot of mistakes and poor winds with young deer, but a wise old doe or a mature buck can be a totally different animal.
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Post by steve46511 on Nov 1, 2013 19:45:10 GMT -5
I've shot some young ones, and also some 2.5-3.5 year old bucks and does (CO's guess, not mine). A buck older than 2.5 years old IN MY AREA......is a FREAK, I don't bother "looking" for one so yes, the "average" I've taken probably runs closer to 1.5 year old but IMO.....an old DOE is still the hardest beastie for me to take from the ground. I've had NICE bucks (two were killed by a friend a few days later, both over 145 inch) at LESS THAN 15 yards but unable to shoot due to something "just not right yet" and passed up one of them again "3 minutes before shooting time...broadside, 12 yards *puff* *pant*, *GASP*. LOL. I am, literally, a "meat hunter" and while a big old hog of a buck is NICE? Hardly my quest for any season but I've had such OCCASIONALLY in range over the years but IMO, the rarity is more due to lack OF them rather than what I am doing. In a ONE MILE SQUARE where I hunt I KNOW OF 15 hunters. Getting "old" is not a common thing for bucks OR does here. Hand in hand I will also say that NONE of them are to be considered "stupid", BECAUSE OF the pressure they endure. Bottom line on big bucks is one has to be willing to PASS UP a buck not QUITE YET a big one. Tag soup doesn't do a thing for me and taking an average buck early HAS cost me a big buck years past, but I felt no regret. One, (IMHO) should NEVER regret taking a wild animal..or shoot AT one as some kind of "consolation prize" I am not only content but quite happy with a buck taken "on my terms"......."in his livingroom". How each measures "success" has many types of yardsticks. 2 cents. God Bless Short note: The biggest buck I've ever seen in this woods over the decades was a true HOG. The sonovagun almost RAN OVER ME chasing does! TWICE! I couldn't get him under 20 yards .....and less than 100 mph!
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Post by kevin1 on Nov 2, 2013 12:02:23 GMT -5
Hunting "au natural" will work and I make you a promise. IT'S SO exciting that still today it is my bread and butter for having fun out there. That's probably the single most disturbing thing I've ever read on this site, thanks for the gruesome mental images, Steve!
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Post by steve46511 on Nov 2, 2013 13:52:16 GMT -5
LOL! Naa.....not THAT "natural".....I scare off enough with clothes on, not to mention anyone seeing me going hunting. I don't have that much Camo Dust either!! Guess that didn't QUITE come out super accurately At my age......it just has a different meaning it seems. Gotta laugh at myself though for such dumb statements. God Bless
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jab
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Post by jab on Nov 2, 2013 20:28:31 GMT -5
Steve took your advice tonight went in with me and the wife's crossbow and set against a tree and brush pile. First time not in a stand. After 4 hours of nothing at 6pm heard a grawl almost purring sound from behind brush pile thinking crap coon or possom on ground with me so I get turned to see when I realized that its a busted up 8 point at 8-10ft staring at me grawling, grunting, purring and pawing ground went 10 yds north and 10yds south never taking eyes off me. Thanking god I didn't use any urine since I was on ground but still that this is about to get interesting. Then a stick brakes at my foot, slowly turn head to see doe eat at feet next to crossbow lol. Feeling releif that I'm not what he intended to mount they bust into a game of cat and mouse playing ring around me then ran off. You can definely get close on ground but that to close for me. My heart skipped multiple beat over 20 min.
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Post by steve46511 on Nov 3, 2013 7:14:47 GMT -5
LOL.........TELL ME THAT WASN'T EXCITING! As said, they CAN walk right up on you!
You can't see in all directions but you'll start looking in a different process.
For me what has worked is something, as mentioned that breaks my outline.......but I can PEEK AROUND. RARELY is my entire outline covered but only part of it.
Been there done that. The 146 3/8 inch buck my son's buddy killed during shotgun stood about 8 yards from me one rainy day with only his rib cage (naturally) covered by a tree. I hadn't seen him coming (STRAIGHT behind that tree but heard him)and was ready but at that yardage, in the rain, one's scent will get you sooner or later........and it did. He LOOKED but didn't see me (my opinion) but had his nose going and slowly slipped back into the thicket of paw paws.
Nope, didn't get him but I'll stick with DANG THAT WOULDA BEEN A WHOPPER with my ol longbow AT THAT RANGE.
More doable than a lot think (again IMO) Back when I had this woods to myself, I set up for, and hunted one particular buck. I thought I ran a pretty good average successfully doing so about half the time.
From the ground.
NOT saying its "better", I'm saying it's more doable than most think and saying so because I've done it, dozens of times and OFTEN at VERY close range. Had I been shooting a compound back then, the success ratio would have been expected to be higher since with trad equipment I limit my shots to 25 yards (ish).
It's a learning process as all of it is, I'm tickled you had the action you had and felt a bit of what I feel hunting is ALL ABOUT using the method I prefer the most.
It's NOT for everyone. Most prefer getting any advantage they can get, regardless of how or how much. Nothing wrong with that. Without such, manufacturers would go broke. :-)
There is a much seen quote online. "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." I have simply found similar feeling for my deer hunting.
While God Willing, the next two deer I take will make my "total" 100 deer and just a number, its not the number of them that feeds fond memories even though all were fun.
It's the ones that had me white-knuckling my bow, holding my breath, nerves fiddle string tight that are so ingrained in my memories that I can LITERALLY.............can still see the arrow spin in my memories of them.
Hunt. Whatever it takes to do so. I may be hitch hiking to the woods this week the way things look. Hunt how YOU like to hunt. Regardless who says what (including me). It is your satisfaction you seek to find. How that happens is measured only with the yardstick of your own choice and you answer to no one.
There is TWO kinds of RUT I see each fall.
One is when deer mate.....the other is habits I watch people follow, year after year after year, more often than not with the same disappointing results. We hunt one of the most adaptable animals of this earth. Adapting to their habitat and where they go the best we can is a normal reaction for me. Some agree, some do not. Such is the way of the world.
God bless
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Post by Jamie Brooks 1John5:13 on Nov 3, 2013 8:51:09 GMT -5
I'm a dinosaur. WE KILLED DEER BEFORE THAT WITH MUCH INFERIOR HUNTING WEAPONS, BOTH bow and gun so obviously?>>> Hunting "au natural" will work and I make you a promise. IT'S SO exciting that still today it is my bread and butter for having fun out there. I'll hunt a stand some here soon but when the leaves are gone? BACK TO THE GROUND for me. I respectfully refer you to my signature line. Such is a way of life for me, in the woods..and out. God Bless!! Hi Steve! When I got out of my blind is when I learned what fun was ...referring to deer hunting. Laying in the creek bed up against the bank waiting on the prize was when I for the first time actually felt like I was hunting. I'm not giving up my blind or my stand, but it was nice to mix it up.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2013 8:56:56 GMT -5
Both of my biggest bucks were harvested from the ground after I got down out of my tree stand and changed plans. Sometimes, you have to make it happen and go for broke.
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Post by deerhunter23 on Nov 3, 2013 9:01:47 GMT -5
Thanks fellas for all the tips and help. Foots doing alot better, well I'm able to walk on it. I still think its prolly broke but owell! I think I may venture out to the woods this evening. I do have a permanent stand I think I could climb up in and that's what I'll probably do.
ive killed one deer of the ground, which was last year. I had recently acquired a new place to hunt and instead of walking it all over and disturbing everything trying to find a tree to climb, I sat on the ground pretty much to observe where the deer may be traveling. Ended up taken a doe at 10 yrds with my muzzy. Fun indeed to be that close and eye level. Its a whole different ball game when the playing field is level.
anyways I think I'll head to town tomorrow and find me a decent blind to put up. I do have a couple places that would be ideal for one. Again guys thanks for all the help.
Steve I really enjoyed reading your posts! Thanks alot and good luck!
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Post by Jamie Brooks 1John5:13 on Nov 3, 2013 9:05:46 GMT -5
Thanks fellas for all the tips and help. Foots doing alot better, well I'm able to walk on it. I still think its prolly broke but owell! I think I may venture out to the woods this evening. I do have a permanent stand I think I could climb up in and that's what I'll probably do. ive killed one deer of the ground, which was last year. I had recently acquired a new place to hunt and instead of walking it all over and disturbing everything trying to find a tree to climb, I sat on the ground pretty much to observe where the deer may be traveling. Ended up taken a doe at 10 yrds with my muzzy. Fun indeed to be that close and eye level. Its a whole different ball game when the playing field is level. anyways I think I'll head to town tomorrow and find me a decent blind to put up. I do have a couple places that would be ideal for one. Again guys thanks for all the help. Steve I really enjoyed reading your posts! Thanks alot and good luck! If you need any help at all; I'll be happy to help you. I'll pull you in a wheelchair where you want to be and come back to pick you up ...whatever you need.
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Post by ms660 on Nov 3, 2013 19:23:18 GMT -5
I no longer use ground blinds since I made my ghillie suit. Hunting from the ground is a blast. here is a picture in my yard standing in front of a small tree. If I was in the woods hunting my face would be covered better. I have had deer almost close enough to touch. It took me about 4 hours to make the suit. I haven't got over 20 bucks in it. Here's another shot of me kneeling in front of a bush that's by my shed. Standing in my kitchen.
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Post by featherduster on Nov 4, 2013 6:43:43 GMT -5
ms660: that by far is the best camo outfit I have ever seen.
GOOD JOB.
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