bowcam
Green Horn
Reged: 05/14/08
Posts: 4
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How many of you hunters deer hunt out of a blind?
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www.downsouthhunting.com
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Crazyhorse
THF Celebrity
Reged: 11/05/04
Posts: 14447
Loc: Azle, Texas
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Welcome to the THF. 
Hope you stick around, there are lots of really good folks on here and a couple of old Farts.
Plenty of good information and liberal doses of  .
I don't bow hunt, but with less than a half dozen exceptions, all the deer I have ever killed have been from ground blinds.
I only hunt from an elevated stand if I am forced to.
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Being a Redneck is okay, being a stupid Redneck isn't. THF-OFC member. Charter Member THF WOS-HOF. www.shoestringsafaris.com
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Tx_Phantom
Pro Tracker
Reged: 12/05/06
Posts: 1984
Loc: Fort Worth, TX
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Quote:
I only hunt from an elevated stand if I am forced to.
Explain why...?
I feel I have much better view from a height and I won't be scented out...
Or is that part of the challenge for you?
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dogcatcher
Veteran Tracker
Reged: 07/17/06
Posts: 2186
Loc: West Texas
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I use a ground blind, 14X26 cabin, I shoot out of the bedroom window.
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Infantryman, the ultimate hunter where the prey shoots back. THF-OFC member
CUSTOM GAME CALLS
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PrimitiveHunter
Pro Tracker
Reged: 10/09/06
Posts: 1959
Loc: Whitesboro
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If I'm not still hunting, I'm hunting from a ground blind. Unlike a lot of guys here, I avoid elevated blinds like the plague. I will spend a few days scouting and build a few ground blinds in ambush spots. Usually, the deer never even know I'm in the county when they walk past.
My tactic is to hunt close quarters where the deer are rather than set up where I can see 1/2 mile all around me. Mainly because the deer can see the elevated blind from 1/2 mile away too.
If the only option is to hunt from an elevated blind, I would but we don't have any on my lease so it's a moot point anyway.
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hookemhorns
Woodsman
Reged: 01/10/06
Posts: 105
Loc: Forney, TX
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I love to ground hunt...i have a 5x5 box made of square tubing that i have wrapped with army surplus netting. i am set up about 15 yards from feeding area, of course this was before pop up tents were around. last year i shot a good 10 point at 7 yards...never knew i was there.
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Crazyhorse
THF Celebrity
Reged: 11/05/04
Posts: 14447
Loc: Azle, Texas
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Just from my experience, if you can get a ground blind set up in a good location, and set it up several days/weeks or months ahead of time, the critters get use to it and pay no attention to it, windows opened or closed.
As far as being scented out, I have rarely seen deer in the parts of Texas I have hunted in react to human scent in any manner.
I am a firm believer in the concept that deer in Texas are so surrounded in an environment that is saturated with human scents and sounds, so they do not really pay attention to it most of the time.
I have set up a ground blind one day, and go back 2 days later and deer tracks were all around it, up to and including signs of where they had came up and smelled of it.
On this years javelina hunts in April, OFBHWG brought a large pop-up blind out to the ranch and he and HunterTed set the thing up in a clump of mesquites, and one day when HT was hunting from it, a white tail buck came up to the blind and stuck its nose in the window.
Not meaning, or trying to sound egotistical or that I am bragging, but hunting whitetail deer is not a challenge to me anymore.
Since I don't actual try to buck hunt, and since I am usually carrying what some would call artillery field pieces, any deer I can get the crosshairs on at 0 to 300 yards, I am pretty confident on ventilating it.
No, it is not a challenge, it is a case of wanting to be as low impact as possible and getting myself set up in a situation for a clean one shot kill.
Ground blinds are more stable, they will usually keep you warmer and dryer than an elevated stand, I have found them less noisy, because even though I don't believe that Texas white tails rely on their nose that much, they do pay attention to odd loud squeaks/creaks/pops.
Also, with few exceptions, most elevated blinds are built with the first step of the ladder 18 to 24 inches or more in some cases off the ground and then the next step is a minimum of 16 inches above that.
The elevated blinds I have used and did like, were ones that used the spacing of a regular ladder for the steps up into it.
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Being a Redneck is okay, being a stupid Redneck isn't. THF-OFC member. Charter Member THF WOS-HOF. www.shoestringsafaris.com
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Koenig
Tracker
Reged: 11/26/07
Posts: 941
Loc: Denton TX
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I use a Pop up ground blind. it is easy because i hunt public land.
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"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are undisturbed." Luke 11:21
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llbts1
Outdoorsman
Reged: 01/09/08
Posts: 98
Loc: Aledo
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"As far as being scented out, I have rarely seen deer in the parts of Texas I have hunted in react to human scent in any manner."
Boy, i must really stink, because I have been busted many times in my ground blind by does when they get to close! Thats why I was thinking of elevating my next blind project. Wouldn't that help?
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Crazyhorse
THF Celebrity
Reged: 11/05/04
Posts: 14447
Loc: Azle, Texas
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If you were getting busted, it is because you moved or your blind did not conceal you as much as you thought it did.
My former hunting partner had 2 does and a that years doe fawn walk right past him as he sat in the corner of a really flimsy ground blind we had built on the edge of a pasture road.
In fact, he said that he had hunkered down as far as possible, and the fawn walked up to the corner where he was setting and looked right at him thru the brush we had piled around the blind and the does were less than 10 feet away at that point.
Movement and sudden un-natural noises are what bust a person in the majority of cases. JMO.
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Being a Redneck is okay, being a stupid Redneck isn't. THF-OFC member. Charter Member THF WOS-HOF. www.shoestringsafaris.com
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hawk
Woodsman
Reged: 07/19/07
Posts: 128
Loc: San Angelo, TX
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I hunt from both elevated box blinds and "pop-up" ground blinds. I like being able to move the ground blind as needed. I too have been "busted" many times in the ground blind when deer come in down wind of me. 
I always try to "keep the wind in my face" when using the pop-up blind and hunting on the ground. The deer on my lease east of San Angelo do become alarmed very easily when they pick up human scent.
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LWS
Woodsman
Reged: 03/26/05
Posts: 154
Loc: Marion,Texas
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Every blind except for one is a ground blind on my lease. The way it is set up there is no need for an elevated blind. (Hill country)
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Leonardo
Woodsman
Reged: 01/03/08
Posts: 103
Loc: Wise County
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For the most part I have always hunted out of tripods b/c they were light, easy to move, and I could get them into places others weren't willing to travel. However I did kill the biggest buck of my life out of a pop up blind that I bought this year. Not only that but I saw plenty of deer out of it and they really didn't even pay attention to the blind only my movement. I found it really enjoyable hunting out of it b/c I did have more freedom to move around than the tripod has ever provided. I was able to sit there longer and with more patience.
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Brother in-law
Extreme Tracker
Reged: 07/08/07
Posts: 4271
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I believe a slightly elevated blind is much more beneficial even if it is only a couple feet off the ground. I found the after my stand blew over and set it up on the ground the deer knew where I was because we were at eye contact.
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Tx_Phantom
Pro Tracker
Reged: 12/05/06
Posts: 1984
Loc: Fort Worth, TX
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After this past turkey season, I am convinced you can be just as successful with either. I think you can see more from up high, and i think it conceals your presence more as well still. But we had turkeys come close and a few of them never saw us... No blind, no cover, just sitting motionless in front of brown woodpiles.
This fall, i will try a deer hunt in andersom county on the ground, and I will probably use my teepee.
Thanks for all your opinions on this.
TxP
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PrimitiveHunter
Pro Tracker
Reged: 10/09/06
Posts: 1959
Loc: Whitesboro
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I incorporated some dead wood and live brush into a ground blind 60 miles west of San Angelo once. I got settled into the blind early one morning in October. It was still dark so I rested my chin on the top of my bow and closed my eyes to wait for daylight. After a while, I heard the live bush making a slight noise. My first thoughts were 'rattlesnake' or 'skunk'. Without moving, I opened my eyes. There was a doe that was eating leaves off my "blind". Her nose was no more than 3 feet from me. I'm pretty sure I wasn't asleep but I never heard her approach. After a while, she moved on never having known how close our encounter was.
I will always believe that the best way to kill a mature buck is to observe his movements and set up an ambush ground blind made from natural material. If you can get in the immediate vicinity of a deer, you don't need to see 500 yards.
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Tx_Phantom
Pro Tracker
Reged: 12/05/06
Posts: 1984
Loc: Fort Worth, TX
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Great story PH. I know I'm still a noob, but man, their hearing is good... I so much as made a slight rubbing sound adjusting myself to take a shot at a 2nd doe in Mississippi last year and she was G-O-N-E!
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PrimitiveHunter
Pro Tracker
Reged: 10/09/06
Posts: 1959
Loc: Whitesboro
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I'll have to admit that the single 'problem' that has cost me the most shots from ground blinds is that deer often get so close that you can't draw. I've had deer come from behind me and spend 20 minutes wandering around less than 10 feet from me. In those cases, I just enjoy the show and don't even consider drawing.
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rstewlandman
Tracker
Reged: 10/17/07
Posts: 539
Loc: Brownsboro, Texas
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I like the elevated simply for the morning view, we have a stand in menard what sits above the world it seems like. its only up 10 feet but on a hill, in the morning and evening watching the distant views, sun rise/sets and getting above the trees is why I like elevated, I'd say the success rate is about the same.
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Tx_Phantom
Pro Tracker
Reged: 12/05/06
Posts: 1984
Loc: Fort Worth, TX
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Thought I'd add something else... I'm gonna do a little bit of both this fall, but the gentleman I hunted with in Mississippi walks and stalks them and has killed ~220 deer lifetime. And he's saved the antlers to prove it. 
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PrimitiveHunter
Pro Tracker
Reged: 10/09/06
Posts: 1959
Loc: Whitesboro
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That is a hunter! It's been over 10 years since I sat in an enclosed blind or watched a feeder. If that's your thing, go for it. When I realized that I was taking newspapers, crossword puzzles, a Walkman, etc to the blind to occupy my time, I realized that I had quit hunting and had just started killing. Hunting is a blast; killing not so much.
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txtrophy85
Veteran Tracker
Reged: 08/12/05
Posts: 3208
Loc: San Antonio
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i haven't hunted out of a ground blind since i don't know when, in south texas elevated blinds are much more common place, and when i'm hunting anywhere else its usually in a truck or on foot.
i did shoot my first two deer out of ground blinds, one was abandonded for god knows how long, but the trail that 50 yards in front of it was still well used!
i don't think it makes a difference, a blind is a blind. i think it all depends on location. some places are very well suited to ground blinds
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Modern day head hunt er
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LordSweep
Woodsman
Reged: 02/03/08
Posts: 164
Loc: Gonzales,Texas
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I have shot all of my deer out of a ground blind.
I have moved up to the 4x8 camo "Blynd".
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A lie told often enough becomes the truth.
Lenin
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ROCKMAN57
Woodsman
Reged: 03/18/07
Posts: 114
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Anyone who doesen't think scent matters hasn't hunted in the EastTx piney woods much.Asmart buck will always circle an area before coming in just to check the wind down there.If you believe sitting downwind helps then they will walk in behind you and bust you every time.I learned this lesson the hard way.Of course this was hunting on the ground in close quarters.I have hunted all over Tx and the East Tx piney woods is definately the most challenging which is why I keep going back year after year.I don't think there is any one way to do it and I hunt from elevated box,tri-pod and ladder stands and groung box,pop-up or just sitting on the ground and love it all.
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highlonesome1
Tracker
Reged: 10/02/07
Posts: 809
Loc: West Texas
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I have three elevated blinds for seven feeders. the other feeder pens have no blinds. Pop ups worked very well last season although the biggest two bucks were taken with no blind. Many people feel so comfortable hunting out of blinds they forget to hunt up to the blind. My game cams showed a plethura of deer that were never seen by hunters using the blind. I have spooked deer so many times just climbing in the blind, I stay on the ground. From personal experience I have to lean toward what crazy has posted about sound. On our place you can hear a truck door slam for several hundred yards.
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