Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting You eastern thick woods deer hunters: tree stands or ground hunting?

Ladders, tripods, summit goliath, ground blind/burlap, Summit trophy chair, one has a roof and dug into a 60 degree bluff side.

About 15 different deployments on 307 acres.

Never burn a stand, don’t hunt it twice,3 times in a row. You will educate resident deer. Always have extra opportunities if winds are dicking with you. If you see deer begin to shift their goings and comings, I keep a couple spare ladder stands ditched beside the shop ready to hauled out and set up in less than 30 mins.

Keep your lanes trimmed on your set ups. February is a good month to cut chit way back.

Have something for rain, wind shifts, pattern shifts, neighbor pressure, food availabilityor other random conditions. Ground, elevated depends on the sum of all factors and conditions that day brings

I’d like to get myself one of them shootie poo tiny house things. Sliding windows, propane heat, camp chef rig

But my luck, someone would take a dump in there

Better not tell me where it is located. Nothing like a good dump in the warm and dry!!

I sat in a box this summer that some other hunter had been pizzing in the corner instead of opening the door and letting it fly.

Was very nice smelling for sure.

I have one of these collapsible stools that look like a toadstool. Did a lot of comparison before settling on this one. Really works, and only weighs a couple of pounds. Hold up to 400 pounds, and you can tilt it without it dumping your fat azz.

https://www.amazon.com/Retractable-Collapsible-Telescopic-Lightweight-Adjustable/dp/B0918B499L?th=1

On the large tract of public land I sometimes hunt, I prefer one of those simple heater cushion things.
The tract is over 6000 acres and is foot travel only, mostly old growth timber. A long walk is usually the plan of the day.
The cushion is light, quiet and gives me ample mobility without a lot of hassle.

If I don't like my original spot, I simply "still hunt" to a new one. No muss, no fuss.

I gave my "Tree lounge" to my neighbor. It was all I wanted to do to carry it across the yard.

On our private land it's all 4x8 box blinds, carpeted floors and shelves, sliding windows, shooting bags, office chairs. You know, roughing it LOL.

If I never carry another climbing deer stand again it will be alright. 'm happy to just stand on the ground or sit in a blowdown.

Thats the one!

I gave up on treestands years ago

I couldn’t find my 25 year old seat that I love. It’s disappeared! So this evening I bought 2 of the $5 Thermaseat cushions at Walmart and strapped them together. Should be awesome. Quiet, dry, and warm.

I have always hunted elevated tree stands. Strap on's, climbers, Ladder stands, many years ago we built our own. About 18 months ago I had a bad fall. I broke both of my wrist's, hurt my neck and back as well. I'm 65 years old now, so no more tree stands for me. I hunt out of ground blinds (pop ups) or box blinds. They are productive, but I do miss being up in a tree with 360 degree visibility.

A lot of our spots you can see better from the ground than you can in a tree. There are a few exceptions.

Pop up blinds are what we use most of the time. When we use a stand, it’s a ladder stand.

Another "Shoot - House" that I built about 17-18 years ago. 4ft x 6ft and will seat two people. 3-way view, being a pipeline ROW out through the pines and 2 directions along this property line. The wildlife refuge is on the right side and our pine plantation is on the left. Killed a ton of stuff here over the years. Always been a productive stand, both for deer and hogs.



Shot this guy Saturday morning about 8:30 as he was crossing from the refuge to the pines. A loud "Meh" froze him just as he was about to step off the lane. 210yds or so from the stand, with him crossing at the spot where I snapped the pic. No idea what he was, just saw beams and times, so pretty much "draw and shoot".

I'm 65 and set-up 7-9 hang-on's prior to the season. I like being elevated but I hunt off the ground sometimes if the situation calls for it. I also have a Summit climber but I don't like lugging it around and making noise climbing up and down the tree.

We have shooting houses, ladders , ground blinds and climbers. I use one ground blind on a road where I cant find a tree to suit me and my climber. But where ever possible I use my Summit Titan climber. I can sit in it all day. I usual post up on a ridge looking down in a drain, valley or bottom with some cover behind me. I only need to go high enough to be able to see over ground cover. My Titan is comfortable for me and I can sit in it most all day. Not the kind of climber you want to have to carry on your back but I have atv access to all my trees. I prefer the climber over the ground blind as I hate being inside those things. I dont mind a shooting house but they are mostly on food plots and I prefer to hunt in the woods.

I haven't taken my climber out this season at all. I'm not seeing fewer deer. I just bought an HS 8' blind. I'm liking it so far. Makes a quick change of location easy.

Same.... I had a nice climber years ago, but one bizarre day, it decided to go "skkkkkreeee" downwards about a foot! Talk about a pucker moment! Thank God for harnesses too! Mine got pulled a little more tighter obviously, causing a difficult type of turnaround, feet in the stirrups, climb back up a little ways to where I was. No idea how who what where why, no rhyme or reason, chit happens. But it was enough to make me say "F.... this..." and I sold it the next day.

Could’ve been the tree. Some trees like smooth bark hickory’s have really hard bark and the climber teeth don’t dig into it. If I’m climbing I look for white oaks, maple, or ash.

All I can say is it depends. I prefer to be elevated when possible but some spots are not conducive to a stand. In the pines I'm on the ground in the hardwoods I can usually get off the ground.

I grew up hunting on the ground. Now I’m 60% stand and 40% ground. Depends on the spot..