A Different Perspective Hunting Whitetails from the Ground

Hunting from an elevated position by utilizing treestands is by far the most popular platform to pursue whitetails with a bow. However in recent years many bowhunters have started to adopt a more “groundbreaking” approach and have opted to hunt whitetails from ground level from a blind.

This method for hunting whitetails is catching on around the country and in Iowa. For the first 20 years of my hunting career I hunted whitetails from a tree and never really gave a ground blind much thought until 5 years ago when I finally adopted this style of hunting. After a few years and a steep learning curve I am now a firm believer of using ground blinds to bowhunt whitetails when the opportunity presents itself. I say this because I still use a tree stand most of the time, but will opt for a ground blind when needed. In the rest of the article I will discuss the pro’s and con’s to ground blinds, some tips on how to use them correctly, and lastly the different styles of ground blinds popular today.

Pro’s
Conceals Movement
To a certain extent, depending on the ground blind you choose to use, you can get away with more movement in a ground blind than you can when sitting in a treestand. However, this shouldn’t give you a false sense of security and you should still plan to sit as still as possible at all times. Remember you are at eye level with your prey and most hunters who get busted from the ground is due to them moving around in the blind. A blind’s windows or portals provide a see through for the deer. Anything moving past the openings from inside is a dead giveaway to an on looking deer.

Safety
While not my sole purpose of using ground blinds, the safety that they provide from accident and injury is something to think about. Falls from treestands are the number one cause of injuries bowhunters face each season. When choosing to hunt from a ground blind you take a lot of the danger out of injury occurring events such as falling from a tree.

Easy Access
A ground blind is simply easier to get into than a hang on or climber stand. Most of the time you just have to unzip the door, or climb a few logs, or set up your camo draping and you are ready to go. No fussing with safety harnesses, or climbing pencil thin tree pegs with a ground blind. While there is still some set up involved once you do get into your blind, everything just seems easier when you are on the ground. Blinds are also easier for hunters getting a bit longer in the tooth or those of us who are not as nimble as we once were.
Weather Friendly
Rain, rain go away and come back another day….you won’t have to worry about singing this tune when hunting out of a ground blind. One of the best things about ground blinds is that they allow you to escape the elements and keep hunting. If the forecast calls for rain or unsafe winds I will usually opt to sit in a blind that day versus being drenched or blown off my tree stand. Full containment blinds also allow you to stay warmer longer by using your body heat to warm the surrounding air and keeping the wind out.

Comfort
The thing I hate most about treestands is the agonizing pain they give to my posterior! No matter what I do, short of hauling a lazy boy recliner up the tree, I always go numb in my rump, legs, and lower back. Thus cutting down on my focus and overall stand time that I can put in. If you hunt from a blind you can use a folding camping chair to sit in, or purchase one of the many chairs specifically created for ground blind hunting. Trust me a folding chair or specific ground blind chair beats the heck out of any tree stand seat every day of the week!

360 Degrees Of Shooting Lanes
Again depending on the type of blind and style one can actually have a full 360 degrees of shooting lanes when using a ground blind. A treestand can allow for this too, but the difference is in how easy it is to maneuver and perform a shot at a deer coming in from behind you or off to the side. There have been many times when I have blown the opportunity at harvesting a deer when I tried to maneuver for an awkward shot in a treestand. When you are in a blind you don’t have to worry about this as there is no tree or other obstruction you have to negotiate.

Versatility
A ground blind, provided it isn’t a permanent one, can easily be picked up and moved in a matter of minutes to another position in the event of a wind shift or if deer are not using the area as much as you would like them to. You can also use a ground blind in pretty much any environment we have in Iowa; from a timber setting, food plot edge, corn field, etc. Just make sure when you do move to always blend the blind in as much as possible with the surroundings.

CON’S
Odor Profile
Your scent and the amount you leave in and around your hunting area is critical to your success. When hunting out of a treestand you have the added advantage of your scent being whisped away by the wind and over the heads of whitetail, hopefully dissipating before it reaches the powerful sniffer of a deer.
Not the case with a ground blind. Remember you are on the ground and your scent is even more exposed now. The wind will not help you out in the fact that it will not dissipate or carry your scent over the head of a deer. Instead it will linger in the area and if a deer is downwind of your location or in the vicinity chances are you will be busted…no matter what scent control methods you have used. That is why using the wind to your advantage is crucial when hunting on the ground!

On Same Level Of Deer
The worst thing about hunting from a ground blind is you are on the same level as the deer you will be hunting. A deer’s sight plane is what is in front of them and around them, which is why hunting from a treestand has always been the go to method of choice among hunters. Though deer do and will look up if they sense danger, however most of the time their eyes are positioned to what is in front of them or around them. On the flip side when on the ground a deer will be looking directly at you trying to decide whether or not the oddly shaped blind they are looking at is of threat. This is why it is critical to keep movement to a minimum and brush in and break up your blind’s outline…something we will discuss later on.
Visibility From A Hunter’s
Perspective
The notion that being up in a tree gives you a better view is absolutely true. The added elevation puts you above the landscape and allows for a better view of approaching deer, plus it allows you to see greater distances. When you hunt from the ground your sight is limited by the objects around you that might impede you from seeing approaching deer. Also the distance you can see if affected and you are left with a decreased length of view.

Warm On Hot Days
Thankfully in Iowa we don’t have to deal too much with hot days during the bow season, but there are times especially during the early part of bow season and muzzleloader season when the temps can climb well into the 80’s. Sitting in a pop-up blind in hot temps is similar to sitting in a sauna, add in a swarm of mosquitos and you could be in for a miserable hunt. Also the air circulation in pop-ups is not ideal and can make for a muggy several hours.

False Sense of Concealment
As briefly mentioned above having the mindset that a ground blind completely rids you of being detected by a deer is foolish. If proper techniques to hide your blind and limit your movement are not taken you can and will be detected. Don’t be fooled by thinking a ground blind gives you 100% concealment….especially if you are not using a full containment blind.

Different Angles
Taking a shot from a ground blind sounds easy on paper, but it can pose a bit of a challenge at first. In most cases you will be shooting out of a window or notch in the blind, which is completely different than the open space shots a tree stand allows for. If you plan on hunting from the ground this year make sure you practice shooting from the blind before the season starts.

Ground Blind TipsSite Selection
Where you place your blind is the biggest decision you have to make when hunting from the ground. Simply placing a blind with no plan is not advised. Just like you would with a treestand you need to do your homework on where you should place your blind. Keeping notes on wind patterns, travel routes, your entrance/exit plan, concealment possibilities, funnel or pinch point locations, etc.

Playing The Wind
We all know or at least should know that having the wind in your favor is vital to shooting whitetails, at least consistently. This notion is even more important when you are hunting from a blind. When you are selecting spots for your ground blind location make sure the prevailing winds are accounted for and set up your blind so the wind will take your scent away from the direction you believe deer will be approaching.

Place Early
I hunt mostly from pop-up blinds, and whenever possible I like to have them in place at least two weeks before hunting season opens. This will give deer time to grow accustom to the new obstruction and put their minds at ease a little bit once the season rolls around. If you don’t give your blind time to settle into the landscape deer will be uneasy about it and possibly detour around it. That is not a good thing so make sure you place or construct your blinds early. If you plan on constructing your own permanent blind I would do so now and not wait until the fall rolls around.

Brush it In
Once you have your blind in place it is now time to brush it in. Yes most blinds today are camouflaged with some 3d pattern, but this pattern will not do you much good if you don’t break up the blinds outline. Use fallen logs stacked up next to the blind, cut some saplings or evergreen limbs and lay it over and across your blind. Basically do what you can to add more camouflage and realism to your blind. This will allow your setup to look more natural than it would by sitting bare next to a tree or out in the open.

Don’t Get Lazy
Even though a blind provides more comfort and concealment, hunt as you normally would from a treestand. Be alert, don’t get too cozy that you forget you are still hunting. Make sure everything is in place such as your bow, binoculars, calls, ect. Use proper entrance and exit routes, play the wind, and be still. Hunting from a blind can make a hunter think they can skip a few steps, but this is completely false. The same amount of detail if not more should go into your ground blind hunt than hunting from a tree.

Types of Blinds
I usually categorize ground blinds into four different categories; pop-up, permanent, wrap around, and non-traditional.

Pop-Up
Of the four styles the pop-blind is arguably the most popular today. Pop-ups such as the infamous Double Bull are extremely simple to set up. Usually they are constructed with a set of bendable rods weaved into the fabric and connected to a set of hubs. When pushed out on the rods flex and “pop” the structure out, creating an instant blind in a matter of seconds. Pop-ups are great for concealment and getting out of the elements. They are versatile, easy to set up, and will work in any landscape Iowa has to offer.

Permanent
Permanent blinds are simply that, they are a manmade collection of any sort of material that stays in one location and aren’t moved. Most of the time these are very crude looking in nature and other times people go all out and construct a mini Hilton Hotel room on their property. It all comes down to the materials you want to use to build the blind and the amount of ingenuity between your ears. A lot of permanent blinds are built with what Mother Nature has to offer in the form of logs, sticks, brush, trees, limbs, etc. On the other hand you can go a step above and create a blind using lumber and nails.
No matter what you use or how your structure looks aesthetically permanent ground blinds can work. The main thing to think about when building these structures is proper location and wind direction. The biggest knock against permanent blinds is they typically are not movable. Once they are built that is where they are going to stay.

Wrap Around
We have all seen these and probably at one point used them before. They are merely a material of camo cloth or fabric wrapped around a series of poles and/or stakes. The fabric usually stands three to four feet high, just enough to conceal a sitting hunter, and wraps half way around. These blinds are a bit more rudimentary in nature and unless you are used to them they may not be the best bet for bow hunting. Out of all the styles mentioned the wrap around have the least concealability. They tend to be flimsy and can easily be knocked or blown over. They will work though and make for a nice option when you can’t afford another style of blind. These tend to be very inexpensive and can be created by yourself too. Most of the time I leave these in storage for turkey hunting, where they really shine for run and gun hunting.

Non-Traditional
I have to touch on this style because more and more “non-traditional” blinds are coming on to the market every year. From hay bales, tree stumps, and even mirror image blinds.
I say non-traditional in a good way because these products actually hold some validity in the hunting industry. Last year I successfully harvested a doe from a Redneck Hay Bale Blind. The blind was set among a few other authentic bales in a picked corn field and the doe never suspected a thing…so I am a believer in the something “different” approach.
The one product I want to try, and have plans to do so this year is a product called the Ghost Blind. This product uses mirrors to reflect and project the surroundings you are hunting in. It really is a pretty cool concept that makes sense. If you are hunting in a strip of standing corn then the deer will see nothing but standing corn in front of you and your sides as that is what is reflecting from the mirrors you are hiding behind. The same is true in the timber or any other environment, the deer see what is surrounding you. Pretty cool huh?!
I have a buddy that actually tried the blind out himself and he said it worked like a charm. The biggest benefits he noted were the Ghost Blind gives you the ability to move quickly in the event of a wind shift, it allows you to immediately blend into the environment, and you don’t have to brush anything in, the blind already does that for you by reflecting the surroundings. To see the blind in action go to the manufacturer’s website at www. ghostblind.com
While hunting whitetails from a ground blind is not new to the hunting world, it is becoming more popular. They definitely afford some benefits versus treestands, and some cons as well. Simply put there are times where hunting from a treestand will be better than hunting from a ground blind and vice versa. You have to pick and choose when those times may be. Hopefully the information I went over above will help that decision. If you are up for hunting deer on their own level then keep your feet on the ground a few days this season and hunt from a ground blind…it will be a challenge worth the reward!